Chapter 15 Girls unable to sleep

Mishka lay in her bed trying to fall asleep in spite of her heart thumping hard in her chest. She was drowsy enough to fall asleep, but each time she dropped off to sleep she suddenly imagined that her grandmother was inside her bedroom.

This caused her to open her eyes wide and try to locate her grandmother in the half dark of her bedroom. Her grandmother would be nowhere to be seen.

"Why don't I just go to her bedroom and make sure that she's asleep, then I can sleep as well?" Mishka asked herself. She was very tired, but she pulled herself up anyway.

She then swung her legs off the bed and pushed her feet into her slippers. She walked to the light switch and turned the light on and opened her bedroom door.

"What if I hear something unusual now?" she asked herself. She stood still in the doorway, unsure about what to do.

"Let me just walk to her room quickly to check up on her and then go get myself something from the kitchen to help me sleep," she told herself firmly.

Mishka then walked down the passage towards her grandmother's bedroom with brisk steps.

When she reached the door, she was happy that it was just slightly ajar as usual. Her grandmother felt that she would be overcome with lack of enough air if her bedroom door was closed.

Mishka peeped into the dark room and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark after the bright light of the passage. There was no need to see if Myrtle was asleep though, because Mishka could very clearly hear her heavy breathing and her slight snore.

"Great! She's fast asleep," Mishka said to herself inwardly before retracing her steps to her bedroom.

"Wait a minute. Just to make sure that I fall fast asleep immediately, let me get some warm milk and brandy anyway," she told herself. So, she walked straight on towards the staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase, Mishka walked straight towards the kitchen. She poured out half a glass of milk and warmed it in the microwave oven.

She then stirred in a spoonful of honey before walking towards the dining room area. She turned into the bar just before the dining room and walked towards the liquor cabinet.

"Now I want to investigate Bruce as well as my grandma," she told herself in a soft tone of voice. "It's a tall order. I can wait about finding out more about Bruce, but I can't delay finding out what my grandmother is doing in her nursery. In fact, why don't I go and look for clues there now?" she asked herself after pouring some brandy into her warm milk.

There are bound to be signs of funny business if that's what went on there. I must be able to see something odd," she told herself.

So, she finished her drink and walked back to the kitchen to place the glass in the sink. She was not going to leave it in the bar area for the servants to find in the morning. They would speculate about her reasons for needing something to help her sleep because the traces of milk were visible in the glass.

Mishka rinsed the glass quickly and turned around to leave the kitchen.

Just before she headed out of the kitchen and into the passage, she heard a moaning sound behind herself. She almost jumped from the shock.

So, she turned around slowly to look in the direction of the sound instead of switching the kitchen light off. She then stepped back and looked at the far end of the kitchen from where the sound came.

Mishka almost yelled when she saw the young servant, Milla sitting at the breakfast nook table with her head on her folded arms, fast asleep.

"What a strange thing to do when you can sleep in the comfort of your own bedroom!" Mishka exclaimed inwardly.

She walked over to Milla and shook her shoulder gently.

"What?" Milla exclaimed in shock.

"Shhh," Mishka responded in a whisper. "You'll wake everyone up. What are you doing sleeping in the kitchen?" she continued in a whisper.

"What's the time?" Milla asked as she rubbed her eyes with her fists.

"Time to be asleep in your own bed," Mishka replied as she tapped Milla on her arm to help her wake up.

"I was waiting to go and clean up the nursery after Ma'am worked there. So, I sat here and I must have fallen asleep," Milla explained. "Why are you still awake? Is it still early then?" she asked, looking around herself.

"No, it's late, but I couldn't fall asleep and now I found you here. What cleaning up did you have to do in the nursery at night?" Mishka asked in surprise.

So, this meant that the servants knew about her grandmother's late hour activities in the nursery. But, did they know exactly what she did down there so late?

"What was Grandma doing in the nursery at that time of the night? Was she arranging flowers?" Mishka asked.

"No, I have no idea what she does in there at night sometimes. I just go to clean up the leaves lying around afterwards and then I wash my hands and go to bed," Milla responded.

"But, why didn't you tell me about this strange behaviour?" Mishka asked with a confused frown on her brow.

"Is it wrong then? How would I know?" Milla asked with a bewildered look in her eyes.

"It's not normal for Grandma to work with flowers or herbs at night. She could hurt herself down there. How does she even see properly there?" Mishka asked.

"Next time she goes there you should tell me," she continued.

"And if you're not here?" Milla asked.

"Then you call me on my phone. But, don't tell Grandma that you told me about her being busy there at night," Mishka warned.

"Okay, I will keep you updated. But, should I perhaps keep an eye on her if she's there? Just to see if she's safe?" Milla asked as she rose from the bench.

"Yes, that's a good idea. Tell her that you have to be there to watch out for her safety," Mishka agreed.

And if she refuses we will know that she's maybe doing something sneaky down there," Mishka thought to herself.