chapter 7

Lisa was startled awake from her recurring nightmare. She's had thesame nightmare for as long as she can remember.

She used to have it every night when she was younger but as she grew older either she was too preoccupied by surviving or she was too tired to dream. But she did have the dream sometimes.

You'd have nightmares too if you were forced to watch your parents be murdered in such a gruesome way.

The nightmare was always so vivid. Forcing her to relive that traumatic time of her life. And that feeling of fear, powerlessness, and guilt always gripped her fiercely when she had it.

At one time she'd have cried herself back to sleep, but Lisa was all grown up now. Even though her subconscious seemed to think otherwise.

Her pajamas were soaked through with sweat. That was what she found most annoying about having that dream.

It seemed one of the downsides to working for the Ward's is that she'd hardly ever be tired enough to have a dreamless sleep.

Her 5:00am alarm rang then. She took a shower to get the sweat off and then she sat down to plan her day. She'd do as much work as possible since there was still a chance that she may be tired enough to sleep dreamless.

It was then that she heard a sound, like something falling in the kitchen. She went to verify, but upon her arrival whoever had been in the kitchen if at all there had been someone, had disappeared. She probably conjured it up, she thought. But just as she turned around to leave the kitchen, she noticed one of the cabinets was open. Looking inside she found the silverware.

She then thought, someone surely wanted an early morning snack. She just closed the cabinet and went back to her room. No matter what she did though she couldn't shake off the feeling of dread she had after the kitchen incident.

Lisa's first week at the Ward's went on most smoothly. She was happy to receive notice of her first payment. She called Alicia to tell her about this new development. She was so excited. Alicia said they must celebrate and they agreed to meet on her day off. Since Lisa could get half the day off on Thursday, they agreed to meet at 1:00pm. Lisa then went ahead with her tasks of the day.

It was Monday, and as was his norm Lucas had to be earliest for work. She had better stop thinking of him as Lucas before she makes an irreversible mistake in the coming days or weeks, Lisa thought.

Lucas was taking his breakfast in the kitchen. Lisa now knew to expect the increase in her heart rate, the tingly feeling on her feet, and the butterflies in her belly. And he just had to make it worse by smiling as he said "Good morning". Lisa blushed.

She felt her cheeks go warm and her heart flip. She had to get out of there. She made her excuses and left the kitchen. She went to work in the garden.

For the past week Lisa had been working in the garden, weeding, trimming the hedges, watering the flowers. She saw the fruit of her labour every single day, because it was spring. The garden was her solace and ofcourse the one place she could find calm after the whirlwind of emotions Lucas evoked in her. She was very much appalled by herself. She was falling in love with someone who could never see her as anything other than his housekeeper. Lisa started working more aggressively. She decided that she'd crush her feelings and burry them where no one could see.

It was rather unfortunate that someone else already knew how she felt. I guess it's true what they say, "No one is fastest to notice a woman falling in love with a man than the one already in love with him." I guess in this case it would be more appropriate to say, "the one obsessed with him."

She watched Lisa from the window above the garden thinking of how best to get rid of her. She'd done it so many times before. By now she could be considered a professional. This one would proof no challenge at all. By the end of the week she's d have her out of this house and as far away from Lucas as possible. She wasn't as adept at hiding her feelings as she thought she was, the watcher thought. Who wouldn't notice all those longing glances, and all those secret blushes? She was much too obvious, and that alone made the watcher angrier, and sealed Lisa's fate.

Lisa worked in the garden for about two hours before Carie came to invite her to a midmorning snack in the kitchen with Mrs. Lee and Amy. Lisa was very content with the working conditions at the Wards'. Who was she kidding? She was more than content. And she just adored Mrs. Lee, and these midmorning snacks.

Talk soon turned to gossip as is usually the case amongst women, and Mrs. Lee did love to gossip, or as she'd liked to put it "keep herself apprised of the goings on". Mrs. Lee then said, "Word reached my ears that young master Micheal could be home any day now. I didn't find out the cause for his visit , but I'm sure there's something juicy hidden there. That dear boy, he's the definition of a dark angel."

Carie said "Mrs Lee do tell us again about him." Amy and Lisa just laughed." Carie already had a crush on the guy whom she'd never met. Mrs. Lee did tell them stories about him, but Lisa was certain she exaggerated most of the time. Mrs Lee didn't hesitate to tell them about Micheal again.

Lisa zoned out somewhere at the middle of the story probably because she'd heard it a little too many times. She started to think of her aunt, her cousins, and the people at the old people's home. And she resolved to visit them too on Thursday.