~Brielle
It was Mabel who spoke first. Eventually.
The silence that fell after the scream left us all chilled right to the bone. Mabel shakily smiled, which was proof enough that this wasn’t her doing. She wasn’t trying to frighten us. From upstairs, someone had screamed, in need of help. Yet none of us could move.
“Okay, that’s a bit strange,” Mabel says, followed by a breathy laugh. Girls around me exchange glances, skin pale, eyes widened. “Should probably go have a look shouldn’t we?”
Most girls called Mabel stupid for wanting to go investigate. I offered to go with her while they cowered in a corner. If there is a chance to save whoever screamed like that, I’ll do anything. I would want the same done for me.
That is, if I can stop the shaking in my fingertips.
My mind is wondering what it could have been as we clamber up the stairs. Mabel is feigning confidence, but I know better. She’s as petrified about what this could be as I am. But she’s not about to look foolish in front of the other girls, who think of her as the brave one.
The work corridor is completely empty when we make it up there. The lights above us flicker, but that is the only unnerving sight here. Mabel and I exchange glances.
“We weren’t hearing things were we?” She asks, staring blankly at the empty spot where a girl should have been in serious danger. That is, if that scream was real.
I shake my head. “No way. We all heard it.”
Mabel sighs deeply, taking a few steps further down the hallway. Her shoulders are tense and tight, as she waits in case someone is about to jump out at us. I follow her, unsure if anything bad will happen, but also nervous. I don’t know anything about this place, but surely it can’t hold something so terrible? Even after all the stories Mabel fed us…
When we round the corridor corner, we spot someone leaning against the wall, hugging their knees. When we approach, I notice the thickness of their hair, and the way they shudder.
“Hey, are you okay?” Mabel asks, crouching in front of a girl who I notice works in the kitchen. Her skirts are bundled up around the legs she hugs.
She stares at both Mabel and I with wide eyes. Tears stream down her face, her entire body shivering as if she has been exposed to cold. Instead, it is clear she has seen something, or done something that has frightened her like this.
“Where am I?” she questions.
I can see Mabel frown. “Girl, where do you think? You’re in Ren’s manor, it’s late and we heard you scream. Are you going to tell us anything about what happened.”
She frowns, as if the words we are saying aren’t quite making sense in her mind. Part of me wants to lean down and shake her shoulders. She seems so dazed, so why did she scream? All the girls under this floor will be thinking she has been murdered in cold blood. As frightened as she may look, it doesn’t seem as though she’s been harmed.
The girl, lost blue eyes staring at her hands. “I don’t know how I got here. I just saw a man and he…”
“He what?” Mabel questioned.
With these words spoken, she seems to crawl into herself. A mask immediately fell over her face. It was if we were talking to someone, and then a switch flipped and she was gone, replaced by a vapid version of herself.
“I need to get away from here in case he comes for me again,” she says quickly, pushing to her feet. Mabel goes to grab at her sleeve, but misses the grasp. Before any of us have a chance to say anything, or beckon her back, she runs off, her night dress being the last thing I see before she disappears around the corner.
Mabel sighs, standing up from where she had been kneeling on the floor. “I think she had a night terror and walked herself up here. Someone else can deal with her tomorrow.”
That makes sense. A night terror.
I follow Mabel back down, where she explains what happened to all the girls spooked by the screams that seem to still echo through the halls. Despite it seeming reasonable, I couldn’t shake the chill that surrounds me. What if she was scared of someone lurking the corridors at night? What if someone is out there to haunt her, or us…
As I settle into bed that night, I try not to think too hard about it. Because I’m wrong. Ren can be trusted, there is nothing wrong with him. He’s just a little aloof, but as an Alpha, I expect that.
Those stories Mabel told last mean nothing. So I should stop worrying.
***
Ambrose was back that morning. And was she surprised to hear what Ren has ordered her to do.
When we walked into the laundry room that morning, she pulled me aside.
There is something quite satisfying about seeing Ambrose’s expression and knowing exactly why she looks so confused. I wouldn’t be able to wrap my mind around something like this either. Not that I had much of an idea of what’s coming until Ambrose decided to share it with me.
“I don’t know what you did the other day, but I received a special note right from the Alpha,” Ambrose says lowly, ensuring no one else in the room can over hear.
Initially I’m surprised Ren was being truthful. “What did it say?”
Ambrose glances over her shoulder, before she pulls a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She seems anxious to give it to me, but I want nothing more but to look. After last night, it would be nice to see some normality from Ren. Or at least have a reason to convince myself he’s a good person. Not someone who stalks girls through the night…
The letter wrote:
Ambrose,
I thank you for your wonderful work, and this is in no way condescending your decisions. However, I would like to request one of your workers, by the name of Brielle, to be given a job of higher value. I believe she has earnt it.
You may decide what you deem fit, or speak to your other superiors. I would deeply appreciate it.
Ren.
Staring at the letter, I try believe what I see. I knew Ren promised me he would do this, but considering his power, I didn’t believe it. In fact, a part of me considered the thought that perhaps he was mocking me. I had embarrassed myself to the point where I doubt he would take me seriously.
But this changes everything. And Ambrose seems to think so too, in the way she quickly takes the note back and stuffs it into her pocket.
Mabel clearly wanted to know what was going on when I walked out. I said nothing.
Ambrose lead me up a few flights of stairs, toward a set of offices I had before known nothing about. It seems like the higher of the servants. The ones who run the entire operation below. Someone needs to do it. I doubt we are much of Ren’s responsibility on a daily basis.
Without informing me of anything, Ambrose promptly knocked on the door, and led me in. I’m not sure what has me more anxious. The idea of what’s to come, or what everyone will say to me when I get back to the sleeping quarters.
Mabel might start telling stories about me...
An unfamiliar man with smoothed back brown hair and steely grey eyes says no word to either of us when we walk in. Does he control what goes on downstairs? If so, I can understand why everyone is so efficient. With one raise of his brow, anyone would be quick to follow his instructions.
I barely have a moment to step into the room before he speaks. “So, how did you convince Ren to do this for you?”
“I didn't,” I say quickly. I’m not sure why. Maybe out of fear. “Ren made the choice.”
It’s not entirely true, but it’s also not a lie. I never got on my knees and begged the Alpha for mercy. For money. I simply told him why I made the mistake that I did, and he decided he was going to be the kind man he is.
The man narrows his eyes. Who is he?
“Well, he has requested, despite the fact that you have just started working here, for a better job,” he tells me. Each time I hear him say that, I sends a chill down my spine. I can still barely believe it. “I have one, if you decide to accept it.”
My eyes widen. “A job opportunity.”
The man stands, picking up a piece of paper. “Yes, there is a job up on the top floor, working in front of everyone, if you’re up for it. Someone needs to greet the guests, which believe it or not, come here often.”
I’m not sure if I heard him correctly? Greet guests? I wouldn’t say I’m the shyest person, however, greeting prestigious guests doesn’t sound like the easiest job.
“Of course there are other conditions involved, but if you can do it, the jobs yours,” he tells me, to which I can tell he is doing so reluctantly. No one wants someone as new as me to get a job like this.
So it wasn’t just the money that made it easy to make my decision. “I’ll do it.”