unfinished snippets

Inksteps - an introduction of sorts

Maisie would be lying if she said she didn't have a hard life. With her father being deported when she was just a little girl, and her mother developing what seemed suspiciously like dementia, Maisie was forced to take up most if not all the responsibility in her family. If you could even call it that. It wasn't really a family, just a group of rag tag individuals who her mother had picked up through life, and they just somehow stuck. They were the closest thing to blood that Maisie could hope for, anyway.

Aidan's story was completely different. He was adopted, and for that reason he had never felt like he belonged in his family. They were refined, made for greater things than Aidan ever was. Or at least, that's what he had always thought. He knew they loved him, but for most of his life he had thought that they adopted him to look good. After all, the elite of Manhattan loved to brag about how charitable and selfless they were. Aidan's parents had only taken it to the next level.

He didn't even know Maisie's real name. All he knew was a stupid nickname of hers from elementary school that had stuck out to him on the first page of her journal, which had landed in his possession by chance and chance alone. Or perhaps God, though Aidan thought that was highly unlikely.

Mayonnaise. That was the only thing that Aidan had to identify this stranger with. No pictures, no drawings (besides ones of flowers), and just a few jokes and pick up lines that she had jotted down to sound down to earth and funny at social gatherings, even though she "didn't leave her house."

So Aidan risked pretty much his whole life and his parents' respect just to figure out who this girl was and why this journal had been given to him - whether deliberately or as a sign from the universe that he was supposed to meet this Mayonnaise person.

Meanwhile, Maisie hasn't even noticed that her journal is missing. She's too overwhelmed by her own thoughts; her mother, her mother's mother, her estranged father, and the fact that everything in her life seems to be crumbling. And she has to deal with all of it on her own.

Aidan has no idea about anything in Maisie's life until he comes to the last couple of ink-filled pages in the journal, detailing her visit with her grandmother, and fortunately, the elderly woman's address.

Taking a deep breath, Aidan psyched himself up for the inevitable. Someone was going to answer the door when he knocked. And so with a shaky hand Aidan slammed down the knocker on the door several times, willing himself not to have a panic attack, again taking deep breaths. This technique didn't work very well after he realized who had opened the door.

Low and behold, it was his family's maid, Jimmy. Yes, Jimmy, as in a man.

The look of surprise was plastered on Jimmy's face as well as Aidan's.

"M-master S-Sheffield!" He stammered, trying to talk while simultaneously attempting to close his mouth, as it was drooping quite far. Aidan blinked. What was going on here?

"Hello Jimmy. What are you doing here?" Jimmy paled, suddenly looking furtive and glancing behind himself, then waving Aidan in.

"Come, come. Mustn't stand out in the cold and rain Master Sheffield." Aidan nodded, shaking off his umbrella and stepping inside. After wiping his feet on the front mat, Jimmy escorted him to what looked like the Queen's version of a sitting room. Even though his family was plenty wealthy, Aidan was afraid to touch anything; it was all so pristine and clean... Almost a little too clean. Almost like the furniture hadn't been used in years, and almost like all the trinkets sitting on the coffee table had collected dust around themselves. "I'm sure you're plenty confused." Jimmy said, folding his hands and sitting down on a sofa that looked particularly uncomfortable.

Aidan nodded, taking a seat across from him.

"Yes, I am. You could start with what you're doing here." Jimmy closed his eyes, no doubt trying to figure out how to phrase his next words.

"I work here, Master Sheffield." Aidan's brows furrowed and an expression that he couldn't recognize passed over Jimmy's face, gone as quickly as it had come. Jimmy sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm a butler for the elderly owner of this house - but I'm more like a companion. She gets lonely and doesn't have many friends." He chuckled bitterly under his breath. "She also rarely leaves bed these days."

A small, "Oh," was all that Aidan could manage. Of course Jimmy had another job. Cleaning man didn't exactly have an outstanding record for being well paying.