The feeling in my stomach grows heavier and heavier as the people in front of me continue to eye me up and raise their fans to bid for me. I feel tears coming to my eyes and they quickly begin to fall down my face. I can't stop them from coming out and I wince as I wrap my arms around my body, my left arm hurting from the hose down I got earlier.
I stand there waiting for only a few minutes but it felt much longer. What was going to happen to me?
Without warning the room I'm in goes dark again and I scream as someone grabs me and pulls me out of the dark room, I expect to see something, anything about the person who I was just sold to but a black bag is thrown over my face. It smells new but the heavy material makes it hard to breathe.
I pant as I am carried around, I hear the sound of a car door opening and I get thrown onto leather seating. I try to squirm around but more hands grab me and begin to hog tie me. I am pushed against the wall of the car and something sticking out of it jars into my side.
My breathing stops for a moment as I hear a girl crying and I groan as I feel the weight of someone being thrown against me.
I'm not the only one going to this mysterious place??
That's good, you won't be alone and that means it will be less scary.
I wait and listen, they pile in three more girls and I can feel the first one who was crying pressed against my body.
"Stop crying, you're annoying." I hear one girl say and the crying girl stops and silence engulfs the vehicle as it begins to move only with the odd sniffle and hiccup breaking it.
Okay, don't panic. You don't know what is going to happen yet. Just try to look at the positives here. You are not alone, you got to have a shower, and you're not being dragged around by the scary bald man anymore.
My breathing hitches in my chest and I start to silently sob. It's no use, there is no real positives to this situation. I am going to die, or be tortured and assaulted.
I try to keep my mind blank and calm myself as we continue to be driven to our destination, too scared to try and sleep.
The car finally comes to a halt and the engine stops, my body tenses up instinctively as I hear the car door open and the sound of grunting as the other girls are no doubt being taken from the car. They finally reach me and they release the rope from my legs, I scream as they pull me out by my left arm and get thrown onto the gravel outside.
My sense are assaulted as the bag is thrown off of my head and light beams down on me. I am picked up and placed on my feet, I manage to open my eyes and see the other girls standing beside me in the same manner.
I look in front of me and see two burly looking bodyguards and between them a thirty something year old man dressed in a fitting nice suit. He has sleeked back hair and glasses without a blemish on them. His eyes travel down the line and when they meet mine I stare back at him defiantly. He only smirks at this and takes a step toward us.
"You are all going to be servants in this beautiful castle." He says in an authority filled voice as he beckons to the large manor behind him.
"All we ask of you is that you obey, do what you're told, and never ever look the Masters including myself in the eye." He ends his words staring at me and I look away from him, if meeting his eyes meant being harmed I wasn't going to do it. I hear him chuckle lightly and the bodyguards begin to undo my bonds. I wince and grab my arm after it is left to fall on its own and watch as the other girls stare in amazement at the man in glasses as they are cut free.
The sniffling girl with red puffy eyes has the bodyguards approach her, her eyes grow wide as she is let loose and in an instant is running away down the gravel road toward the large black gate.
"Thelonius." The man in glasses says sounding impatient and I watch in horror as one of the body guards pulls out a gun.
The loud crack of the gun going off echoes across the driveway and we all stare in silence as her body falls to the ground.
"If you obey, these types of things will not happen to you." The "Master" says and I swallow the lump in my throat as we are pushed to follow him into the house.
"You're going to be taken to the servants quarters and given jobs, your life here can be great ladies. Just don't forget to obey!" He says the last part like a little song almost as if speaking to infants then turns and walks down a different hallway.
We get brought downstairs to the basement and I am surprised to see the quarters are clean and comfortable looking. The bodyguards leave us with a loud bang from the door and a few other servant girls approach us with warm smiles.
"Hello, welcome everyone." One girl says looking calm and sincere.
"We are all aware of how scared you must have been coming here, but don't worry. Master Aldin was sincere with you, no harm will come to you if you obey and do your jobs." She continues as she begins to guide us over to some beds on the right side of the room.
"I will be assigning you jobs based off of your skills and interests, also a serious word of warning." She stops and turns to look at us with a dark expression.
"Always try to blend into the wallpaper, there are other girls here who are chosen to accompany the Masters when the Masters eye them up and take an interest in them. You do not want this to happen." She warns us and we all nod in silence.
