"It tastes bitter…"
Yet she ate.
I had no idea they were like this. Sure during the interrogation this morning I sensed something was wrong… Though, I'm not sure.
She took another bite.
It's really hard to eat now. All the flavors are gone.
The food felt like ashes in the mouth and stripped of taste. And even harder to swallow as if her body didn't want to accept it.
With every bite and chew she covers her mouth with the back of her hand preventing herself from spitting it out.
The food didn't taste bad but… Empty. The vibrant colours of the vegetables felt nothing but lies of the flavour. Tasteless.
Akeno looks around the table, searching for something. Holding the edge of the table she leans back on her chair scanning the kitchen from where she was.
Akeno backs the chair, its leg scraping the floor as she stands up. She approaches the kitchen and looks around. There, she noticed it.
Just beside the stove there was a dish. In the dish was a crystal of white. Salt. A small spoon resting just on top of it is no bigger than the middle finger.
Akeno took the dish and went back to the table. Taking half a spoon she sprinkles it over her veggies. And over he boiled eggs. And mashed it. And the veggies too.
This should work.
She takes a spoon full of the mashed egg, veggies and rice, and takes a bite.
Not much improved… A bit better though.
She took another bite, the vegetables crunching with a hollow sound. It tastes bitter…
It wasn't always like this. The first bite—before Alina had spoken, before the questions began—had actually been... good. The egg was creamy, the vegetables fresh. But now? The food felt like ashes in her mouth, stripped of all taste.
A memory flashed behind her eyes: a simple meal of boiled potatoes and steamed fish in her old chamber. It was a pauper's meal compared to this, but the flavor had been real.
Upstairs. Gracie just finished writing something in her notebook. Place her ball pen on the bedside table and hide the notebook under the mattress.
Sighs. I must go check on her.
Got up from bed and straightened her skirt. Before she left the room she looked out the window to the dark clouds, they seemed to get closer.
Walks out the room and just as she stood outside of Alina's door, it opened on its own. Inside, Alina was lying on the bed faceside on the pillow.
"Ah, Miss?"
"Hump hmm?" Looking up from the pillow, "What?"
"I… uh, heard the conversation–"
Alina didn't move. "You have excellent hearing, dear." she mumbled into the pillow. "...And?"
Gracie blinks, looking at her Mistress like this, she was out of words. The woman who could silence her with a glance was now buried in a pillow, her voice muffled and small.
"I… just came to see if you were… alright," managed, the sentence feeling stupid and inadequate.
Alina turned her head just enough for one deep blue eye to fix on her. "Do I look 'alright' to you, dear?"
There was no sharpness in the question. It was flat.
Gracie's fingers twitched at her sides. This was the part she hated most—the aftermath.
Alina shifted, turning to properly face Gracie. "How much did you hear?"
"Not much." averts eye contact.
Alina ruffles her own hair. "Be more specific. How much–did you hear?"
"Not much, the voices weren't clear. But, maybe something about… Me." scratches her neck.
Sighs "No. Not exactly about you. More of me to be exact…" Got on her elbow. "Why just standing there, come sit here." Pats on the space beside her.
When Gracie sat next to Alina she sat up, and Gracie again scratched her neck.
"You always do that when you're nervous, am I making you nervous?" She asked as she reached for a medicine on the bedside table.
"No, it's not that. It's just a habit, Miss–"
"Habit of what? Coping with your nervousness?" opened the bottle and took a small sip of it.
"..."
"Gracie, dear. I'm aware of what kind of person I am. My mind is just ain't in the right place."
Placed it back on the table.
"I think I scared her again. She must've felt so uncomfortable. I hate myself." falls back on bed.
Gracie finally speaks up, "Miss Alina. It's…" Her eyes wander around looking for what to say, "Okay. I'm sure she wasn't feeling uncomfortable."
Alina giggles, "If you think so, what took you so long to answer–!" She bit her lip. "Sorry." Breaths too deep "... Sorry. I hate myself."
Gracie subconsciously held Alina's hand, though no words came out.
"I'm such a burden to you, dear." Tried to pull her hand away from Gracie but fails to do so.
Miss Alina… How do I say this, that I'm grateful to you, for everything.