My Life as a Maid

I froze at the sound of his voice. It had that dangerous tone to it; I could almost hear his laughter before it came. I stayed silent for a moment, which seemed to irritate him. When he spoke next, it was with a definite edge of impatience.

"I said: Is that you sweetheart?"

I knew I had to answer him, even if I didn't want to. "Y-Yes," I whispered.

"Excellent," he said. "Now tell me, how are your hands today? Still bruised and reddened?"

I looked at my arms and found that they were still dotted with little nail markings and small bruises . "Yes."

"Hmm. Show me them again, please."

I walked closer to the chute and offered my hand. I felt Flippy's icy-cold fingers on mine and shivered. That seemed to amuse him. He brushed the back of his fingers on my own, laughing at the effect it had.

"Your hands seem to be quite ticklish," said Flippy. "Am I right?"

"O-Of course," I stammered, "they a-are."

"Wonderful," replied Flippy. I could already tell he was going to do something I wouldn't like. He was silent for a minute, letting go of my hand. I thought he'd walked away and I breathed out, relaxing the tiniest bit. The moment of relief was interrupted when I heard Flippy walking back to the chute, humming to himself.

"I've thought of a game for you, sweetheart," he said. "Want to play?"

"O-Okay, then," I managed with a shudder.

"Good. Go on and put your hand back, please."

I did as he asked. I could almost envision his eyes on my hand, his teeth flashing as he grinned. I squeezed my eyes shut, but I couldn't block out the noise of his voice.

"Now. Since your hands are so ticklish, the game we're going to play is a tickling game."

This confused me a little, to say the least. Flippy didn't seem like the type to tickle: at least, for now he didn't.

"A... A t-tickling game?" I asked him, to make sure.

"That is what I said, isn't it?" asked Flippy, although it seemed it was more a statement than a question.

"Y-Yes."

"Are you ready?" he asked. I felt something colder than his fingers running along my skin. I took a couple of seconds for me to realize it was the blade of a knife. I squeaked and foolishly moved to take my hand out, scraping it on the way. I looked in horror at the blood that dripped from my pale hand to the floor.

"Your hand, sweetheart," said Flippy, tapping his fingers against the inside of the chute."I'm waiting."

"P-Please," my voice was barely above a whisper. "D-Don't hurt m-me."

"Hurt you?" Flippy laughed; it sounded somewhat hysterical. "Hurt you? Nonsense, my dear, I wouldn't hurt a fly. The only people that I would ever hurt are the people who spread news about me. I hurt people who need to be punished. But you won't tell about our games, will you? After all, they're so much fun. And if you tell, well, we can't play them anymore and most likely, you'll be sent away, and I'll be in trouble. You wouldn't want to be lose your job, would you? You being a mucker and all."

"I-I definitely wouldn't," I replied immediately, and it was the truth too.

"Look up the chute for me, sweetheart. Your eyes amuse me, so wide. Like the eyes of prey."

I stiffened at the last comment, but did what I was told. I looked up and met his gold-yellow eyes staring back at me.

"You're a pretty one, aren't you?" he asked. When I didn't move or say anything, he tried again. "I asked you a question."

"I-I don't know," I stuttered.

"Well, I say you are. And what's more is, you haven't left yet."

"Wh-What?"

"The other maids before you left me. They weren't any fun, though, not like you. One just kept whining and then told on me, so she was sent packing, of course. The next one was schizophrenic, I think, such a strange one. She brought a pickle with her, used to whisper to it, and I smashed it to pieces. That really set her off. So when you came, I didn't introduce myself right away, though now I see that you're excellent company. However, we'll have to get you a uniform, won't we? Get you out of those rags and make you more recognizable."

I didn't expect, or like, what he said next.

"Come up to my room, dear."

"I-I... What?"

"I'm beginning to believe you're deaf."

"N-No, I... I'll be up."

"I'll look forward to seeing you."

I left my room and climbed the stairs to Flippy's, a little way down the corridor. I was about to knock, but Flippy opened the door. My hand froze in mid-air, and I blushed scarlet red. Flippy had no shirt on. It was clear from his pale chest, toned and muscular, that he worked out. A lot.

