The Maid In Neverland || Michael Jackson

Chapter 2

I was watering the plants in front of the main house when I saw him approaching, wearing a black long-sleeved button-down shirt while holding a huge black umbrella. He was surrounded by three of his body guards. The children from the orphanage just departed and Mr. Jackson seemed tired after playing with them but he looked happy. 

They walked pass me. I tried to smile at him but he didn't smile back. I felt embarassed because one of the guards saw me.

"Was he really like that?" I asked Sarah when we were at the quarters. We just finished cleaning the kitchen.

"What?" she asked, fixing her bed. "Who?"

"The boss," I said. "I smiled at him earlier but he didn't smile back."

She laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, he's really nice." She nudged me with her elbow. "Maybe he didn't see you that's why he didn't smile back."

Oh well. Maybe.

But why did I even expect that he would smile at me, anyway?

It almost happened everyday. I would water the the plants in front of the house every morning, he would walk pass me accompanied with his bodyguards, then I would smile at him.

Still, he wouldn't smile back. He wouldn't even look at my direction. Even so, I would still smile because I thought I should. As a sign of respect, maybe? He's the boss after all.

I was happy at doing the house chores everyday. Children were everywhere, playing and laughing as they run around and enjoying the whole ranch. The ambience was bright and happy,  brought by the laughters in the air. I would just smile as I watch. Seeing the children playing made me want to be a kid again.

I was out in the house one morning, preparing the hose so I could start watering the plants like I usually do. As I was doing it, Dana came to me and said that I would be cleaning the library.

"But I thought I was assigned to water the plants?" I asked. The library was originally assigned to Tilda, one of my fellow maids and my assignment were to water the plants in the morning and clean the main room and the other parts of the house.

"We do rotation, Jane," Dana said. "You are assigned to the library this week while Tilda will be assigned to the plants and the main room."

I went to the stock room to get the cleaning materials that I'll need. I was actually a bit excited because this would be my first time to go inside the house's library. I was a reader myself so I thought I would enjoy cleaning there while browsing through some books.

"Dust off the books," Dana reminded me. "And arrange them properly in their shelves. You should also replace the flowers in the vase."

"Okay, Dana."

I then proceeded to the library. It was located upstairs, at the end of the hall near the master's suite. It took me about five minutes before I finally found it because the house was quite huge and the second floor had lots of rooms and hallways. I still hadn't memorized all the rooms and halls of the house.

Standing from the door of the library, I could see the master's suite. This was the room where Mr. Jackson sleeps and spends his privacy. The door was closed and it seemed silent. I hadn't seen the boss this day around the house since breakfast. Well, he's probably sleeping again or maybe, enjoying his own company alone inside his room.

I just shrugged my shoulders. Time to clean.

The last time that I've been inside an actual library was when I was in high school--- and that was years ago. Being a former member of the school's Book Lover's Club, I have so much fascination about books. For the first time in a long time, I was here standing outside the door of a library and I couldn't be more excited.

With a basket of cleaning materials in my hands, I slowly opened the huge oak door. It creaked as I let myself in, pleasant smell of books immediately filling my nose. My jaw almost dropped when I realized how big it was.

"Wow," I uttered, my eyes examining the whole place. Was I really going to clean this? Alone?

The inside of the library was beautiful. Shelves that contained thousands of reading materials, carpet at the center of the floor, sigle seated sofa at either side of the fireplace and a red loveseat at the center.  There were statuettes displayed obove the fireplace as well as two framed paintings.

Yes, the library was beautiful except for one thing: it was messy.

The books were everywhere, I even saw a few that were scattered on the floor and the center table was filled with papers. I put down the basket of cleaning materials on a table near the door. I sighed. So messy. Literally.

I was about to start picking up the books from the floor when I realized that I wasn't the only person in here.

"Why are you here?"

My head turned to the direction of the voice and there he was, standing at the far corner of the room. He was holding a big, golden book. My eyes widened. My legs stiffened as if my feet were glued to the floor.

He's here.