"Never speak to a Master unless they speak to you first, always call them Master as it is respectful. " She continues as we follow her into a large and beautiful kitchen.
"This is the kitchen, here is where we prep all the food for everyone in the mansion, including the Masters. Do we have any volunteers for cooking duty?" She asks and she eyes us all up. The other girls look to scared to do anything so I slowly raise my right arm, the girl looks at me and her face lights up.
"Fantastic! Have you ever cooked before?" She asks and I nod in response.
"It's okay sweetie you can use your words." She warmly tells me and I clear my throat.
"I've cooked on and off through out my life, I've always wanted to be a chef." my words come out as a whisper and she smiles at me.
"Well then you stay here, the girls who work here will be back shortly and I will continue to show the rest of the ladies around and assigning them places to work." She responds and I nod meekly and watch them leave me alone in the sparkling kitchen.
I feel like I can breathe for the first time since all of this happened and I lean against the counter ignoring the pain in my arm as I take in shaky breaths.
See? Everything is going to be fine, just don't piss anyone off and you won't be shot.
That poor girl, she was so scared and confused. They shot her without hesitation.
What kind of a place is this?
I look around the kitchen and stare at the fridge with my stomach growling, I wonder if I will be allowed to eat before I start working.
The comfortable silence around me is interrupted as a group of girls barge into the room, none of them seem to be over the age of twenty five, the youngest looking around seventeen.
They see me and smile, I am greeted and they ambush me with their names and warm welcomes.
"Would you like something to eat before we start?" The red haired girl asks me, I think her name was Amber.
"It's like you read my mind, my name is Kyrie." I respond and she laughs at me and leads me over to the fridge.
"So you're all perfectly okay with being captives?" I say and the kitchen goes silent. Amber looks at me with a terrified look in her eyes.
"N-No we aren't captives. We are servants and we are treated very very well." She whispers to me urgently. Clearly if I call myself a captive that's a bad thing to do and I could get in trouble from it. I nod in response and mumble an apology, the fear leaves her eyes and she starts to rummage through the fridge.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur, I am shown where everything in the kitchen is including the pantry. They allow me to simply observe when I tell them about my arm and before I know it I am laying in a warm bed.
"Today I was working with the maids and they told me that the Masters have a terrifying secret." I hear a girl whispering beside me no doubt to the girl opposite from her.
"I heard the same thing, the girls in laundry told me that one girl found out what it was and killed herself." The opposite girl replies and I listen closer feeling intrigued.
They have a secret so horrible someone actually killed themselves?
"No one around seems to know what it is or they stay silent out of fear." The girl beside me whispers back to the other girl and I roll over facing away from them.
Kyrie, stay out of this. If this secret is so terrible then you shouldn't dwell on it or be nosy. You're not an idiot and you're not going to break the rules and risk being killed.
This could be a good thing, you have a bed and food, you even get to work in the kitchen now.
I sigh and begin to cry silently, sure a good thing for me... But not for poor Bill.
"Everybody up! Come on ladies let's get moving!" I groan as a loud voice erupts around the room and open my eyes to see everyone getting out of their beds. With luck I did not dream about anything last night.
I follow the women to a shower room and smile as I allow warm water to gently fall down my back. Sadly we aren't allowed a lot of time and before I know it I am changed into fresh new clothes and being ushered into the kitchen.
"Did you sleep alright?" I jump and turn around to see Amber giggling at my reaction.
"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." She says playfully and I smile back and find myself giggling uncontrollably. The giggles turn into outright hysterical laughing and I grip my stomach in pain but can't seem to stop. While I laugh like a maniac Amber rubs my back and gives me a sympathetic smile. The laughs die down and tears begin rolling down my face and she clicks her tongue and pulls me into a warm embrace. I sob into her and pull back when I realize I am getting her clean shirt wet.
"I-I'm so sorry!" I exclaim and she smiles and shakes her head.
"It's okay sweetheart, you're in shock and still scared because all of this is new. But I promise you that this is a good place and you will be treated with kindness here." Her gentle voice helps me feel better so I sniffle and pick myself up off the ground. The other girls are focusing on their prep tasks and I can tell they're pretending not to notice what just happened.
"You're going to help me make breakfast, have you ever made omelettes before?" Amber asks me as she brings me over to the stove tops.