"Flaky," he greeted me enthusiastically. "Do come in."

I nodded and took a step inside. Flippy's room was fairly average, but a lot more than I ever had. He had all the basics, a bed, chest of drawers, a wardrobe. The wardrobe, as I was soon to learn, was a walk-in. His duvet was of a khaki pattern, in various shades of green and brown. I noticed the laundry chute near the back of the room, and saw an armchair placed close by, and the knife lying at the square entrance. I shivered involuntarily.

"You really are a pretty one," he commented, his eyebrows raised. I blushed scarlet again.

"Th-Thank you..."

"I think your eyes are most fetching, however wide and panicked they are. You're quite thin, too. But, you pull it off well I suppose. Now, about your uniform."

Flippy walked over to the wardrobe, resting a hand on the doorknob. "Lets see..."

"I-It's really o-okay, I-I don't need one," I said, inching towards the door. Flippy grinned.

"It wasn't an offer," he said. "Of course you need a uniform. Don't you know all maids wear uniforms?"

Flippy laughed and walked over to place a hand on my shoulder. I suppressed a squeak. He steered me over to the wardrobe, throwing the doors open.

It was pretty big on the inside, in fact, it was about the size of my room. There were clothes lining all the walls, with shoes underneath. It amazed me, the amount of clothes he had. There were tons, some of them more formal than others, but I could only imagine him in his casuals from yesterday.

"Now, if I'm correct, your uniform is somewhere near the back. It's pretty basic, but you're nothing special, right?" Flippy laughed, and looked to me for an answer.

"I-I don't th-think so," I said.

"I'm joking. You're the new maid. Of course you're special." He picked up a small pile of clothes, returning to me. "And speaking of you, darling, you didn't clean my room today. You cleaned every other room down here and left mine. Is there a problem? Do I smell bad?"

"N-No!"

"Good," Flippy smiled. "Then would you mind cleaning my room from now on, sweetheart?"

"O-Of course," I replied.

"Then we're settled. Now, here's your uniform. You can put it on in there and see if it fits."

I took the small package of clothes from Flippy and he gestured to the wardrobe. I stepped inside and unfolded the clothes. My uniform consisted of a short-sleeved white shirt, a black skirt, black shoes, white knee-high socks and a red ribbon. Like Flippy had said, it was basic.

I put everything on and found myself left with the ribbon, unsure of where I was supposed to put it. I held onto it while I looked at myself in the mirror. The uniform fit okay, nothing was too big or too small. I figured the ribbon would normally be for hair but since I was lower-class, I wasn't exactly sure. As much as I hated myself for it, I decided to ask Flippy.

Flippy was lying on his bed, his arms folded behind his head. I stood there silently for a while just staring at him. I stepped outside, and he jumped. He had a shirt on now, another dark green one. He sat up and looked at me, both surprised and confused.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. I noticed again that his eyes were much calmer, the danger seemed to have vanished. "It's quite late, and..."

"I-I... You invited me here..." I trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"I did?"

"Yes, just a few m-moments ago..."

"Oh, I..." Flippy appeared to be searching through his memories for any mention of games. "I'm sorry, I must have gone blank. I don't remember inviting you up here."

"W-Well, at least I have my uniform n-now, I guess," I said with a hesitant smile.

"Ah, yes," he replied hastily. "It... It looks quite nice. Again, I'm sorry."

"I-It's okay, really," I said, backing up towards the door.

"...Okay then. Goodnight, Flaky."

"Goodnight."

I returned to my room and crawled into my bed. What was Flippy's problem? One minute he's torturing me through the laundry chute, and the next he was wondering why I was talking to him. To be honest, I wondered too. I knew Flippy was strange, but I had to do what he said.

"I'll sleep on it," I decided, and curled up in a tight little ball, forgetting to change out of my new uniform. The ribbon was wrapped around my thumb. I'd have to wait until tomorrow to figre out where it went. For now I just wanted to rest myself. I'm sure tomorrow there would be plenty more games to play with Flippy. So I shut my eyes and tried not to think about him and his crazy ideas.

I slept deeply.