A Taste of Sin (Sin #1)

XI.

"Yeah, I overslept. I hope Rosalyn and Alfred aren't too mad about that, I forgot to set my alarm." And that's not a lie. I forgot to do a lot of things before I went to bed last night, apparently.

"They're not, they understood it. Mrs Rosalyn said we should let you sleep since you must've been tired."

I walk to the fridge and grab a yoghurt. When I sit down, Rosanna stares at my yoghurt as if it'd answer her silent questions. She then sighs and grabs a piece of bread and hands it to me. I smile shyly. "Thanks."

Rosanna waves her hand. "We can't have you be hungry, now can we?"

Something in Rosanna's voice squeezes my chest so tightly I have to pause and only stare at her. She sounds so ... motherly. Like she's truly concerned about me and my well being. And that is being a foreign thing for me because no one has been concerned about me for years. Even before anything happened, people weren't exactly concerned about me.

They didn't have to be, I guess. I was a good girl without any problems in people's eyes. I was what they called 'perfect'.

"Gabby!" Amelia runs into the kitchen, holding a baby in her arms with his bottle and dummy.

I just took a bite of my bread and I have to swallow it before I can answer her, making my voice enthusiastic. "Hello, hello. Who did you bring with you?" I say, referring to the baby in her arms that she's cradling like a caring mother.

"This is Toby," Amelia beams up at me. She sits down on the floor and rests the baby on her legs and then puts the bottle to his lips. "He's hungry."

"Mmm," I mumble around the spoon of yoghurt in my mouth.

When I finish eating, Rosanna cleans up after me before I have the chance to and I give her an appreciative smile. "Thank you." Then I look down at Amelia. "Who wants to go out for a walk?"

Amelia quickly lifts her head up and struggles to stand. "Me! Me!" she yells while she runs out of the kitchen in excitement.

I chuckle. "Want to join us?" I ask Rosanna.

Rosanna shakes her head. "I have some work to do, but you two go ahead. It'll be nice to have this house to myself for a bit."

I shrug. "Alright. See you later," I call out and go search for Amelia.

•••

I'm laying on the rooftop, staring up at the starless sky, letting a soft breeze cool my skin. The silence soothes me and makes me calm. And the moon shining down on me is the only thing keeping me company.

It's just after dinner. I put Amelia to bed minutes ago. It was just me and Amelia at the dinner tonight and it passed quickly. Amelia didn't seem bothered by the fact and it was sad to watch that she had to get used to this. She's honestly such a good child, she never cries and never complains. When you tell her 'no', she doesn't question you and stops doing what she shouldn't have immediately. She's not stubborn. She's just a bunch of happiness.

I raise my arms up and rest them up above my head, resting them on the cold roof tile and close my eyes, breathing in the fresh air.

It's the moments like this that I don't have second thoughts about coming here. This is the thing I didn't have at home. I was never this at peace, never this calm. It's a nice change.

The sound of a window opening gets my body tense because I already know what's going to come. Or rather, who's going to come. I don't move. I lay there, plastered on the rooftop, feeling nothing but sweet numbness and not having a single care in the world.