Hello! Here I am once more! I don't own anything (except what I came up with myself), but you all know that of course.
Christine's POV
When I woke up the next morning, Meg had not yet appeared at my door. Everything around me was registered slowly by my foggy mind and at first, I had no idea where I was. I refused to open my eyes, afraid that the sweet dream that had taken over during the night would disappear. How long had it been since I had dreamed for the last time? Since my father had died? No, even before then, when the disease was claiming his body and soul piece by piece, I had had nightmares. Before he was sick then. Months, months of hellish nightmares. Nightmares of losing him again and again, in different situations. Nightmares of life on the street, of the screaming people, the grabbing hands, the dark shadows, the hunger. But not this night. This night there had only been the music of my father playing the violin by the dancing fire of the heard in our small cottage back in Sweden. I sat on the ground and listened in ecstasy, watching the fast dance of his fingers. It had felt so real! The only thing giving away that it was not was the fact that not even papa could play something that was so incredibly beautiful. Strangely enough, I did not feel disappointed that I had awoken, which I usually did after waking from a nightmare. Even though they were horrible, they gave me a moment with him and I would rather awake screaming from terror or crying from grief than not having the nightmares and never seeing his face or hearing his voice. For a moment, I had also feared that I was back on the street. However, the warmth surrounding me and the soft pillow underneath my head proved me wrong.
The events of the day before entered my mind slowly and I almost felt like crying with relief. No more hunger, no more filth, no more cold. Finally, I convinced myself to open my eyes and I studied my new room. I had been so tired the night before, that I had fallen asleep before I could get a good look at it. It was about ten square metres big and had a high ceiling. The walls were covered with wallpaper with a small, elegant rose motive. The floor, door, closet and vanity were made of a very dark coloured kind of wood. There even was a miniature heard with a basket of wood beside it. My bed was bigger than I was used to, but I suppose that it was still small compared to other beds. It was made of the same wood as the rest of the furniture and was covered with several colourful, thick and soft blankets. Well, that explained the warmth. As my eyes swept over the room, my room, my chest filled with delight. It was then that I noticed the window… and the light.
No no no no no no no! It was no longer morning. Why hadn't Meg woken me up! She promised me! I was late, horribly late. I could hear Madame Giry's voice echoing in my head. I couldn't lose this job, not now! I scrambled out of bed, in my haste tripping over the pile of blankets and hitting the floor with a loud thud. It was then that Meg entered the room, amusement and concern fighting a battle for the reign of her facial expression. Concern won and she rushed towards me to help me up. "Are you alright?! What happened?", she exclaimed. I scrambled to my feet and searched for words. "I need to… I have to… Madame Giry… late…" Fortunately for me, she understood and made me sit on the bed. "It's ok, you don't have to worry: maman said that I had to let you sleep in today. No idea what came over her. God knows she never allowed me to do so. Maybe you could show me your trick, mmh? She said that I should probably let you eat something first and show you around the house, so change your clothes. There is water in the pitcher over there", she said pointing at my vanity and left the room. Just a second later she opened it again, only her head was visible. "I am so excited!", she yelled, grinning from ear to ear, and disappeared again.
I shook my head, washed my face and put on the uniform. I braided my long hair that –oh sweet ecstasy!- was no longer filthy and sticky and looked at myself in the mirror. My face was to thin and it made my eyes appear way too big. The uniform did not fit, even though I had tried to tie it up as tight as possible. For how long had I looked this skinny? I found myself hoping that Clémaine would be right and that I would fatten up quickly, as if the extra layers of flesh could get rid of all the evidence of the past few months and give me a fresh start. I opened the door and Meg welcomed me with a "Finally! You were taking so long! Let's go downstairs!" and skipped through the labyrinth that made up my new home.
