"And make sure you come home once school is over, alright?" Katyusha said as she handed her younger sister a tin lunch pail.
"Yeah, I know," Natalia mumbled.
"Good, both of us would be sad if something happened to our baby sister while we were working."
Katyusha was Natalia's older sister. She would clean the homes of rich people. Natalia's older brother Ivan was already at the factory. He had gone to work long before the sun rose. Both of them worked very hard to keep this shack the three of them called home. They could have lived some place nicer if they would let Natalia go to work too. Neither of them would allow it. The two scrimped and saved to send her to school every day.
Natalia hated school. All the other girls came from families better off than hers. The daughters of merchants, judges and lower ranking government officials went to Mary's School for Girls. The other girls would have their hair curled and wore brightly colored dresses. Natalia wore the same two or three dresses that her older sister constantly washed and repaired. It would not have been so bad if the skirts were all too short on Natalia. She would spend the day tugging on her skirts, trying to make them longer.
"Be a good girl," Katyusha said as she hugged her little sister.
Natalia mumbled something that sound vaguely like "goodbye" before she turned and began to walk away. She held the tin lunch pail in her left hand. She let her right hand hang limply by her side. It was only about a mile to school.
On her way there she would walk through an older part of town that was filled with mansions. Each one had an imposing fence or wall around them with a large gate. Her favorite was one that she thought was abandoned. The mansion sat far back with trees in between it and the gate. Natalia would imagine them becoming rich and moving there. Ivan would run the factory and those stuck up rich women would clean for Katyusha. Natalia wouldn't even have to go to school anymore. The teachers would come to her.
Natalia stopped to look at her favorite mansion. She was admiring it when she thought she saw movement. It must have been her imagination. No one lived here. But, Natalia still could have sworn she saw someone look out the window.
She looked back and forth up and down the street. There was no one else there except for her. She did not know how long until someone would appear on foot or coming down the street. Natalia untied her apron, put it through the handle of her lunch pail and retied it. With both of her hands free she began to climb the gate.
About halfway up she reached up, grabbed a piece of metal, pulled and found herself stuck. With a small grunt she forced her way up. The caught piece of fabric ripped leaving a large rip in her skirt. Natalia blocked out the knowledge of her impeding scolding when she got home. She continued climbing until she was at the top. Careful of the spikes, she crossed over to the other side. She only climbed down a little bit and then let herself drop the rest of the way.
Natalia dusted herself off and inspected the damage to her skirt. The rip was at least six inches. There was no way she was going to be able to hide this from her sister. She untied her lunch pail and followed the road leading back to the mansion.
Maybe she had seen a thief? If she had she could go get a constable. There might even be a reward for it. Or it could have been a ghost, jealous of its inability to leave the house while she could come and go. Even if it had just been a draft and there was really no one here it would not be too bad. There was always the chance she could find something valuable to take to a pawn shop.
The path led her to a pair of old doors. Both were locked and too sturdy for her to have a prayer of breaking through. This did not deter her. She began to walk around the building, looking up and down. Finally, she found a low set window. It must lead to a cellar. Natalia tested it. It was stuck, but she was able to force it open.
She crawled through the window and into the darkness. She fell the short distance to the stone floor. The landing was painful only because she landed on her lunch pail. Natalia considered it for a moment, internally debating whether or not to get rid of it. When she stood and began searching for a door she still carried it.
Natalia blindly searched with the fingers of her free hand. She found a wall and followed it until she touched the handle of an old door. When she pulled it open she could smell mildew. Natalia stepped through the doorway. This room was bigger. The darkness was different than before and gave off the impression of depth. It took a while, and a few stumbles, to find a set of stairs going up.
She opened the door at the top of the steps and found herself in a hallway. Even run down it was the most beautiful building interior she had ever seen. The furniture that was falling apart and the broken glass on the floor gave a certain charm that only a girl like her could appreciate. Heavy, discolored curtains blocked the windows. The only light came from an Oriental oil lamp.
The lamp was lit.
A blur of pink movement spun Natalia around. The last thing she remembered was a pain in her throat before the darkness of unconsciousness claimed her.