Anastasia had been scrubbing the floors for hours now. With a dirty water bucket and a worn and torn sponge, she continued to rub out all of the stains and messes to the best of her abilities. Her hands and knees were sore and scraped by the hard wood floor, and her stomach growled as she hadn't eaten in days.

Setting down the sponge for a brief moment, Anastasia clutched her stomach, waiting for the aches and pains in her abdomen to go away. She groaned. The hunger was becoming almost painful now. It took everything she had not to collapse in an unconscious heap right there.

"Oi! Whaddya t'ink y're doin'?!" a gruff voice shouted at her. "Get back to work!"

Anastasia yelped as she furiously began scrubbing the floor. "Yes sir! 'M sorry sir!" she apologized. The man looked down at her with contempt and a cruel gleam in his eye.

"Tch! 'M not payin' ya to loaf around. Ya want money right? Then I better see this place spotless when I get back!" he shouted.

Anastasia didn't know if she had hours left. Her stomach grumbled again in protest, but she pushed it down and made it seem like nothing was troubling her at all. "'F course, sir! I'll do m'best sir!"

"Sometimes y'r best ain't good 'nough," he growled. With a sickening snort, he then spat on the ground right in front of Anastasia. "Clean t'at up."

"'F course, sir." When he finally left, Anastasia nearly burst into tears. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She didn't know if she could go on living like this.

But she had to get through this shift. It was only a few more hours. Then she could go and buy some food.

That is if he remembered to pay here this time.

It took far much longer than she anticipated to finish her work. But when she was finished, she was rewarded a measly amount of coins that barely compensated for all she did for the day. But the girl just had to grin and bear it. Money was money after all.

Now that she was free for the rest of the day, her next objective was to find something to eat. A piece of bread would do just fine. That could fill her up for a day. She was accustomed to it.

Except… the store Anastasia usually went to was sold out today. Unfortunate. As that store featured the only man nice enough to let her go with a bit more food than usual. But now the little girl had to find somewhere else to shop.

She eventually came to a smaller, less busy establishment with a wide selection of baked breads and pastries. Her mouth watered at the sight. The smell was something Anastasia craved. Especially after picking up trash, she needed to find something that didn't smell of death. Gingerly walking up to the counter, she hopped up to look at the price, before her heart dropped.

It was too much. It was far too expensive for what currency she was given. She looked at the other options. Again, too expensive. Her stomach growled and complained. Begging for something, anything to eat. Looking side to side, Anastasia then realized that no one was around.

"Maybe… just one loaf…" she whispered. Carefully, she reached out to the bread on display. Her heart racing in fear. But just as the bread was in her grasp…

"Hey! What're ya doin'?!"

"Gah!" Anastasia fell back in shock. She looked up to see a bearded man who looked less than friendly.

"Ya little thief! You's was tryna steal from me! Weren't ya!" he snarled. With what appeared to be a club in his right hand, Anastasia knew she had to act fast lest she wind up food for the rats instead.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I promise I was gonna pay! P-Please!" Getting on her knees, she grovelled to the man, pleading for forgiveness.

Her tactics did not appease him however. In fact, it only made him angrier.

"Lil' brat! I'll teach ya not ta steal fr'm me!" Raising his weapon high in the air, Anastasia knew that now would be a good time to start running.

If there was one upside to being malnourished, it's that she could run quite fast. She easily maneuvered past any obstacles or pedestrians she ran into and soon enough her chaser lost her.

Now hiding by an alley, Anastasia huddled by the ground again, clutching her stomach. It hurt so much she felt like she could die. Desperately, she tried searching the ground for scraps, but only found inedible litter.

She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die like this.

"Ey there. You aight, lil' one?"

"H-Huh?" Craning her neck up, she saw something that gave her quite a fright. A large, furry wolf-man staring down at her. Clas in a collar and chains, he seemed to be a demi-human slave.

With tears in her eyes, Anastasia somehow managed to give a small nod, but the rumbling of her stomach said otherwise.

"Ahh! You're hungry! Ain't ya? Well, lucky for you, I gots some extra food 'ere that you can munch on." Reaching behind him, the demi-human held out some fruit and bread for the little girl. Cautious at first, Anastasia slowly creeped forward, before snatching the contents and quickly devouring them.

The wolf man found her eating speed amusing, and gave a big hearty laugh. "Ya must've been real hungry then, huh? I can relate. Some days it was hard for me to find any food. Ya got any parents?"

Shaking her head, Anastasia communicated that she had none. "Ah, that's no good. A lil' kid like ya shouldn't be livin' on these streets alone. What's your name, kid?"

Swallowing the rest of her small meal, Anastasia looked up at the kind stranger. "Ana."

"Ana? Hmm… that's an unusual name. But a nice one!" He then suddenly remembered that he had to introduce himself. "Oh! Right! My name's Ricardo. It's nice to meetcha, Ana."

It was thanks to Ricardo that after that day; Anastasia finally gathered back the strength to smile.