I am ME

Chapter 03

We were guided by a woman in her late 30s into a large cottage which is the servant headquarters. She showed us our room which was quite small compared to the room we had back in our home, but it was sufficient for two. The window was the first thing that came to our view just as we opened the door.

“We weren’t expecting visitors, so we didn’t have the time to clean; I suppose you wouldn’t be bothered by then as someone will arrive soon to clean the room” she said in a dry tone.

“It’s okay, we’ll clean it ourselves. We don’t want to trouble anyone as the chief is generous enough to provide a roof over our head; that’s the least we could do” mother said with pleading eyes.

“Very well then, I am Agatha the maid-in-charge and since you would be living here for the rest of your life; you’ll be starting work from tomorrow?” she informed and I gave her a questioning look ‘what kind of work?’ “Let us settle first and you could later brief me about the work” mother replied.

“The assistant maid’s room is just across yours; inform her when you are done” she left.

We started cleaning the room which was dusty and if you ask me, it must not have been used in years. There were two beds placed opposite and enough space between the beds; not quite big though, there was also a small closet and the floor was wooden. The bathroom was at the left of the entrance door with a distance of 1 metre. After hours of cleaning and mopping, I was dead tired and rested myself on the bed that was joined by us when mother went to inform the assistant maid. I was woken up by the smell of freshly baked bread and curry; I must’ve been sleeping for quite a while seeing that it’s dark outside.

“Tired sleepy head?” mother said placing the food on the table. I munched the food to silence the tiger in my stomach and mother was chuckling at the sight.

“Mother um…what kind of work was Agatha talking about earlier?” I asked

“It’s like theirs only that I just started so, not as equal as Agatha’s” Mother laughed a little as I watched her in silence.

“So it’s the job of a maid then?” I managed to ask, but she just nodded with a smile on her face. Only if father was here then maybe she needn’t do any of this and I know she was staying strong for my sake. In mother’s arms I felt into deep sleep. The same image, the thick fog, the unknown figure and me floating in the air; I felt everything and it wasn’t like any dream.

“Tell me who you are, why do you keep hiding behind the façade?” I asked.

“I’m not hiding, I never was” it replied in a deep and dominating tone.

“Then why is it that I’m not able to see you?” I was getting anxious.

“You can only see when your eyes are open” just like that it started disappearing into nothing.

Something bright shone through my eyes and I was adjusting to the light to open my eyes to see that it was morning already and mother was in a uniform same as Agatha’s; I guess she’s started to work.

“Honey wash up and come downstairs. There’s a dining hall and everyone is having breakfast; mother has got to report to work” she kissed my temple and left. I finished my business and wore the clothes mother left for me in the closet and went down to see a massive dining hall with lots of people; I thought it was just for servants but there were soldiers too and mini soldiers that was just my age. I was a bit nervous with the unfamiliar environment and just as I was making my way everyone’s attention was at me which I didn’t like it at all. Well, I was a stranger so obviously they would be curious.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turn around to meet with two gorgeous black orbs staring at me; she was a little bit taller than me maybe an inch, but was very beautiful with the midnight black, silky and long hair of her. “Hi, you must be the new girl?” she flashed me a smile showing her dimples

“Um yeah” the only words I was able to answer.

“My name is Freya, Freya Bermingham and you are?” Bermingham? She must be the daughter of the Chief.

“It’s Meredith” I replied politely returning her a smile. She took my hand and brought me near the table where the five mini soldiers were seated and the four of them turned their attention to me; one didn’t even bother to look while only one of them among the four smiled at me and the others were giving the strange look at Freya ‘who is she?’.

“Meredith meet Erica, Arkyn, Magnus, Bjorn and Mr. arrogant Harald” she started introducing them

“Guys meet Meredith; Meredith meet my friends” she continued

“Hello, nice to meet you” I smiled at them feeling shy.

“Hello Meredith, nice to meet you too” that was Arkyn, the guy who smiled at me. He had short silver hair and eyes similar to Freya; his smile was quite charming that I couldn’t help but blush. Afterwards the three of them also greeted me with “Nice to meet you” except for Harald who had short midnight black hair with hazel eyes that I’ve seen before. He didn’t even bother to smile and had a hard expression on his face. I thought he was way rude and wasn’t very welcoming.

“You must’ve felt out of place here, but don’t worry you’ll get the hang of it” Erica smiled at me. She was beautiful too but not as beautiful as Freya. I sort of liked her, she reminded me of Sandra. I got well along with them and Bjorn was the funniest one, Magnus was grumpy just like Simon and Freya was the most talkative among them; I had to listen to all her non-stop blabbering because all of them covered their ears as if knowing what was coming. They made me feel comfortable which made me look forward to this new day.

“We’ll be going for the hunt after this, come and join us will you?” Freya asked making puppy eyes.

“What kind of hunt?” I asked.

“Dragon Hunt” Bjorn said proudly hitting his chest with his fist as if it was broad like a full grown man.

 “Why would you hunt dragons? They are harmless creatures” they gawked at my words even Harald looked at me surprised.

“Young lady, do you know that a dragon can swallow a whole of you alive?!” Magnus narrowed his eyes as he was replying to me. I was stupefied at what I was hearing.

“Besides only a fool would make friends with those fire breathing monsters” Erica chuckled.

I only faked smile because from their knowledge I came to understood that dragons are not welcomed everywhere and maybe they don’t know about the importance of relationship between humans and dragons that means a great deal to the people like us. So I only kept quiet pretending to be dumb but Harald was throwing me glares because of what I said before. If looks could kill; I’ll be 6 feet underneath the ground. Arkyn gave me a confusion yet questioning look which I ignored. These two guys were not as simple as the others and I have to be careful with my words next time.