Chapter 5
My first mistakes
“Lila, wake up,” gentle hands shook me awake. “I know it’s early, but you’ll be in trouble if you don’t hurry.” I yawned and sat up. I rubbed my arms to try and warm myself up, and winced as I passed over bruises from falling by the carriage yesterday. James was leaning over me; he smiled and held out a hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.
“Thank you,” I said blushing.
He led me out of the cellar by the hand. We passed through the kitchen, where the cook was preparing breakfast on a tray. She was plump and friendly looking, I immediately warmed to her. She handed me and James a piece of bread each.
“You’re not supposed to have this, but your both as skinny as a bone. Don’t tell anyone where you got it and eat it quickly,” she said ushering us out of the kitchen, and into the hall. James grinned as he chewed the bread.
“She has always had a soft spot for me,” he mumbled through a mouthful of food. I couldn’t help smiling along with him, his mood was catchy.
I stared around the hall as I chewed my bread. Large tiles covered the floor. They were decorated with various grand patterns. A beautiful painting of Jesus and heaven covered the dome shaped ceiling, and a grand marble staircase led upwards to what I assumed was the master’s chambers.
James took me by the hand and led me up the stairs. We walked along a corridor and it struck me that the whole house was just as grand and ornate as the hall that we had just been through. We stopped outside another carved oak door.
“This is master’s office, he’ll be in there waiting for you,” James said dropping my hand. I chewed my bottom lip nervously. “Go on.”
I raised my hand and tentatively knocked on the door.
“Enter,” a gruff voice grunted from inside the office.
I took hold of the handle and glanced back at James. He smiled encouragingly and gently pushed me in the small of my back.
“Go on,” he repeated.
I twisted the handle and stepped into the room. The first thing I noticed about the office was that it was dark. The curtains were still drawn, and the only light came from a small oil lamp that hung in the corner of the room. There was a musty scent in the room, like light hadn’t touched it for a long time.
Bookcases lined the walls, they contained thick volumes. The closest I had ever come to a book was the fairytales Charlie and my Mother used to tell me. Those stories were always exciting, but these books looked thick and dull and I had no desire to read them. On top of the bookcase was an ornate vase, there were some flowers in it, but they were withering and dying. I wondered why the master didn’t change them.
A large oak desk dominated the room; it was covered in papers and files. Behind it sat the master in a high backed, plush chair; he was staring at me intently.
“Are you quite finished examining my room?”
“S...Sorry,” I stuttered staring at the floor to avoid his gaze. He grunted and leaned forward in his chair peering at the papers on his desk as if seeing them for the first time.
“Ah, here we are,” he said, pulling a sheet from under a pile of documents. “Your rota.”
He handed me the sheet of paper and I glanced at it curiously. It showed the chores that I was to complete each day, and the allotted times I had for lunch and dinner. I was stunned by the amount of work, but I was pleased that my last job of the day was feeding and mucking out the horses. I loved animals and I would at least get to see them, maybe even stroke them and feed them from my hand.
“I expect these tasks to be completed to an exceptional standard. Today, you will be shown how to do these tasks by one of my servants.”
I was pleased about this; I wasn’t sure how to make a bed to an “exceptional standard.” The master peered down his glasses at me.
“You realise that if you do not complete these tasks each day, to the standard that you will be shown, then you will be severely punished. You are somewhat of an experiment. I am tired of paying for my household to be run, I want to see whether threatening you and beating you will get the jobs done as well as they are done by those who I pay.”
I shuddered at the words ‘threatening’ and ‘beating’.
“The chimney sweep boy was the start of the experiment, and so far he seems to be doing the job well, so I expect you to do the same.”
I nodded, still looking at the rota. After what he had said the tasks suddenly seemed a lot more daunting. I had to get them all done, and they had to be done well, otherwise I guessed that I would taste his belt. I tried to imagine what a beating would feel like, but I couldn’t, and I didn’t want to find out.
The master pulled a cord and I heard a bell ring, somewhere outside in the hall. A moment later there was a knock on the door.
“Enter.”
A woman entered. She bowed her head in the direction of the master and gripped my upper arm.
“I trust you know of your instructions?” The master asked curtly. She nodded and steered me out of the room without a word. The oak door swung shut behind us and the woman turned to me.
“I want to help you, but if you fail at the tasks then I will also be punished, so I will have to be hard on you at times. Please don’t think too unkindly of me,” she said in a lilting Irish accent. I smiled to show her that I would be a good student and her expression softened.
“I’m Susan.”
“Lila,” I said smiling up at her.
“That’s a pretty name.”
I nodded in thanks and she took the rota from me. She read it through quickly and her face fell.
“That’s a lot to have to do in a day,” she whispered and I could see her mentally counting the hours. I bit my bottom lip with worry. How was I going to manage to do all of the work if a grown adult thought it was a lot?
“What will the Master do to me if I don’t get it done?” I asked before I could stop myself. Susan looked up from the rota, she had a shocked expression on her face and she didn’t answer for a long time.
“I don’t know sweet, I really don’t know.”
I can't think of anything else to critique. I adored some of your descriptions. I mostly liked your description of the Master's room. I especially liked it when you mentioned the old books that reminded your MC of her family. That was a nice little touch. You're really good at descriptions as a whole, actually! As well as describing scenery, you're also very good at describing actions.