Madame Giry was already waiting for me as I entered the kitchen, where Clémaine was bustling around. I could not help but be nervous and looked up at her expectantly. "I realised last night that you need to build up your strength before you will be able work here. Therefore, you will use the rest of this week to gain weight and get acquainted with the house. You will follow Meg around. If you feel up to it, you can help her with her chores. Breakfast is at seven, lunch at one and dinner around half past six. Should you ever feel hungry outside these hours, I am sure that Clémaine will be ready to help you," she said and I could not help to be surprised by it all. Clémaine nodded happily and ushered both me and Meg towards the table. She placed a plate filled to the brim with fried eggs and bacon in front of me and gave me a hump of soft, white bread. After giving me a motherly squeeze in the shoulder, she went back to the stove. "Well," Madame Giry said, "don't let it grow cold or Clémaine will have your head." Was that a smirk? Madame Giry smirking? Somehow it did not fit into the image that I had from her, though she left the kitchen before I could analyse it further. I decided to use my energy for something better and attacked the mouth-watering food on my plate. "Maman likes you, you know. You are lucky. She could not stand most of the former servants," Meg told me. I swallowed my food and asked her how many servants there were. "Not much," she answered me, "There is me, maman, Clémaine, the three gardeners: Monsieur Dubois and his two sons, Jean and Félix and then there is Alain." She sighed dreamily at this and I raised one eyebrow. "Alain?" "Yes, he takes care of the horses and he lets me pet them and… Why are you looking at me like that? Oh no! Is it that clear?", she exclaimed and buried her face in her hands, blushing furiously. I could not help but laugh. "Even a blind man can see it," I answered her truthfully. She groaned and lifted her face from her hands. "What if maman", she started, but I did not give her the chance to finish her sentence. "Don't worry. Either she has not noticed –unbelieving gaze from Meg- or she does not mind. At least that is what I think." "You really think so?", Meg asked and I nodded. She looked at my empty plate and I nodded again. Time to work. Actually I did not mind at all and so I followed my new friend to the first room that would be subjected to our cleaning hands.
We entered what I identified as a sitting room, an unbelievably dusty sitting room that is. I looked at the thick layer of dust and a gasp escaped my mouth. "I know", Meg said, her voice tinted with disgust. "How long has it been since this was even remotely clean?", I asked her. I simply could not believe my eyes. I didn't even know a layer of dust could become so thick! "It's been about five years, give or take a few months," Meg answered and she wrinkled her nose. "Five years! No wonder it looks like this. But why?" "The master had the room closed after his parent's death, it used to be their favourite sitting room to receive guests. Maman finally convinced him to let it get cleaned and we're the lucky ones who get to do it." I felt my heart swell with sympathy for the unknown man. I knew how it felt to loose your parents and the mix of pain and joy that accompanied seeing something that reminded me of them. I could understand why he did not want to see this room again. "Did he miss them so much?", I asked Meg softly. She snorted. "As if. As far as I know, he doesn't even want to be their son." "What?!" I did not see that one coming. How could he not love them? "Don't look at so unbelieving. Maman never told me a thing, but I have heard the rumours here. He did not have a lot of luck in his life, still has not. But hey, I don't know anything for sure," she looked around one last time, "Are you ready to do this?" I nodded and stepped inside the room. For a few steps, everything went well, but then I slipped. Once more I fell on the ground with a loud thud and looked at Meg in surprise. "Oh my God! Are you allright?!", she screamed and almost slipped herself when she tried to reach me. That was the last drop. I burst into laughter and started giggling, a few moments later Meg followed. Suddenly, I got an idea and started moving my arms and legs. "What…the hell…are you doing?", Meg asked me, still giggling. She finally controlled her breathing. I looked at her as if she just asked me why you shouldn't put your hand in the fire and said in a mock serious tone "I am making a dust-angel of course." And just like that we started laughing again. She let herself fall next to me. "I guess I'll just have to make one too."
There we lay, a cloud of dust forming around us. My life was getting better indeed…
So… any thoughts? Reviews are very welcome. I'll try to update asap.
Love,
LoreLorelei