Chapter 2

I swear that I could see something burning, like a bright light of some sort. It was reaching out to me. Trying to consume me in all of its goodness. To basque me in its false pretense of warmth. To trick me with a smile that was bursting to spew abuse.

"Wake up!"

"Wake up milady!" I heard a hushed whisper.

'Milady?'

"We have to get back to your room. Madam allowed it just this once since sir Julian was asking for you. Come on please wake up," she whimpered.

At first, I felt the light shaking, then it turned into a grueling ache, as I felt my body come back to its senses.

"Ughh," I groaned. It felt as if I just jumped out of a moving car. Rolling and rolling until nothing but splotches of purples and yellows covered my whole body.

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself face-to-face with an unusual expression. Her eyes were drooped downwards with thick lashes that lined her violet eyes. She had honey-colored hair that was pulled back from her face. Nothing about her was familiar. Just another stranger. In this dead-forsaken room.

"Who are you?"

I heard a gasp. Then a stutter, "Milady, it's I, Anne, your maid. I know that it's always disorienting at first but never this far. What did she do this time? This is so unfair."

"Of course it's mother," I chuckled dryly. "She's the one that has quite the twisted mind, yet, she has never done something so extravagant. I got to say this is on another level. Just what did I do this time?" I whispered the last part to myself.

'What could have made her so distraught with hatred that it burst to this extent? And where am I?'

"Lady, what part of the house am I in?"

"The basement milady."

"Basement..."

'What basement? We never had a basement. Did they buy a new house without my knowledge? But, I have been tracking what they do so how could that have gone undetected? Mother always complained about how the house was too big and drafty, so why would they get a house with a basement?'

"Milady, we need to get you back to your room before madam changes her mind."

She gently lifted my head and got me to a sitting position, which only hurt worse. I felt my back groan from the emptiness of the pebbled floor.

"My room?"

'So they bought a new house and now they are hiring random people to play this sick game.'

"Yes milady. Will you be able to-- no worries, I will gently put you on my back if that is fine, milady?"

I nodded my head. Too caught up in my confusion to even process what was being said.

She grasped my hands with a lightness and looped them around her neck as she put her hands under my thighs.

I rested my head against her shoulders and closed my eyes.

I felt her climb up a set of stairs and heard her laborious breathing. Which only grew more ragged as she continued to the destination "my room."