I have no idea when I fell asleep, holed up in a corner. But I woke up to a loud banging at my door. Surprised to see the sun already risen I realised that I was late on my first day, and on top of that someone was already here to fetch me, which means I'm screwed.
"It's me Edith." Ah! A quick sigh of relief escaped my lips, that's right the both of us were assigned to the kitchen. I wanted to shower but I couldn't even do that. I straightened my hair, and then tied it up in a bun and arranged my already rumpled clothes and walked out.
"Good morning." I say with a cheerful smile. But Edith looks at me from head to toe, and tsk, I could tell she's figured it out already.
"Shall we go."
She frowned suddenly at me, "not looking like that, come shower in the staff room, I have an extra change of clothes.'' Sweet Jesus, I couldn't be more grateful, tears stood in the corner of my eye as a continuation of last night. "Forget about crying and start thinking of getting used to your new life, it's better this way, besides your eyes are all puffy."
I raise my gown and wipe my tears away before following her to the staff room. Compared to mine, it was comfortable, with nice beds, there were fans, a table and more in the room, and then we arrived at the bathroom. It was a stand-in shower but I didn't care about that, I just wanted to bathe right now. "Use this." She handed over liquid soap to me and left the clothes on a stool, and then after a long night, I finally had my bath.
Hmm, roses.
The soap smells like roses. I changed into the clothes, which wasn't much different from mine except it was a skirt instead, it was still the bland colour of white and black, nothing more, nothing less. After that nice shower and breakfast, I felt energetic and refreshed that I was ready to start my new work. Or so I thought.
The kitchen wasn't an easy course, the chef who was a middle aged man was diligently doing his job while we assisted. "Go wash the vegetables." He told us, and we were about to do that before a woman stopped us. She seemed older than him and was definitely not the one from last night.
She was the kitchen mistress.
"Go chop the onions instead, girl." I looked around to figure out who she was speaking to since there were only two of us and one would have to go, but she walked towards me and pointed at my chest. "You, onions, now."
"But madame, the onion's are already chopped." The chef said.
"No. Let her chop a new one." Edith could do nothing except step aside and let me do my job, and so, without an onion cutter, I began to chop the onions while she watched me with great supervision not leaving my side regardless of how heavy harsh the onions were, as I finished one, she'd give me another, and another, and so, I continued and my eyes turned red from and blurry that I could hardly see a thing.
Ouch!!!
My finger had been cut as a result of being unable to see anything and my hands turning numb from the chopping. I raced towards the sink, bumping on things on my way there due to my blurry vision.
Hahaha!
I heard youthful laughter from behind me. "She ran like a child." They laughed. I see, so that teamed up to humiliate me.
"Now these onions are contaminated. Franklin, thrown these away." The woman ordered the chef. I couldn't take it anymore and left the kitchen to my room. I did get missing a few times but I was able to find it faster than last time. Holding on to my wounded finger, dripping from blood I hurried there but on arriving,I stopped, looking at the empty room with faults upon faults at that moment I wondered what I should cry for, being treated unfairly by them or by the master of the house for a crime I did not commit and having no answer, I wiped away my tears and sat at a corner once again.
It took me hours to calm down, and right after I did, I had to find a way to fend for myself because no one would fend for me from now, and my wound will be in a worse shape if I left it this way, so I had to think fast. If I could get some herds then I can stop the swelling.
I guess I have to go back to the kitchen. It's not like I wanted to go back but I needed some tea bags to help reduce the swelling, it would be easier to ask for a mouthwash but that would sting a lot, ice would work as well but tea would do a much better job. I should ask the chef, I mean Franklin for some.
"Ah, there she is." Franklin and Edith who stood by a corner race towards me. "Are you okay? How's your wound doing?" Their worried expression took turns to pop forward to my face. "Let me see that dear.'' Franklin says as he takes my hand in his big, wrinkled hand.
"Um, can I have a tea bag please." I ask.
"Yes yes, Edith made one right away." Surprisingly, today, I made yet another friend. "Take the day off okay, that old hag Caroline has some nerves. To think she'd act this way to an innocent child like yourself." He said. He took out some ice while the teabags cooled down and started to apply it around, it stings, but not as much as before.
Thanks to them, I was able to get through the night after applying the tea bags to my wound. Edith who rushed back and forth brought me a nightgown which I changed into, and then applied bandages to my wound before sending me back to my room.
With Edith's help, I got to my room and opened the door.
Wam! Came the door as it broke and fell apart, now that I looked closely, my so called room looks worse each day. Hmm, maybe there's something I can do about it. Since I had nowhere to rest my head. I aimed for one of the wooden shelves, twice the height of a human but with Edith I was able to bring it down to the floor. It fell downwards and so the back was on top. Since the shelf seems to be working fine, I pushed it near the wall. "What are you making?" Edith asked.
"A bed." I say.
I hear a long gasp, Edith covers her mouth and when she opens it. She yells. "With your wounded finger, I don't think so. Let me do it, stay outside and tell me what I should do."
"At least let me clean." I beg her. We went back and forth for hours before she finally let me do some cleaning. This room was in a far worse state than we thought. We started by moving the irrelevant equipment away from us and making use of what we needed, there were glass holders, a shoe rack, a chair, curtains and some other stuffs, it got me wondering how many time they changed their house materials to have all this in the storage room, nevertheless I was thankful because the storage room was large enough to contain most of it and make it look comfortable for me, except there was no bed and bathroom so I knew I was going to be sharing with Edith going forward.
It took us all night to clean up, thankfully there was electricity so it wasn't hard to see, and so around 2am in the morning. We were almost finished. "Let's call it a day, I'll come back when the sun is out." Edith says, waving me a goodbye as she leaves but I was unable to sleep and continued anyway that was till my stomach grumbled. I haven't had anything to eat since this evening. "Shit." I hurried to the kitchen to see if the chef was awake but he wasn't there. So, I decided to spend the evening wandering through the main house, that was until, I heard the sound of the door open that I hid at the wine bar, praying to not to be found but the sound of someone being dragged grew louder and louder, until it passed me and head for the stairs but then it stopped. It didn't sound like it had gone away, it just, stopped.
I'm trapped.