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Kate watched as the rain poured relentlessly against the window. She was growing bored of watching cartoons and drawing all day, and she tried to communicate to her mother that she was starting to get bored, but her mom always thought that Kate was hungry instead.
Kate had her own room, small, yes, but it was something. A little twin bed that took up most of the space, and a dresser that had her crt TV on it. Her room was small, and barely any space to walk around in. Kate had spent most of her days in that room—coloring and watching cartoons. Kate didn't go to school, her mom tried her best to educate her, but Kate would forget about these lessons a day later. Kate would sometimes stare at the cracks on the walls and the countless roaches she’d encounter whenever she’d enter the kitchen. She remembers counting the amount of roaches she'd see in the house, she stopped counting past 10.
She was hungry. This was a usual occurrence as her mom would constantly work overtime just to put food on the table. When Kate was hungry, she would scavenge the kitchen for any sort of food—that's if the roaches managed to stay away from it. At some point, Kate grew frustrated. When she watched cartoons on the TV, the characters always lived in a nice neighborhood and always had a fancy-looking house. Sometimes, Kate would sometimes pause the TV and stare at the food that would be displayed on the cartoons. Kate thought that, maybe, maybe she was the only one that lived like this, and that one day she could become as rich as the characters on TV.
Her mom always told her to be grateful for what she had, but, at some point, she didn't know what she should be grateful for since she didn't have a lot. When she watched TV, she'd compare their living situation to hers. And although she knows it's just fiction, she knows rich people exist in real life. She thinks about what they have. Food, not just stale bread and mushy apples—actual food like steak, juicy fruit, buttery toast, and other foods that make her salivate by just thinking of them.
She thinks about their houses, and how they're constructed, their houses would have multiple rooms, extra rooms, such as a theater room or maybe even an office. They might have multiple bathrooms and bedrooms and even a pool in the back! It's a starking contrast to her dark and dreary apartment that her and her mother reside in. Everyday, before Kate's mom goes to work, she says to Kate, “I love you”, Kate knows it's true, but she can't help but wonder, if you truly love me, then why did you have me live in these conditions?
Kate managed to pull these feelings of hatred down, she knows her mom is trying her best, and that if there's anyone to blame—its her father. Her mom never talks about him, she acts as if he does not even exist—and perhaps, it's for the best.
Kate knows there's not a lot she can do right now, but Christmas is coming up in a few months, and she wonders if her mom will get her anything this time. Last Christmas, her mom didn't get the chance to buy anything for her, but she had baked apple pie, which was infinitely better than any present she could ever ask for.
Kate is still hungry, but she decides she'll just go to bed hungry. Maybe her mom will stop by McDonalds and get her pancakes or something. She hopes she will.
Kate returns to her room, and listens to the rain patter against her window. She closes her eyes, and falls asleep. Dreaming of a future where she and her mother live happily ever after in a mansion on a hillside.