Lily was shaking beside me as well. " So what now?" I wondered how I was going to go about my new chores. I didn't even know the preferences of my new mistress to be able to cater to her. "We go up to the east wing of the castle where the mistresses live, then we meet up with the others and try to find a way to please the mistresses" she said, pulling me along to the direction in which we were to go but I had more questions. During the first few days at the castle I have heard some of the maids talk about how they ran into the superiors of the castle or about how some of the slaves were used as chamber meals and how some were tortured and killed for refusing to feed their superiors. I had questions that needed to be answered but no one but Lily seems to have the time and energy to help me out with anything at this point. "Lily what happened to those slaves?"
"You don't need to be worried about that. Just do as you are told. You don't want your body to be fed to the hounds do you?" she hissed at me and her grip on my wrist tightened more. Now I was even more scared to do what the future held for me. "Why? I don't understand anything that is happening. No one wants to answer my questions." I whispered back at her more forcefully. It was a nightmare knowing so little about the world you live in and i didnt like the feeling one bit. "Just do as you're told. Don't get in the way and you'll be fine." I had nothing more to say at that point so we just made our journey through the halls to the east wing of the castle where we found the other maids occupying their respective rooms to work in. Lily and I found ours and got to work as well. The cleaning suppliers were all brought up by the slaves from earlier so all we had to do was find what we needed for our part then take it.
I walked into the room I was supposed to work in and just spent the first few minutes of my already limited time gaping shamelessly at the sight before me. The walls of the room were covered in a cream coating with various swirls embedded in them, the floors were covered with a soft, beautiful lilac rug that I couldn't help but bend to run my hands over. The canopy bed was marvelous. It stood tall with lavender curtains draping off the sides and held up in different places to create big, but delicate bows. The bed was covered in white beddings. My eyes traveled to the ceiling where I noticed a painting of a woman who looked like she was just in the beginning of her life, smiling down with malice in her eyes and her lips painted an unnatural shade of blood red. Her lips were curved into a subtle mocking smile and her silver hair shone as she stood there frozen. I made a move to look at her eyes once again before taking my eyes off and deciding I had had enough to look at.
I had been in charge of the room for nearly two fortnights when I finally understood the world I was trusting in. It was one evening as usual as I was walking down the hallway of my mistress's room to place the new towels she requested in her room. I stumbled upon something I suppose I wasn't supposed to see in the first place.
The hallway was quiet as I made my way through but I didn't find it strange because it was almost always deserted. I knocked on the door to her room and waited for her to answer but got none so I stepped in as quickly as possible and dropped the towel in the cabinet above the washbasin and hurried out of there before I could be seen. Bus luck was not on my side that evening as I walked out of the room I stumbled into another body and was pushed off my feet as the person I collided with stumbled and continued hastitly walking away. I picked myself up and smoothed out my clothes shaking my head at the absurd situation just now. But before I could take another step I heard a whimper from one of the rooms along the hallway. It was not my business to check on anything but I didn't want to leave in case there was something wrong with someone. I crept closer to the door I heard the whimper from and checked to see if there was a way I could look into the room without being caught to be accused of any wrong. I stood there for a minute contemplating what to do next and decided to open the door a crack to be able to peep at whatever was going on. My heart hammered against my chest as I placed my hand on the handle ready to pull down.
One minute I was standing by the door and the next minute I was being held up against the wall. My hand and body ripped away from the door and forced an applied to my neck, cutting my breath short. My hands moved to claw at the obviously stronger ones gripping to my throat as I head and choke trying to get some air into my system . I could feel my heart race and my brows creased as the pain of losing air gripped me hard. "What do you think you are doing little servant" the voice of my attacker intruded the heaving that filled the hallway. His voice held so much power, my knees shook. I shook my head rapidly trying to deny doing anything but the pressure of my neck did not loosen. Rather I raised my head as best as I could to look at the man who had taken me as captive at that moment, fear gripped my bones then.
I knew he was no man like the ones I have met. His eyes bloodshot as he looked at me with so much disgust made me rethink my value as a person. " i- i can't breathe please" I weazed and begged but to no avail the questions kept coming. Black dots were filling my vishing. I was scared- so scared at that moment i knew my life was over. What were you looking for? Who are you? Why are you even in the halls at this time slave" he hissed at me and threw me across the floor. I lay sprawled there coughing and trying to get as much air into my system as possible before anything else would go wrong. " I - I was bring - bringing towels for my mistress Sir, I'm a chambermaid" I said as I shifted further away from him trying to disappear into the walls. The look in his eyes at my explanation told me I was done for as the words from his mouth confirmed my fate. " I don't believe you" and next thing I know I was grabbed my my hair causing me to scream out on pain and shick niut my spout of pain came to halt when his hand flew across my face demanding i stay quiet.By my hair he dragged me down the hall as I cried and begged for being misunderstood.