I began to perform my duties in the early hours of the morning. Finishing them in the afternoon. I strolled throughout the castle in places I was permitted to enter. Lady Valeria was asleep. The rule was not to disturb her or else she will disturb me. How can she? She already disturbs me. Unless the unthinkable arises and the castle is in flames. Then I am permitted to disturb her slumber.

  How can one sleep the day away? What fun does she possess in the dark? Illness or not. Perhaps the reason she is sick is living in the dust-filled castle. That may be the benefactor.

  Curiosity overcame me. I drug my body against the walls of the hallway to not allow any of the floorboards to make a peep. Valeria kept her door askew. It was as though she was taunting me. Seeing if I may or may not obey her rules. She said I cannot wake her, nor go into her room. Although, she said nothing about peering in from the door frame. My feet scuffed the wood a tiny noise broke the silence. My heart stopped. I was an inch away from her doorframe. The shadow of Lady Valeria's body was engulfed by red silk sheets. Her canopy over the bed matched the sheets whereas the wood of the bedframe was a dark colour. Not black but ebony. Rose's carved into the wood of her bedframe. It was the same as the hallway. Thick and large scratches into the wood, destroying the rose pattern. Not scratches but cuts. The only black colour I noticed was the shape of her hair swept behind her head. A sound erupted, a low repetitive buzz. Perhaps the wind whistling throughout the castle? Is a window open?

  "You think watching me will get your work done?" Catherine murmured in her pillow. I was in a panic slamming her door shut. Sauntering down the stairs. Shit! Shit! My bare feet didn't touch one step fully until they planted on the floor. Valeria swept a note under my door last night. It followed more rules about the castle.

  -Not to go into the undercroft

  -By any means, do not open any curtains/drapes during the day

  -All requests done by Catherine Valeria must be obeyed

  -Medicine must be poured every 4 hours. No exceptions.

  I suppose it will be another hour before the sunsets, and Catherine will be up. I haven't had the slightest clue about what to call Catherine. I know she expects me to call her Lady Valeria, but it's quite confusing in my mind. Lady Valeria? Valeria? Catherine? I cannot do heads or tails. I guess calling her anything in my mind what suffice. I don't think her spending time in my mind is a burden, though, things I've thought of her would make god very disappointed.

  I picked up a feather duster, cleaning odd items that appeared to have a thick layer of dirt. I never imagined one individual would accumulate so much dust. I kept thinking maybe the matter of her illness isn't acting like an owl in the night, it's this dust. I was near the second set of stairs, the one Lady Valeria told me specifically not to enter. Picking up dust along the railing. I thought this banister was a grey colour, it was the same shade of brown as the main railing when I finished. My stomach dropped with each step I climbed. It wasn't the fear of being caught by Catherine. It was a rather macabre feeling. A force pulling me closer to the top of the landing. Something wanted me up there. The question was, did I want to go there willingly? Two more steps awaited me, and more dusted begged me to remove. The thought made my skin crawl, my stomach empty; strangely I felt full.

  "What did I specifically say not to go? Hm?" My skin jumped off my body. A teary-eyed Catherine stood at the bottom of the flight in her robe. "I was merely dusting, Lady Valeria." I held out the feather duster to show the evidence. "I do not give a shit if you were ripping up the damn carpet! Come down, now!" Her voice erupted the silence echoed throughout the castle. The presence that once drug me closer dissipated. Like whatever wanted me grew fearful of her voice.

  I scurried down the hardwood. Meeting Catherine's eye level. "I-I'm sorry-..."

  "Save it. Go, get my medicine. I feel as if I am to puke. I will be in my study." She adjusted her gown pulling the hem to cover her bare chest under her robe. I blushed upon notice. Catherine caught me from the side of her eye. She swept her long black hair up off her shoulders pinning it up. My feet ran into the study to a table where her medicine resided. I poured the red liquid into the glass. "Once I'm finished, you will clean my glass, Bella. Understood?" She laid down on her chair with her feet prompt. Some cynical grin painted Catherine's face. Her eye colour looked the shade of crimson, but that wasn't humanly possible. It was my imagination perhaps. Or discoloration from her just risen. Her smile was subtle curling on either side of her mouth. "Yes, my Lady." I stood before she held her cup, fully acknowledging her attitude. "Y-you slept well? You seem in good spirits." Her hand crept out of the sleeve of her robe. Her hand was more wide than mine but her fingers were mere bone. Skinny, pale. I swore her vein appeared grey. Her knuckles had some colour thank god. From friction or a fight. A peach cherry colour. Not bruised, more or less as though the only colour of Catherine Valeria was dancing around on her knuckles.

