The Apple

She hadn't eaten anything for two days and was feeling weak from hunger.  There were days when she did not get anything to eat or just one meal a day.  This was one of those many.  Her father was the apple seller and a drunkard. Her mother had died 2 years ago, she was just eight then.

Today she was sitting at the bazaar selling apples. Fruit prices had really increased and her father had invested the little money he had to buy apples to be sold.  Oh how red and delicious they looked .  If she could have one little apple... just one apple.  Her father had told her they were bought to be sold. He had counted them all and warned her not to eat any.  "I will sell them at more value" he had said.  It was afternoon and he had gone to get his daily dose of venom.  She hated it when he got drunk.  He had no friends and got into fights every evening. She would have to go hungry when he forgot to buy food.

She couldn't stand it any longer, the beating she would get seemed like a small price for one apple.  She picked up the one closest within her reach and took a bite... and another and another.  The fruit was finished before she knew it.  She wanted another she did not realise the taste of the first because she gobbled up most of it. She already had one might as well have a second she knew she was going to pay for it.  The took a bite off a second and paused for a moment... oh how sweet it was! She almost finished the second, she had savored every bite. 

Suddenly she felt a cane hit her arm.  She turned around and saw him standing, his eyes red and he had been drinking.  She cowered and tried to explain how hungry she was.  Before she could say a word there was a second blow.  The cane felt like a whip of fire burning every time it touched her.  It was raining fire.  After some minutes she felt nothing just her body was moving and she could see her father beating her... but she felt nothing. There was blow after blow and then it became dark and she could not see or feel.  She felt at peace thinking how sweet the apple was.  She was just a child, a hungry child...

Note: This is fiction based on a true story I read where two poor girls were beaten to death because they had eaten some fruit.  they were hungry for days but the seller did not think of it they were beaten mercilessly till they were no more.