Beads

She sits on the smooth wooden floorboards, legs curled beneath her, threading a golden bead onto a strand of her curly hair. She is surrounded by similar beads of various sizes, arranged in piles on the floor and woven into various small braids scattered throughout her mane of curls. Her eyes are shut, dark eyelashes curl against the freckles on her cheeks. Her hands continue the braid with the ease of something done many times over.

She finishes the braid, falls onto her back, her bright clothes and hair glowing in the small, sparse room, beads still scattered around her. She opens her eyes and smiles up at the ceiling.