I Never Wanted to Hurt You

"No, don't, nooooooo!" Maria was screaming at the top of her lungs that cold breezy night. She was running faster than a speeding bullet. " Aaahhhh!" She was screaming, scared of what was happening to her. She closed her eyes tightly as she could, until her body touched the cold water. " I never wanted to hurt you," she told herself. Maria slowly opened her eyes and saw a bright light. She wanted to go into the light so bad. It's as if there's a treasure hidden beneath that light. But the brightest light she had ever seen in her entire life is now slowly fading. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move, not even an inch from where she was. She was being dragged into the bottom of the sea. Maria stared at the light until it disappeared completely. "Beep..beep..beep..beep". A white steel gate slowly opened and the taxi Mandy was riding drove inside quickly. As the driver turned right, he was stunned to see a very majestic mansion. Old but very beautiful. "You're royalty ma'am? A princess? Why you live in a castle?", the taxi driver asked his passenger politely. " Ha, ha, ha, am I a princess? Oh no mister, I'm just....ordinary. It's not my house, it's my best friend's, well their ancestral house. You could just drop me there by the porch." Mandy was on a vacation with her best friend Chloe. They're supposed to come together but something came up with Chloe and she just told her to go first. " Here are all your bags Madame." Mandy counted all her luggage and took money from her purse for the taxi fare. "Here you go sir, keep the change", she handed the money to the taxi driver. "Thanks Madame, by the way, you look very familiar. Have you been here in the past?" The taxi driver was scratching his forehead while looking at her. Mandy shook her head. " Never been here before. Today is my first time...and maybe the last time. This house gives me the creeps." The driver smiled at Mandy, hopped in his taxi and hurriedly drove off. As soon as his car went past the gate, it immediately shut with a loud, creepy sound. "Welcome madame Mandy. Did you have a great flight?", asked Mrs.Compton the caretaker of the mansion, while taking some of her luggage. "Are you Mrs. Compton? Chloe told me you are the one in charge here", Mandy asked. "Well, yes, I am Mrs. Compton, but Clara calls me Miss C. If you want you can also call me that uuhmm Mandy is it?" "Oh yes, how rude of me, I'm so sorry Missy, uhhhm Miss C. I am Clara's friend, Mandy Rodriguez. We have known each other since college and she, well, she invited me to come with her here, yeah, but here I am and Clara.... she won't arrive until tomorrow afternoon. Thats what she told me and..." "Oh dear, its getting dark", Mrs Compton said. "Let's bring your things inside the house. I'll show you your room." Mandy turned around quickly to get the remaining bags and followed Mrs Compton inside. Ruel, the gardener/maintenance man, took the bags from Mandy's hands. She didn't want to let go of them but she saw Mrs Compton's head nodding. She eventually handed the bags she was carrying to him and even sighed in relief. "Those bags were so darn heavy, for me at least", she uttered. Mandy was in awe upon entering the giant front door of her best friend's family's mansion/castle. There were so many lights lit up all around, like twinkling stars in the dark of the sky. As a child, she would always pretend to be a princess trapped in a castle, waiting for her Prince Charming to come and rescue her like what happens in almost all the fairy tale books she has read. Mandy was never a happy child. She was always lonely and alone. She was always in her room after she finish every little thing she needs to do inside the "castle" she lived in. Before going to bed every night, Mandy would re-read all the books she has in her room, which where all given to her by her mother as a gift. Eight small books in total. Each, with ten pages, with colorful illustrations and big font words. Every night, Mandy would read all of them one by one. She had memorized them all really, every word, and all the drawings were all stored in her young mind, but nevertheless, she would still read every single word out loud to herself and always pretend that she, also, like the princesses in her books, was a princess in real life. After Mandy have read them all, she would lie down on her small bed, cover her tiny body with her very old blanket and stare at the ceiling of her room, and start to dream. Her mother always told her that dreaming is the only thing a person can enjoy without paying any money. It's all for free! The three of them were all climbing up the staircase now. Mrs Compton was leading the gardener Ruel to the guest rooms. Ruel was smiling while taking all the opportunity he had to get a glimpse of the mansion's beautiful guest. Mandy was aware of what Ruel was doing, so she was looking at the mansions awesome paintings while walking and trying to stay away from his stare. "This will be your room Miss Mandy for the time being. Come inside and see if this is fine with you. If it's too small we can go to the next room", Mrs Compton politely told Mandy. "Oh, Missy... I mean Miss C... Mrs Compton... Madame... this is huge. This is too much for only one person really. If there's a smaller room than this, it would be much better". "This is the smallest", Mrs Compton said. Mandy's eyes became big and round, as if she saw a ghost passing in front of her. The biggest room she had in her life was the she was living in at the moment. Her one bath, one room apartment in the city. "This will do Ma'am, thank you very much". Mrs Compton nodded her head in agreement and pointed a finger to Ruel, to the guest's luggage, to the carpeted floor, and then the door, as if telling him to put Mandy's luggage down the floor and head straight to the door. Ruel understood the Madame's instruction, placed Mandy's bags next to the door and quietly went out.