Hey guys! Sorry for taking a while but I was away for a few days without a computer so I couldn't update, but now I did so I hope you like this chapter. At the end I put the ages of the characters for all of you who were wondering. So enjoy! :)
"Morning!" I hear someone scream almost to my ear. Ugh, who the hell is it? I was having such a weird dream, I'd time traveled to the past and met some weird people. Thank God it was just a dream.
"What time is it?" I whisper, already trying to get back to sleep.
"It's five in the morning! Come on, time to wake up!"
"Five? Why are you waking me up at this hour?" the nerve.
"We have work to do, we always have to awaken at this hour." Work? Seriously?
I open my eyes, wincing, and look around to see who the hell is disturbing me. When I eyes land on Alice, I'm confused. What is she doing here? Didn't I just wake up?
"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" I ask her confused.
She laughed. "No Miss Bella."
I finally realize that I'm not dreaming. This is actually real. Oh no, you have got to be kidding me. No, no, no!
"Are you all right?" she asked concerned.
"Um…just give me a moment." I say, trying to take it all in. I'm actually feeling dizzy.
"Are you ill?"
"No, it's not that. I just need a few minutes that's all."
"All right. Come to the kitchen when you're ready, just follow the corridor to your left and you'll get there. Here are some clothes for you to wear." She said, handing me the clothes and leaving.
I looked around me, no really seeing anything. I don't know what to do. I'm in a completely different place and time. For now, I'll just "go with the flow" until I figure out what to do and how to get back.
So I picked up the clothes, put them on, and headed out the room to the kitchen.
When I get there I see Alice talking to Jasper and Esme talking to an old man. Esme looks up when I enter and smiles at me.
"Good morning Bella, did you sleep well?" she asks me kindly.
"Yeah I did, thank you."
"Bella! Come over here and eat some food!" Jasper called.
The old man came over to me handing me a plate with food, "Hello Bella, my name is Charlie, I'm Jasper's father and the house gardener. Pleasure to meet you." He said, smiling.
"Thanks."
I sat down with Alice and Jasper to eat, I was starving. When we finished, Esme led me outside to tell me what I had to do.
"Bella, today you will start with cleaning those windows over there." She said, pointing towards no fewer than 10 windows. Yeah, the house is that big. And this was just the side of the house.
"I will be right over there," she said pointing to the other side, "When you finish come to me so I can give you the next task. This is what you will use to clean them." She said, handing me the things and leaving.
It took me three hours to finish those windows, then two more hours washing clothes. I cleaned the kitchen floor, three bathrooms, and fixed a door. In all the time I'd been cleaning and doing chores, not once did I see or hear any of the "masters of the house". I asked Alice about it when I briefly saw her and she told me that they were out in town doing business, that they were busy men and almost every day it was like that. When I went back to Esme, she led me to the second floor into a room.
"This is Master Edward's room," she said, "I need you to make the bed and organize those books over there in the bookshelf." Then she left me there.
I look around the room. It was normal size, cozy and inviting. Different than what I thought given his cold personality. He had many books scattered around, so he likes to read I guess. There was a gun on a rack on the wall, like those you use for hunting. After I finish everything, I decide to look closer at the gun. He took great care of it, I know because my grandfather taught me to hunt a bit and he had a few guns that he had as collectibles. Still looking at the gun, I hear someone cough loudly. I jump at the sound and turn to see Edward standing by the doorway looking at me curiously.
"I see you like my gun." He said, walking towards it.
"Yeah I do."
"This was my first gun. My grandfather gave it to me years ago for hunting."
"My grandfather gave me one too when I was eleven."
"You know how to hunt?" he asked surprised and confused.
"Yeah, a bit. My grandfather taught me for a while. I'm not awful at it, but not great at it either."
He looked at me for a bit and then as if he realized something he abruptly said, "I think you should leave now." He then turned around completely dismissing me. Well that was rude, I thought, leaving the room. The man has some issues to work on.
It was five in the afternoon now, Esme had told me there was one more task left and then I was free for the day. At last. The final task was to feed the horses again and clean them. I decide to get out of these maid clothes so I could breathe again; they were too hot for this weather. So I changed to my skinny jeans that Esme had cleaned for me, and put on a long-sleeved shirt that Alice gave me, riding up the sleeves. I walk outside to the stables and start cleaning the horses first. It's very peaceful here, the only sounds coming from the birds, the trees, and the horses. When I reach the last horse, a black one, he starts thrashing around. In every stable there is always a troublemaker, and I just found it. So I reached my hand cautiously and stroked his neck, calming him. When I was little I discovered that all horses had a weak or soft spot that would calm them down and start to trust you. Slowly, I opened his gate and led him outside to a meadow that had a small wooden fence around it. I walked around the meadow with the horse slowly, stroking him a few times, making him trust me. It's a beautiful horse.
A few minutes pass like this, until I hear Edward's voice again.
"How did you do that?" He asked, completely surprised.
I turn around to look at him, and damn he looked good. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt riding up to his elbows with a few buttons undone that gave me a good view of a part of his chest.
"Do what?" I ask him confused.
"Tame this horse! I've tried for a long time to no avail, and just gave up. But you have done it. How?"
"Every horse has a weak spot. I just stroked him slowly on his neck and he has slowly started to trust me."
Edward walked to stand beside me, "May I?" he asked me, pointing to the horse.
"Of course."
He practically threw his hand towards the horse and of course the horse panicked. Edward and I backed away from the horse, "I told you to do it slowly!" I shout at him.
"I did!" he shouts back at me.
"Right, of course you did, you almost hit the poor horse!" I run up to the horse until I'm close to it, and then start singing quietly a melody that I'd seen calmed them down. Slowly the horse quiets down enough that lets me stroke him gently. I looked behind me and see Edward looking at me transfixed. I turn back to the horse and lead him back towards the stables. When the horse is safely tucked away I turn back to Edward, who had followed me back without a word.
"You need to make the horse trust you. Be gentle and patient with him. Whose horse is this?"
"He is mine. His name is Patches. Where did you learn all this?"
"My grandfather."
"He must be a great and wise man."
"He was." I say, smiling sadly at him.
"Oh. I am sorry to hear that." He said sincerely.
"It's ok." I say, smiling at him. He smiled back. A real smile. It made him look even hotter.
"What would you say if I ask you to be in charge of all the horses? Groom them, feed them, and train them. You'll still help Esme when she needs it, but for most of the time being you'll be here."
A chance to be in the stables for the most part of the day and less cleaning? Hell yeah!
"Of course I'll do it!" I say excitedly.
He laughed. "Then it's settled. Whenever I return here you will help me work with Patches?
"Yes."
"All right." He paused. "You have interesting taste for clothing. Is that what they wear in America or is it just you?" he asked, looking at my clothes critically. I think he was making fun at me the way he was looking at me.
I look down at my clothes. "What? You don't like my clothes?"
He laughed, walking away. "No, they're just different," he said, shaking his head, "but I do like them."
So someone asked me the ages of the characters, so here they are:
Bella, 18
Edward, 21
Alice, 18
Jasper, 19
Esme, 50
Carlisle, 51
Charlie, 55
