The Next Day:

For the young Cordelia, sleep came easily. Sleep always came easily to her. She almost found the silence of her new room relaxing. She was used to sleeping with all of her brothers and sisters, constantly yelling and fighting with each other until their parents ultimately split them apart. She had never had her own room or even her own bed. And everything was so white and clean. It was extremely...nice. Even the nurse who brought her medicine was nice, talking to her while giving it. The nurse always spoke in a soft voice, and she always smiled. Later in the evening a suitcase of belongings was delivered to her room, various articles of clothing, a tooth brush, some of her favorite books and a stuffed animal shaped like a mouse. 

The dark escape of sleep came even easier then normal. Her own exhaustion mixed with the medication allowed her sleep to be long and deep. Her dreams were extremely vivid, full of warm tea and cakes being served. Yet in this dream she was alone, her parents for once not in attendance. She was awoken for breakfast, but told her nurse she felt too groggy to eat just yet. And instead fell back to sleep. She then was awoken for lunch, being told that she had to go eat. Cordelia could hardly complain as she was escorted to the cafeteria. She had made one condition however, she refused to wear shoes to the cafeteria. The nurse begrudging agreed.

She was given a tray full of food and went to sit by herself at a table. She glanced nervously from her tray of food to the people around her. She began to nibble endlessly at it, guarding her food with her arms. She could almost imagine her brothers and sisters arriving out of nowhere, eating all the best parts of her meal and leaving her with the scraps. Her large eyes bounced around the room, taking in the scene around her.