Karlotta slowly turned the shower off the pouring water quickly phased through it drizzling then trinkling and then fully turned off. She turned at the floor it was wet, the bathroom humid, the sunlight passing and the atmosphere warm and refreshing as if she had just woken up from a tiring dream.
She looked at herself in the mirror then headed into her new bedroom and picked up her clothes and started to put them on layer by layer. The unfamiliar fabric touching her body was a strange new experience for her, it was the first time she was not wearing high end custom made clothes that catered to her every need they were just clothes no longer symbols of her family's power, wealth and connections throughout society.
She finally felt free. It slowly set in that she had ran away and that this was not just an impulsive choice she made on a whim. Her mouth curled up into a smile but her eyes remained constant at the ceiling.
Her mind drifted to the things she heard on the radio before
"what could it have meant? Where were her parents and her brother? What about myself why is there no mention of me missing is it some sort of secret?"
" Even in there absence someone should be searching for me."
Wait why was she thinking about that now. She was free and a free man didn't need to know about his prison gaurds and warden but that wasn't quite the right comparison she cuckled.
"Dears come down" lauren shouted from below. Followed by the sound of her children racing down then unfortunately tumbling down to the first floor. Karlotta looked below from the stairs out of genuine concern her eyes fixated on finding them but there mother had already gotten to then and it was just a slight fall so no biggie. But they did get an earful.
Karlotta breathed a sigh of relief before she follwed their footsteps and came down not like racing but more at jogging speed. The kind people have when their favourite food is for lunch that day.
The family and their new friend ate the kids with gusto while the adults ate at a slow and relaxed speed, savouring every bite.
"Dear the chicken tastes really today. And the peas and salad and stew they're all well made. It's like the feast for a king, well oh im surely a king to have a queeb as my wife." The husband said with complete seriousness and a tinge of playfulness.
The wife cuckled and gave him another serving before turning to karlotta and asking "is everything all right dear how is the food? Is it good? Woyld you like more?"
Karlotta felt burbened by the questions but she answered them all in a single breath as politely as she could.
"The food's great lauren but I ate chocholate before dinner as a snack so I'm not hungry enough for another portion. My mouth is beeging for more, but my stomach knows i shouldn't so I'll pass"
Although tasting the food it was mediocre at best she could tell it was cooked with love and care. No matter what the experience of a young woman in her mid twenties couldn't beat that of the seasoned chefs at home when she ate with her family.
One thing she could tell from that dinner was that they were enjoying the moment not the food cause no amount of secret sauces from a grandma's recipe could salvage an overcooked almost burnt chicken with too much salt.
But looking at the family happily eating away she couldn't help buy think "what if my family was like th--" she cut off her thoughts before they could spin randoms situations never to happen.
Dinner was over and the dishes were washed by lauren and a bit by the father. Karlotta had volunteered and done the first few but that took over half an hour after which lauren came to check and saw the dishes left and did them. The father even redid the ones karlotta did because you could see the visible oil stains left.
The father and mother both laughed at the situation and started blatantly flirting which karlotta could catchso she awkwardly left to go to the washroom.