"I have made omelettes before." I answer and she smiles and pulls some eggs and cheese from the fridge.
"Actually may I get the ingredients?" I ask suddenly and her face breaks out into a bigger smile, she nods and beckons towards the fridge.
I open the door and stare in awe at all the fresh food, I have never in my life seen a fridge this large or this full before. Even in the foster homes there was barely any groceries.
I grab fresh ingredients and place them on the counter beside the stove, Amber directs me to the spice cabinet and I pick some out before heading back to make the omelettes.
I cook up a storm with Amber showing me a few new tricks, the girls all come around and try my food and think the spice mixture is incredible. We send all of the breakfast food upstairs with the server girls and relax for a few minutes.
"I've always wanted to be a chef." I admit to Amber and she chuckles lightly.
"I can see why, you seem to have a knack for spices and making fluffy omelettes." She giggles and I smile, genuinely.
If I can just accept that this place is going to be my new home, then I can be happy here. I have to forget about everything else... Even Bill. I worry about him but I can't dwell on him since I know we will never see each other again. I don't even know what part of the country I am in anymore or if I am even still in Canada.
We clean up the kitchen and begin to make food for all of the servants, I cook up tons of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes. I add spices to them based off of smell and when I finish the other girls in the kitchen are drooling over it.
"I can't wait to try this Kyrie, it smells incredible. We've haven't had someone with talent in here for a while." Amber says and the other girls agree. We finish sorting out the servings and giving it to the servers to bring to the other servants. I sit down at the counter with the other kitchen workers and we dig into the food. It was delicious, I had somehow perfected the food.
All the girls gushed over my food and I tried to hide with embarrassment. I had never received so many compliments in my life.
The rest of the day continued the same, I cooked food with the girls, they begged to know my "secret" and then we would clean, wait and do it again for dinner. By the time we were done for the night I was exhausted and went straight to bed.
It has been three weeks since I got here, I've been cooking everyday and actually enjoying myself. Whenever I have a thought of Bill I push it down and try to think of positive things instead. The servants are all very kind to me thanks to my cooking and I've grown decently close with Amber, no one is really comfortable talking about their life before this but from what I know Amber was homeless just like me when she was taken.
I'm not sure if she has family though, someone maybe missing her. All I had before was Bill, I never knew my family and the foster homes I was in until I turned sixteen were horrible. The only downside as of yet was my hair dye had almost completely washed out. I started losing pigmentation in my hair when I was thirteen and it has turned silver in result but I usually dye it with black hair dye.
I look at my long silver hair draped over my shoulder and sigh, I look like an old woman but the other girls tell me it somehow seems to suit me. I feel fifty and yet I am only twenty years old.
"Kyrie! One of the Masters is coming down, make sure to not look them in the eye." Amber says suddenly and I snap my attention away from the meal I am cooking feeling fear for the first time in weeks.
Just look down and don't make eye contact, its simple Kyrie.
I could tell the moment the Master entered because it became deathly silent aside from the clacking of her heels on the stone floor. I stole a quick glance and stared in shock as she looked directly at me.
Oh god I've looked her in the eye!
I wince and look back down and feel my breathing pick up as she approaches me, I flinch as her hand gently lifts my chin up to look at her.
She smiles at me warmly and I gape at her like a fish out of water.
"You must be the wonderful new addition to the kitchen that has been cooking our delicious meals." Her voice is smooth like caramel and it makes me feel warm and safe. I blush under her confident gaze and this only causes her to smile wider.
"Come, the other Masters would like to meet you." She lets go of my chin and turns around, I follow her as we leave the basement and go upstairs, I hadn't been here since we first arrived almost a month ago.
"I see you have adjusted here nicely, I also must ask about your hair darling." She looks down at me with a gentle smile and I find myself smiling back at her.
"It's natural, I started losing pigment in my hair when I was a child, I used to dye it black." I answer her in a small voice and she giggles at me.
"It's a good thing no one saw your silver hair when you first came here, you would have been scooped up by one of the Masters for sure." She caresses my cheek and I feel my face heat up as she does.
She lets go and begins to walk again, I sigh in relief and follow closely behind her. She is tall, even without the heels she would reach around five foot eight. She moved gracefully and with confidence, I've always been short and awkward.
