For over a week, the parents left their 6-year-old daughter alone in an empty house without any heating or food, but when they came back, they discovered something awful 
A child should sense their parents’ love, warmth, and care at the age of six. For young Liza, however, things were different. She was already accustomed to her parents frequently leaving her alone while they were out “running errands.” They always said they would return soon, but that “soon” always turned into long days.
That’s what also occurred this time. The home was cold, and outside the window the fall wind howled. A bottle of water and half a loaf of bread were left on the table by the parents. We’ll be back shortly, so please be patient. Her mother quickly put on her coat and urged, “Don’t leave the house, or it will be bad for you.”
Liza waited during the first few hours. Whispering to her dolls that her mother would arrive at any moment, she counted down the minutes. The days then started to merge into a single, dismal, never-ending wait. She hid from the darkness by sitting beneath the table and covering herself with a light blanket. She used a spoon to scrape the bowl after the bread was gone, trying to discover even a crumb.
The worst, though, were the evenings. Liza put her hands over her ears and shuddered at every noise, including the rat rustling beneath the floor, the wind slamming the shutters, and occasionally the sound of footsteps in the hallway. Whispering into the shadows, the young girl said:
– Mommy will arrive. Mommy is here.
However, there was no response.
Finally, the door opened on the sixth day. As though nothing had happened, the parents entered laughing. Then they noticed something awful.
They heard quiet instead of the happy cry of a child.
Liza was sitting on the chilly floor in the kitchen corner. She had already licked the empty bowl in front of her clean. The girl had a pallid face and empty eyes. She didn’t grin or rush to them.
She said the same phrases repeatedly in a low voice:
I’m not hungry. I no longer desire to eat.
The parents stopped. Their child, who had been a happy young girl only a day before, now gazed at them with eyes that were devoid of all youthful qualities and instead filled with a bottomless emptiness.
