The Corridor and Breakfast Scones

Madame Leonelle's voice sounded powerful the building, her voice was never a pleasing one to hear, breathy and croaky, not a good combination.

"Rose I've expected my breakfast for 20 minutes now"

Her voice was flat, yet the hint of annoyance was ever present in that sentence.

I looked at Rose, any smile present was gone, although cooking brought her joy, part of it went away knowing it was for Madame and not someone she loved, or herself.

I couldn't help but feel some sort of sorrow, anger, Rose never deserved to be in a place like this.

Me? Maybe, but never her.

She put on a fake smile, put the tea in a mug with a peculiar design, some sort of geometrical pattern in washed out colors.

The scones came out of the oven, the smell was so rich and delicious I could automatically feel my stomach rumble and my mouth water.

"Where did you learn to make those?"

"One of the cookbooks we found, and I tweaked the recipe a bit, added my own personal touch"

She was good at that, making everything better, adding happiness to even the darkest places and putting her soul into her crafting.

The pear slices went into the buttered skillet and once ready, some cinnamon and sugar were sprinkled over them.

A sweet, creamy glazing went over the beautiful scones and everything was neatly organized on a silver platter, it was always a sight to behold when Rose did anything, even the most simple activity was turned into art.

I believe that's why Madame liked her cooking, why wouldn't she? Rose will always put more care into it than the cooks here, they'd been so conditioned to cook blandly for us that they'd probably lost any passion or excitement brought by cooking.

Some sunlight peaked through the window on the upper part of the door and it lit up my face. Warmth.

It almost seemed like the temperature would be nicer outside, I could never judge if it was so cold inside due to the sadness, or if it indeed was a reflection of just how gloomy the outside world really felt.

I didn't want to get in the way any longer, so I left the kitchen and went out into the corridor that had a very sharp frowsty odor, due to the lack of opened windows.

A sort of damp undertone that made my lungs feel thick, the difference in lighting was noticeable, the corridor was always darker, wooden stairs and floors with stripped orange peel walls.

I wanted to go outside, but it would be soon be time for breakfast and if I wasn't there I didn't even want to think of the possible consequences.

Having considered this, I made my way to the dining room, and sat on my assigned seat waiting.

There were more windows in the dining room, but they were never opened, it was a big, pale room with big tables.

Everyone had an assigned spot, this way if someone went missing people could easily tell due to the large distance from one person onto the next.

I sat towards the back of the room, something I had always appreciated, I could look out of the windows and appreciate the trees and the field, in warmer seasons, some animals could be seen, a few small birds and maybe squirrels.

The sight of animals alone was enough to make my day, I liked to imagine what it would be like to be them. What it would be like to go anywhere or have the abilities they have.

I envied them truly, as humans we'd never be able to feel that freedom.

People are always worrying about one thing or another but animals live purely by instinct. I’ll never know for sure if being a human is a blessing or a curse.

I heard the yell, breakfast was ready.