We stop outside of two large beautiful doors and she turns and looks at me with an intense stare.
"I must warn you sweet thing, the other Masters are not as kind as I am. Make sure you don't let them see those pretty green eyes of yours." She says sweetly and I try to hide my blush and nod.
She smirks at me before turning and pushing the doors open. I stare in awe at the beautiful dining room as we walk in. The walls have beautiful, red, aged wallpaper with a dark floral design on them. A large chandelier sits in the centre of the ceiling and I've only seen one other chandelier that big before and it was from the Phantom of the Opera. My gaze changes and I see three men sitting at the long table that reaches from one end of the room to the other.
"Boys, this is the wonderful girl who has been cooking for us the past three weeks." The female Master nudges me forward and I approach the table keeping my head down.
"You may look at us." A strong male voice speaks and I look up to see the owner is a dark skinned man with black silky hair tied up in a bun, he is very handsome and looks at me with a sense of entitlement.
"Well well, you're a stunning little creature aren't you." He says now looking amused and he licks his lips while staring at me causing me to shiver and stare back down at my feet.
"Don't be mean to the poor thing Dalar." I hear a familiar voice and look up to see Master Aldin sitting across from the man, Dalar.
"We wanted to meet you and praise you on your cooking skills, I'm sure when the Master of the castle returns he will be very pleased with you." Master Aldin says and he winks at me from behind his glasses.
They're... a lot nicer then I expected.
"Quit teasing the poor girl." The female Master cuts in and she places a warm hand on my shoulder, I feel less nervous when she does and I look to the third male. He is engulfed in a book and ignores me entirely. I can't make out his features clearly as his dirty blonde hair seems to cover his face from this angle.
"Is there anything you'd like to say in return of our praises?" Master Dalar asks me and I look at the men at the table, I've never felt more intimidated in my whole life. This room reeks with power and something unsettling.
"Thank you very much for your praises, and thank you for allowing me to be in your presence." I manage to say and hope that it's acceptable and respectful enough for them. When they both smile I feel relieved.
"I'm taking her back now." The female Master says to the men, Master Aldin waves her away not seeming very interested anymore but Master Dalar continues to stare at me intensely and with an almost unsettling grin on his face. I shiver and follow the woman out of the room.
"Well that was uncomfortable." She breaks the silence as we head back and I giggle causing her to turn and smile at me.
"By the way, I am Adaria, you can call me that when we are in private but always call me Master Adaria in front of others, understand?" I nod and give her a small smile.
We arrive back at the kitchens and I awkwardly say thank you to her, I turn to head to my station but her slender hand wraps around my wrist, it's surprisingly strong. I look up at her with shock and she has a small smile playing on her lips.
"I'd like you to come to my room tonight when you're finished, one of the other servant girls will show you where it is." She purrs and I nod in shock. I go to say something but she is already gone.
"Kyrie did that just happen?" Amber pipes up from across the room and I turn to her slowly.
What does this mean??
"Amber, please tell me what's going to happen to me." I plead and she nods, she comes over and pulls me into the pantry and shuts the door behind us.
"You're going to be fine, Master Adaria is very kind. She has never pushed any of the girls into doing anything uncomfortable with her." Amber says and I breathe a sigh of relief and collapse onto the floor.
"Master Aldin and Master Dalar seemed nice enough too." I tell her and she stares at me with wide eyes and shakes her head.
"You know how some of the girls you've seen have bruises on them?" She says and I nod slowly watching as her face contorts into disgust.
"Master Dalar hurts girls, he does terrible things to them. Master Aldin forces you to.. do things." She says with wide eyes and I stare at her with shock.
"Is that why we were always told to never be noticed?" I hiss and she nods silently staring at me with worry.
"But usually if you're noticed by Master Adaria you're safe." She quickly tells me and I try to take deep breaths.
No matter what I'm told, I am absolutely terrified of going to one of their rooms tonight. Something about them was terrifying and it didn't feel like their confidence was intimidating me.
"Amber, do you know their secret?" I ask breaking the silence and she stares at me mortified, she only shakes her head then leaves me alone in the pantry.
Damn, what has these girls so scared? Why did I feel uncomfortable too? A subtle feeling in the back of my head telling me to run from them.
Tonight I was going to be alone with one of them too.
I will be updating very soon! I hope it is enjoyable so far for you guys!