Announcement~ this whole story will be in Claudia's Point of View unless otherwise warned ahead of time. And this goes a few years ahead from the last chapter… soo yeah she is four (ish) in this chapter.
Chapter 2~ New Memories and A friendI slowly open my eyes as I hear the heavy steps of someone walking up to the door of my shoebox sized room. Quickly, I get out of bed and get dressed in a basic plain dress before whoever was walking up to my room could see that I was still asleep. I have learned how to not get into trouble with these people and to still be able to protect my little brother, even though he is getting raised to believe he is older, and that I'm not supposed to be his sister. He still knows and is just as protective of me as I am of him. I am standing ready at the foot of my makeshift bed when the door opens. I see the person whose steps I heard and see that it is my supposed Father. Who is an asshole…
"Are you ready to leave Claudia?" He asks me and I can hear the threat in his voice daring me to say anything, so I just nod trying to keep a passive look on my face as he stares at me. After a moment he grabs my arm and starts pulling me along. I remember what today is, my birthday, which means, meeting my new family and coming to meet the person I would have to answer to as master.
"Great and father is drunk too let's see how badly this goes." I think as I am roughly thrown at the carriage. I always ride in the front with the driver. He's a mute so there isn't any verbal talking from either of us, but we do know how to 'talk' with our hands. As I climb up next to him, he asks if I'm ok to which I just nod my head because I wasn't really sure. I watch as he tries to smile at me but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. It dawns on me that he knows what today is to. Which for him it means no longer having anyone to talk to.
We all pretty much rode in silence with the inception of my father drunkenly yelling at me about how useless I have been, but as we started to pull up to my soon to be new home the driver tells me to be careful and I just respond that I will try but no promises which then brings a smile out of him. I smile back before jumping down and looking at the house.
"There is no doubt that the kid is a spoiled little brat… I can try to change that, though." I think before my father grabs my arm again dragging me up to the front door and knocking. I was expecting a butler to answer the door but instead, I see a red headed boy about my age and height opening the door with the sweetest smile that I've probably seen for the first time in a long time.
"Yes! My new play buddy is here!" He exclaims and quickly embraces me, trapping me in a bear hug. Which with his child like strength, the hug is nothing really, but it still startles me because I am unsure of how I am supposed to respond. This whole scene though makes my Father let go of my arm, which I am grateful for happening. I look over the boy's shoulder to see a figure walking down the stairs towards the front door.
"Grell Sutcliff! I told you to not open the door unless an adult is around!" I hear a feminine voice say from the figure, which I now guess is his mother. But I could be wrong this family is so rich he might have a nanny and three or four tutors a day for all I know. I breathe a silent breath of relief when the boy let's go of me.
"Sorry Mum." Redhead says confirming my thoughts. I pay attention to how the boy seems uncomfortable in the tight male clothing and I politely bow to them though my bow is directed more towards his mom.
"Oh, don't worry about bowing," the Redhead says taking my hand and starts to drag me through the door leaving the parents to talk. Which again startles me because I am not used to someone acting this way towards me. I try to keep up with his pace so that my arm doesn't get pulled out of place. Eventually, he comes to a stop at the base of the stairs and turns to me.
"So what's your name? I expected you to be older. Oh, Hey you're a girl! We can play dress up!" He shots at me I just blink not knowing what to answer to or if I am even supposed to answer anything. He watches me for a moment confused on why I'm not saying anything then pokes both of my check which I blink showing that he just startles me again. "Come on you can talk to me, Miss," He says softly and I look back toward my father and his mother and thankfully he followed where I was looking and nodded before grabbing my hand again and pulling me upstairs. I follow closely trying to memorize the turns but I get distracted when I see a painting for him with both his mother and father.
"Oh yeah, that's my whole family… My mom barely survived bringing me into this world. I'm always told that the other baby didn't survive." He says next to me. I nod understanding what he is saying but what had caught my attention was the fact that I recognize his father from Undertakers shop the night of my murder.
"Yeah… I know that feeling… I watched my brother being raised and being told I had died that day. Though he found out I wasn't a few months ago." I mutter softly trying to cover up the truth on why I had stopped.
"Wait! You mean that you're supposed to be a noble too?" He asks shocked to hear something like what I am living with being a possible thing.
"Yeah, but I was born first instead of my brother so my mom had come one with a plan to not have me killed. I was to be raised as a servants' child until I was four before going to her friend's place and become her son's personal servant. Which I am sure you can guess that son is you." I Say remembering the night my mom had brought my brother and me home from the hospital. I turn my head to look at him and smile softly. "No matter the past though you'll always be rewarded for surviving it," I add and watch him think about it for a moment and smile too.
"So what is your name? I'm sure you got mine from my mom when she scolded me." He says and takes my hand again to start leading me again but this time much slower than before.
"Claudia…"I start to say and realize that I didn't know my last name. I look at him not sure what to say.
