The Witch and the Robot (ABANDONED STORY)

Chapter 2 - The Father

After the long walk from school to home, along with the pit stop that she had made at K.O. burger, Alice finally arrived home. She kicked her shoes off at the door and walked to the dining room table with her bag and the food she bought in her hands, setting it all down on the table while she slumped her bag next to it on the floor, sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs with a sigh as she looked around her home. Alice didn't live anywhere special, just a quaint two-bedroom home with very little space for two people. The light grey walls with few photos up on them surrounded her, and a simple, lonely-looking clock sat up on the wall near her above a window. The batteries had long since died at 2:15 some day years ago and were likely never going to be replaced by her father, as he hated the ticking sound it made. Alice's room hardly had space for more than her twin bed and two small nightstands, though her bed consisted of a futon mattress that had been laid out on the floor without a frame. She had plenty of pillows and blankets to make herself comfortable, and sitting upon one of her nightstands was an altar dedicated to the earth and its seasons. It wasn't much, but it was home for her.

As Alice sat at the table doing her homework, she couldn't help but think about Jack's strange behaviour at the K.O. burger and began to wonder if, due to his stress and worry if he even got the order right, not that she would be one to take it back and complain. She paused her homework and took out the burgers and fries, making sure that everything was there before she would let out a sigh of relief. At least nothing was forgotten, aside from maybe some ketchup packets for the fries, but there was ketchup in the fridge. As for the burgers, there was nothing to get wrong. Alice and her father were not picky eaters; having lived in poverty for most of Alice's life, they ate what they could get their hands on some days. Though, with her father working his two jobs and Alice doing tarot readings here and there for the little money she had, they had not needed to worry about food for some time.

After finishing her homework, Alice went to her room, leaving her work out on the table for her father to see when he came home, as she had always done. Sitting on the floor before her altar, lighting the candles around it as she pulled out her tarot cards from the box she kept them in upon the altar. She would get comfortable on a pillow as she began calming and clearing her mind; Alice always did a reading for herself first to see what the future held for her at this moment, as the future was ever-changing. She shuffled her cards in her hands as her mind was cleared, the flames of the candles flickering slightly despite there being no breeze in the room, not even a whisper beyond her own breath. Alice felt the energy of the world fill her chest and body, helping to ground and calm her as she grew excited to see what was to be her likely future for the upcoming days ahead. She kept her question in her mind as she mixed the cards in her hands, pulling one card that she always dreaded seeing of the major arcana, Death.

The Death card doesn't usually mean what most people think, it means that a great change is on its way, usually for better or for worse. Alice dreaded this card's downsides, not wanting things in her life to change for the worst for her and her father, but she knew that there was little she could do to change such a thing. Just before Alice was about to ask for some clarification, she heard the front door open, and her father call for her, so she knew it was him. Putting her Tarot cards down on her altar again, she would snuff out each of the candles with her fingers after licking her thumb and index finger before walking out to see her father.

"Sorry, did I interrupt one of your witchy things?" Her father asked, smelling the candles that she had just put out. He seemed to feel a bit bad as, during good months, she was able to afford groceries for the two of them, even if he didn't believe in her new-age witchcraft. Alice would simply shake her head a bit and hug her father, taking his coat and lunch box from him as they sat at the table for dinner.

Alice would push the fast food in front of her father as he sat down, and while he was a bit disappointed for a moment, he would smile and begin unwrapping it. "Dinner with my father is always more important." Alice stated as she unwrapped her own burger, seeing that her father was stressed from work but was trying not to let it bother him in front of her. He was always so strong for her. She admired him and wanted to be like him for her family one day.