There was a little bell that rang once, although the sound of it pierced her ear.
She groaned, raising her left arm to her face in an attempt to shield her eyes from the sunlight.
The bell rang once more. A sharp sound she'd never heard a normal bell make.
"Wait?! Sunlight?!", Vanessa jumped out of bed. It was seeping into the room from all angles. "My word...", her eyes roamed about every inch of the room. "It's as wide as my family house!"
Her eyes moved down to analyze the bed, "my whole family could fit in this!", she rubbed the fluffy bedsheet.
The room was somewhat scattered in a way, and regardless of its wide area... It seemed to have almost no furniture!!
Apart from the king-sized bed and wardrobe at the other edge of the room. The room could be said to be empty!
Just as there had been no sign of furniture in the living room.
She moved towards the windows. The curtains were a transparent shade of bisque. "Oww?", she parted them to see that the windows were quite dusty.
But the view from up here was amazing, the town some distance below seemed as tiny as a colony of ants.
There was a lot of work to be done after breakfast!
She rushed out of the room.
She wanted to make sure everything in the house was in order before the master of the house returned. It was best to find favor in his sight with her first impression just as mother had instructed.
If she worked hard, the people might be kind to her.
There were two huge windows adjacent to the stairs. Sunlight was pouring in like nobody's business so it was hard to believe this was the same house from last night.
"Good morning lady Vanessa", Chadwick called out from below the stairs. She was sure he'd seen her gawking at the house.
"Ohh... Good morning, sir Chadwick", she bowed before nervously making her way down the stairs.
"Just call me, Chadwick". He led the way to the dining room as her eyes couldn't help but roam around the insides of the castle. There was barely any furniture, although there was a large chandelier hanging down the middle of the room.
She'd feared that it would end up being a haunted house but no haunted house would be this bright at any time of the day...
"I have good news", Chadwick began once she sat down. "The master will return before the end of today"
She nodded with worry while taking up a piece of what looked like burnt bread beside her. "What do you call this?", it was like bread, but crunchier and tastier!
"Toast".
"It's delicious!", she smiled taking up the next slice.
He bowed. "I'll show you around the house once you're done with breakfast".
"Sir... I mean, Chadwick", she stopped him from leaving. The expression on her face had gone serious. "Was any occasion held here last night? It was quite noisy past midnight"
"It was the other members of the house"
"Other people are living here?"
"Yes, although you can't see them during the daytime"
She arched a brow. "And why's that?", scooping a chunk of the scrambled eggs into her mouth.
"They only ever come out past midnight".
There was silence for a moment as she hurried to finish her meal so she could take a tour of the house. Chadwick was beside her all through her meal..... it was a bit uncomfortable.
"Shall we go now?", he queried.
Getting up, she followed closely behind him. He brought out a bunch of keys from his pocket and stopped at a door right beside the dining room.
Without using the keys the first time, he opened it. It was an empty room with the walls falling apart!
After just one glance, he slammed the door shut.
"I don't understa-",
He raised one of the keys from the rest in the bunch before putting it into the lock. Vanessa was already lost, what was meant to be inside that scattered room anyway?
He locked and unlocked the door once, before pushing it open again. "This is the library key"
Her eyes couldn't believe what was before them, she had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Ho-...how did such a huge library appear in such a small room?! Am I seeing things?"
Chadwick shut the door again before using a different key this time. On opening it, it was full of empty canvases and other art tools and materials.
"This is the art room"
It was all too overwhelming for her!
He showed her three more keys.
"Did you get that, madam?"
He called her a different name every single time!
"I think my head hurts", she moved to lean on the wall beside the door.
He didn't say a word as if waiting for her to get herself back.
"Is this a haunted house? Or is this some sort of sorcery?"
His answer was straight as usual. "Whatever you make of it, Ma"
"How about the furniture? I noticed the house is lacking in furniture"
He reached into his other pocket to get out a bunch of two keys. "This way".
She didn't have any choice but to follow him back into the dining room. He shut the door behind them before using a key on it.
She gulped in distress when he Reopened the door again to a fully furnished living room!
The whole room had transformed completely. "I...Is it real?", she stammered moving to touch the couch. They were all wrapped with fur. "So soft", she rubbed it.
"I wanted to start cleaning today, could I get a rag and some soap?"
He nodded as she began heading up to her room. "You forgot your bunch of keys!", he called out.
"Sorry about that", she turned to take it from him.
In a few minutes, she was given the soap and rag. Vanessa made sure to scrub the floor and windows clean, got rid of the cobwebs, and also tidied the bathroom till it was sparkling.
"Now for the wardrobe...", she moved to the partially open wardrobe. There were male clothes inside?
"Could it have belonged to the last person who lived here?", but they looked expensive and new.
She decided to just arrange them while dusting.
"Finally done!", she jumped to her feet stretching her arms out. It was time for her to take a bath...