"Well, Claudia seems to fit you. But why did you stop before saying your last name? Wait do you even know your last name?" He asks and looks towards me to see the confused look on my face and he just nods. "We'll have to come up with one for you." He adds with a smile and comes to a stop. I blink trying to figure out why he stopped when I hear two male voices coming down the hall in front of us. I look at his face again and see that he is scared of what I don't know yet but will soon. I quickly pull his hand towards the closest door and open it. Inside the room is dark but I can make out a few different things. Quickly I pull him towards a bookshelf that had a gap between it and the wall. After a few moments, I feel him tap on my shoulder, as I turn around I blink shocked that we found a secret room.
"What is all of this?" He asks walking farther into the room. I quickly follow him now wanting him to get hurt. "Do you know what any of this is?" he asks me over his shoulder. I shrug trying to remember what it reminds me of before it dawns on me. "Torture…" I mutter and stop moving, hesitating because the memories of a job James had started to replay in my head. I stopped paying attention to my surrounding the most vivid the memory got, to the point where I didn't realize I was being pulled behind a cabinet. I blink a few times before I realize my mouth is being covered and for a split second I panic before I remember that it is a memory. I look at him and see him telling me to be quiet by holding his finger to his mouth. I nod but tilt my head to the side to ask why. He then points to his ear before I realize there are voices coming towards us. I blink seeing that he is scared, but so was I to be honest. We stood there waiting for the voices to go away but the longer they stayed the easier it was to pick up on what was being said.
"When my boy goes to college I'll be sure you get the little bitch of his." I hear first which I guess is Grell's father. I look at him to see if he is hearing any of this only to find that he fell asleep on me. I quietly sigh and turn my attention back to the conversation.
"She is not a bitch. Now be respectful of that or else Reaper." I hear a feminine voice snap. I hold my breath wanting to hear a name for this woman. I hear a shuffle of feet before a growl that strikes a knife of fear through me.
"Demon woman you're lucky that I cannot do anything. But you'll get your prize thing when my boy goes to college. Now get out of my house." I hear Grell's father say with a harsh undertone. I blink trying to figure out how to keep this woman from leaving just yet because I wanted to talk to her. Before I even manage to move I feel something touch me telling me not to move. I then hear what sounds like a fire randomly erupting before disappearing a few moments later. I wait a few more moments because I start to hear another set of steps approaching.
"Is the Demon gone now?" I hear Grell's mom ask with a tone of worry.
"Yes, it's gone… and I managed to change the deal." His father adds, sounding much softer than before.
"Then it's over! We get to keep our baby boy?!" She asks in what seems to be bordering hysteria.
"Yes. In exchange for his new maid when he goes to college…"He says in a near whisper causing me to almost miss what he says, but it then dawns on me that he is talking about trading me to the demon. What deal did they have before with the Demon before it got changed?
"You know that will break our baby boy's heart!" His mother cries out and I tilt my head wondering what they went through for Grell, to begin with. I shake my head to turn my attention back to the conversation before I missed anything only to realize they're walking away. Gently I shake Grell to wake him and it takes a few tries but eventually he wakes up.
"They're gone… Let's go to your room, I have so much to fill you in on!" I say excitedly and watch as he smiles. He takes my hand and together we run out of the room and down many different halls before getting to a brightly colored red door. I just snicker as he opens the door to his room. But what I didn't expect was his room to seem like the perfect room from my dreams. So I couldn't help but stand in wonder at the look of the room. Though the spell is quickly broken when I hear footsteps and quickly move into the room and close the door behind myself and gave Grell a look that said we needed a hiding spot and quick. I smile as he nods and leads me to his closet. Which is big enough to be a bedroom itself. I feel my hand being grabbed but instead of seeing Grell I momentarily see a girl that looks like me but also looks like Undertaker. I momentarily freak out and close my eyes again letting my mind calm down before opening them again and see Grell waving me over to where he was hiding. I quietly run over to him and get behind a stack of shoe boxes just as someone walks into his bedroom. Slowly the footsteps come closer to the closet before stopping.
"I wonder where that ungrateful child went with the boy…" I hear my father's voice floating around in the room. I looked over at Grell to see the questions in his eyes. I silently sigh knowing that I'll be telling him about my brother and parents and why I am where I am now with him. I close my eyes listening to my father's footsteps fade away. As I open my eyes I see Grell right in my face and squeak.
"Explain what Mr. Phadette meant." He demands, and the look he gave me made it to where I felt that I could trust him with the secret. I also blink because I know now my families last name.
"I didn't know that was my father's last name…" I mumble and jump feeling small hands on my shoulders.
"You are the missing child of the Phadette family?!" He whisperish/shoutish to me while shaking my shoulders. I blink unsure how to respond but I start to smile think of how the years to come are going to be an interesting adventure.
Hey, Kiria here so I had like a super huge writer's block but I am back. So I rewrote chapter one (twice now) because I wanted to give a little back story of Claudie before she became a reaper. I have also rewritten this chapter to add to it because it was reeeealy short(Done so twice now)…. But anyway the other chapters are also getting a rewrite up to chapter 4! And I have the basis for chapters 5-9 they just need detail so once I am finished rewriting I'll start uploading chapters as I finish them.
