Twelve Nights

Chapter 1: A New Ending

"Sarah, do you mind coming into see me?" Mr Butler asked from the other end of the phone.

I wiped my tired eyes with the back of my hand, bit my tongue and gazed at the clock, 3:32 in the morning, what the hell could Gerad possibly want at this time in the morning?

"It's not even four o'clock in the morning." I stated, it was more of a beg for him to just let me sleep.

"Sarah, I would not call if I didn't think I would need you. Can you just come and see me please? I'll pay you." I heard a quiver in his flat voice and then sighed to myself, why the hell did I always cave to his every want?

"Fine, but you're gonna have to give me about twenty minutes to check with my parents that they can look after Archie." I was already out of bed, sliding some black trousers over my underwear and then buttoning a shirt over my tank top.

"That's fine but can you hurry up." he voice cracked through the bad phone line.

Damn, why the hell did he have to be such a selfish ass? He knew I had a son and he knew I hardly saw him as it was, why the hell did he always have to ask things of me, he knew I would always cave in for him.

"Yes." I muttered through clenched teeth.

"Oh and Sarah?"

"What?" I snapped, he'd already awoken me in the middle of the night, why the hell couldn't he just disconnect the line already?

"I'm in hospital." he added and then the phone line leaving me standing in my childhood bedroom, phone in one hand and a gobsmacked expression on my face.

My name, Sarah Mirrors, my occupation? Well that was another story...

Twenty three years old, living with my parents and my son in a small two bedroom house that I grew up in, working for Gerad Butler, the towns most ruthless business man.

Gerad....Well he could be cruel, self centered and above all just plain unaware of other people. He would think nothing of calling me in the middle of the morning on a day off, calling me to come in to sort out some papers or something because he was too lazy or too busy to do it himself.

He had a stern looking face, the cheek bones of a male model, dark eyes that widened when he saw a new business venture he could exploit. His mouth would remain in a straight line as he told a charity that he doesn't give out money because it doesn't get him anywhere and his hands remained clasped, resting on the extravigant wooden desk in his office that was bigger than my own house as he signed the documents that ordered a parking lot to be built over a wildlife park.

Why did I work for him?

Well, I honsetly didn't know the answer to that myself most of the time. He could be so outspoken and just plain rude sometimes. He had a habbit of making people hate him just so that he didn't have to deal with them. He was cold and very very emotionless, he didn't even notice when a person was upset or angry abnd if he did then it obviously didn't bother him.

He was just a pain in the butt.

I walked into the bathroom, splashing water on my face and brushing my teeth. I tied my long shoulder length chocolate brown hair in a loose bun but didn't bother to brush it or even attempt to make it look like I was bothered about what state it was in.

Heavy bags hung around my eyes like I'd metaphorically been shopping and now I was weighed down. My pale skin was worn and already stress lines appeared, it made me look much older than twenty three, more like thirty. 

I spat out the tooth paste in the sink once I'd finished brushing my teeth and then walked back into my room, being careful to make as little noise as possible, Archie had this knack of waking up just as I had to leave and every single time I stared into his chubby little face and saw the sparkling blue eyes his father had, it broke my heart knowing that I was going to leave minutes later.