Aribella was handed a little plate. Minnie Mouse’s face was visible between the cracks of food. Goldfish, and three pieces of chicken nuggets were shredded onto the plate.

Aribella grabbed a handful of the Goldfish, shoving into her tiny mouth. She was sitting at their dining table, her adoptive parents sitting at the opposite sides of her.

She chewed with her newly grown in baby teeth, crunching. Her father, Markus, stirred whatever was in his bowl with a fork. Her mother, Izobel, did the same.

Curious, Aribella stood up on her chair. She gasped in horror as she saw what was in their bowls. “Brains!” Aribella screeched as she pointed inside their bowl.

Yellow noodles were coated in thick tomato sauce. Izobel laughed into her napkin, while Markus took Aribella off of the chair, chuckling.

“Oh, Ari..” He shook his head, placing Aribella on his lap. Markus stirred the bowl around, twirling his fork in the noodles. A long strand of noodles hung from his fork as he held it out of the bowl.

“It’s just spaghetti. The sauce is the red stuff. Wanna try it?” He held the fork enticingly in front of Aribella. She took a single noodle from the long heap, and held it by the ends with two fingers.

Aribella bit into the middle, seperating the noodle into two pieces. She chewed and chewed, swallowing after a hard minute.

Aribella put the two other pieces in her mouth, chewing them quicker. She held out two of her hands, grabbing quickly. “More!” Aribella asked.