Halos, and dirty soles.
She stood there, barefooted in the barn, singing softly to a calf. The sun poured through the slats in the walls, bathing her in light, and the dust seemed to dance around her, making a halo of her dirty blonde hair. She shifted, and scratched the back of one leg with a toe, showing the world a black sole, from a day of traipsing around the farm with no shoes on. The calf in the stall in front of her, present in the world only a few days, butted softly against her hand, so she'd resume petting its mostly empty head.
She knew he didn't love her, cows can't love. From what she knew of the world, nothing loved. She'd decided long ago that she'd love the world, as much as she could, even when it didn't love back.
Her song wafted to the rafter, the blues tune that flowed out of her throat made sadder by the sweet tone her voice possessed, as she tried to forget about the hunger in her stomach, and the prospect of another night she'd go to bed hungry and alone. At least it was Sunday, and school the next day meant she'd be fed at least once. But that was a long time off, she had to make it through the rest of today, and tonight.
The nights were the worst. Sometimes she could hear the family in the main house laughing, and worse, sometimes she smelled their dinner. The Hoffmans were good people, and she was glad they had each other. But the laughter and love and good smells made her stomach hurt.
She figured one day it wouldn't hurt to see other people be happy, and she wondered how you could be happy and sad at the same time, like your heart needed air and the room was too small. It made her eyes water, so she shrugged it off, and decided to go to the creek. She wasn't supposed to go alone, but if she waited until she had someone, she'd never go anywhere.
When she drowned, alone, it took three days for her broken little body to wash ashore. It took six days before anyone claimed her, and laid her to rest. Her headstone laid on the ground, with the word "Angel" and two dates, but no one ever wept for her, and the world never loved her back.