Food Portioning

Their parents were nice enough, but very particular about food portioning, of all things.

I was to watch them every Thursday, and they were sweet kids--honestly. There was an indoor bouncy house downstairs and I could just absolutely rail them with stuffies (which I called "dodgeball") and we'd all have a blast. They'd be worn out by 9pm, every time, and I made myself uninteresting enough that they'd not get caught up in opportunity cost once the lights went out.

Mia, 6; Carson, 4. Easy.

* * *

"Hey, Vince--do you know where our bread went last week after you were here? We couldn't find it on Friday."

What a weird fucking question. "Huh no, Sherry, I didn't get into last week. I just made the Hello Fresh packet you left."

"Huh." She made a face, looked away. I couldn't really read that expression. Then she was off out the door with her hubby.

* * *

I had never really put any thought into it, until that night, when Mia asked for seconds. Or rather, "More, please!".

She had that reddish gummy smile from losing her baby teeth. One had come out last week while she was eating and we'd managed to not swallow it, so she could get her $1. With the flush of her Irish genetics, her face was a bit funny-red. Lots of pink reddy colors going on. Kids looked like that a lot of at 6 and they grew out of it. It's kind of unique to see kids at these ages. Hm.

"I am sorry, Mia, but your mom says I can only give you the Hello Fresh. It was a pretty big one though, right!? Very yummy."

And Mia surprised me a little. Her face twisted in a sour expression. First time I'd seen her do that. "I want MORE!" She squeezed the muscles in her face to make an unspecific, upset expression. She got redder. lol

"Mia, that's enough. You know I have to follow your mom's instructions. It's not up to me; its up to your mom..." I watched the energy drain out of her. See... easy.

I turned to start cleaning up and she piped up again, as sweet as can be. "Can I have some bread then?"

I don't know why it shook me. I don't know why it startled me. I turned and saw Carson waddling off to the T.V. room. And then I let my eyes lock with Mia's. She took the bread? The whole loaf?

And her face was twisting again. Back into that soured, muscly grimace. And the next thing I knew she was screaming. High-pitched and fucking crazy, she screamed "I WANT MORE I WANT MORE I WANT MORE" endlessly. She jumped down from her chair, and ran at me, ramming into me, and biting down hard on my arm.

I was scared shitless, I was silent, and I pushed her away from me--too hard. She hit the back of her head on the cabinet wall, and a deep red smear trailed as she slowly slumped to the floor.

Word Count: 500
PROMPT: Just make it a scary story that fulfills the word count..