This time, it was about the servants. Their children were never paid, but now she wanted to stop paying them altogether.

“Alice, you have to understand, it will benefit us,” told her mother.

“I don’t care! It isn’t fair! It isn’t fair!” Alice retorted, her voice rising into a whine.

“Alice, it is to benefit us,” her mother repeated, each word coming out like ice.

“No it’s not! They have families! They have wives and children and brothers and sisters! And you’ve cheated them!” She yelled before storming away to her room.

Lying on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling, and then around the room. The wardrobe, the paintings, the porcelain dolls, the books. 

“I don’t want it.” She complained to herself. “I don’t want it.”

And it was true, she didn’t care about her dolls or dresses or books. She wanted to be loved by her parents, she wanted them to treat people right. I suppose we all want things we cannot get sometimes.

She eventually stopped brooding, but by then it was late at night. With nothing more to do, she changed into a nightgown and buried herself under the sheets of her bed. 

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because when she opened her eyes again she saw daylight through the window.