She kicked off her dress before getting to her underwear. It was really surprising as they'd known her exact size.
"Must be a coincidence", she muttered to herself while wrapping the towel around her chest. There were no clothing for her to change into when she was done, so she planned to wash her underwear and wait till it got dried.
Sigh.
"Bloody hell?!", the bathe was already prepared and this time, the tap wasn't even running!
Could she have prepared it when washing the bathroom?
She shook her head in disagreement.
This was the strangest house she'd ever seen.
After some moments of indecision, she decided not to think about it. If she tried to explain everything that happened in this place, she might run mad!
She used another soap to wash her body and then poured some water on herself.
"Ah!", she moaned in pleasure when the last drops of warm water in the jug touched her face.
If she was to be at her family house now, the amount of water she'd used just now could have been shared by herself, alongside her mother and sister.
Normally, you'd stand in a long line to fetch water from the well every morning. If the rain hadn't fallen in a long time, only a few people would get water out of the well.
Wasting water in the village was a criminal offense!
She dried her hair while stepping into the bedroom. A fresh set of clothing and underwear was already laid out for her. "I didn't hear Chadwick come in...". She wondered. It seemed rude of him to just barge into her room. But oh well... She was a slave so being thankful for fresh clothes would be the right approach.
It was a white gown this time unlike the teal-colored one from yesterday.
"Quite the beautiful dress for a slave that hasn't done any work". Immediately those words escaped her lips, she found herself running towards the window. The sun was still up!
"Ohh lord!", she jumped in panic recalling not cleaning anywhere apart from her room all day! And the lord of this house would return in some hours!
Her eyes moved to the white gown on the bed, it was too pretty to get stained cleaning. "The wardrobe!". An idea hit her and she found herself borrowing a shirt from the pile in the wardrobe.
Time passed by fast and before she knew it, it was dark. Not as dark as the previous night, maybe her eyes had adjusted to the darkness?
She'd also skipped lunch to make sure she could clean as much as possible. The coconut-white marble floor of the living area which was the size of a ballroom was now shining, the rails of the stairway were dust-free and the windows were spotless.
She let out a deep sigh, "I'm glad I could at least do this much".
"Well done", Chadwick came up from behind her. Where did this man even sleep? He just seemed to appear and disappear whenever he saw fit!
He was an old man with white hair who seemed to still have some youthful vigor.
"I'm glad I could do something".
With his free hand, he reached for his pocket watch to tell the time. "7:12 pm already! Please take a bathe and come down for dinner before the master returns"
"Yessir", she hopped to her feet.
As usual, the bathe was already set for her. And when she was done, a new set of underwear and that white gown from before.
It was getting really creepy as she could never hear the sound of her door opening.
Spaghetti was served for dinner and just like that first day, she couldn't help but feel as though someone sat at the other edge of the table..... covered by the darkness.
She'd gotten to the room some minutes after saying goodnight to Chadwick. The other members of the house he'd spoken of who only came out by midnight, she'd planned to take a peek at them tonight.
The weather was hot so she'd taken off her gown, then her bra. Just putting on a transparent nightwear singlet that was left on the bed alongside her panties.
She hanged the gown at the foot of the bed before climbing in. It didn't seem to be up to a minute before the hoarse voice of a man came.
"Who are you and how did you get past Chadwick?!". The voice demanded.
She jumped up covering her breast with an arm, "who's there please?", her eyes searched the darkness. "Chadwick?", she raised the sheets to her body in fear.
"You didn't answer my question!", the voice was angrier now and before she knew it, an arm wrapped around her mouth..... roughly pulling her off the bed.
Vanessa wanted to scream, but she could barely even breathe... So she struggled.
"Be calm woman", he commanded. "I will take my hand away by the count of three and if I don't like your explanation, I will break your neck"
She nodded in fear, her body was quivering as she held back tears.
"Who are you? And I advice you to choose your words carefully".
She decided to start from the beginning. "My name is Vanessa Hawkins, I came to pay off my debt to the Randall family and had come to begin working as a servant. Chadwick showed me to this room when I arrived yesterday".
"Chadwick...?", He cursed under his breath. The softness of her butt being pressed against him made him push her away. "This is my room. Find somewhere else to sleep".
She nodded in the darkness before scurrying to find the door, she was too scared to request to take her gown from the edge of the bed before hurrying out.
Outside the room was dark and silent. She didn't have a lamp to go look for Chadwick or even a clue where he might be!
She wanted to cry. It was just starting to become a reality to her that she was a slave, not some honored guest. Who had she been kidding?
The room was at the edge of the corridor, so she just sat on the floor with her legs folded up and her head against the wall.
Her body was still tired from all that cleaning she'd managed to do.
Midnight's bell struck and one by one, each room seemed to open. There were no footsteps, but there were voices.
She squeezed her eyes shut in fear of what she might see if she'd opened them.
More and more voices came up and that night, was the most frightening night of her life.