  "I did. Very peaceful. Until you disturbed me." I observed each finger on her hand hook to the thinnest part of the glass taking the rim to her lips. The liquid wasn't consistent with water, or milk. It was a thickness I can never explain. Not as thick as honey but not water. How strange. How strange of a creature she is.

  "I-I do apologize my Lady..." I found a seat in the corner that was well-used. My body was exhausted from cleaning around the castle. All my body wanted to do was rest. "Did I say you can sit there?" She interrupted me. My back straightened turning back to face Catherine tracing her finger around the rim of the glass. "Uh-no. My Lady." The same cynical grin appeared pointing down to her feet.

  "Fine, if you must insist you sit. Kneel." Her feet tapped the floorboards before her. I glided to face Lady Valeria. I dropped down to my knees, and the tip of Valeria's foot grazed my gown. "Very well."

  "Must you have an answer for everything? It's becoming quite an annoyance."

  "It's merely conversation. Why? Has it been eons since you had company?" She sipped again licking the corner of her mouth. "Perhaps, but I have never had someone so stubborn."

  "Ha. Well, this endeavour shouldn't be one-sided now should it?" All of my weight leaned onto my hand. She sipped again licking the corner of her mouth.

  "Something like that Bella. Enough about me. Why did you, sound mind and body, come up this mountain?" Her foot nudged my knee aware of a sudden pain. Her body had no heat. It was as though she was cold as snow in the middle of December.

  "To be frank, I presume that if I reached the top perhaps I was able to see if there was another village or town I can resume my life in. Without persecution from my father for not complying with his arranged marriage. I had no clue you were up here." Lady Valeria found something amusing. A laugh escaped her lips through her glass taking another drawn-out sip of the remnants of her medicine. "I guess not. Why run? You seem knowledgeable enough to stand your ground."

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  "I know you are living under a rock. Or should I say above the rock, but women still cannot go against men. I may speak my mind all I please but all they see is breasts on a stick. If I had any other part they would listen." I was attentive to Catherines actions. Any slip up perhaps I will be struck or worse.

  "Now come off it. I may as you say 'live above the rock' but I still do not subdue to men. Not women for that matter. I obey no masters. All of this you see before you yes, was provided by man but do see any? I think not. You and I are well aware you are not just breast on sticks." Her thick Romanian accent grew me wary to understand her fully. It will take me forever to conquer it.

  "I suppose, but is the answer to have no masters to hide from civilization? To not succumb to a mundane existence? You mustn't have much fun around these hallowed halls." Her bone-white hand loosened its grasp on her cup lowering it down on the side table beside her chair. "Not solely, I do have some company every once in a while. Why? Do you think about leaving so soon?"

  "Well, you haven't been such happy company. Someone who doesn't have many people might have been gracious to be around others." I shuffled my knees across the wood relieving the friction. I may need spectacles, I swear Lady Valeria's eye glowed red for a moment. In the mirror behind us, there was no reflection of her head. Perhaps she blended in with her chair. An optic allusion? Yes. So much wealth she has is bound to have such novelties. "Likewise. You would think someone who had nowhere else to go would be very grateful, a bystander such as myself, allowed to give her room and board. In exchange for not being shipped back to the village."

  "Don't think I am not grateful Lady Valeria. I only question your hospitality to guests. You don't seem like the cheery type." Valeria chuckled to herself loudly. "I guess I haven't been forthcoming with you have I Bella? Well, that might change." Her back arched forward seizing my chin under her nails. "If you work with me that is." Her nail dug into the hollow pit of my jaw. "That is all I require."

  "I do believe it's quite late Bella. You have replenished my medicine. You may leave for the night."

  "Thank you, my Lady."

  "Buona notte Bella Donna."

  "Buona notte..." I exited her study to the stairs. The same gut-wrenching feeling set my skin a fire. I was being watched. I stepped up to hold the railing in hand. I cocked over. A white iridescent figure danced along the west wing stairs. The same stairs I felt sick upon. Humming a tune.

  "Dancing bears....painted wings-...things I almost remember...." The figure sang in a shrill tone. The hairs on my arms raised. I froze in either fear or the cold presence of this mystery. It was a woman's voice. No younger than myself. No face, hidden under a white veil. "Once upon a December-..." The figure left my line of version. The heat restores in my body. My grip loosened on the banister known to leave a mark. I couldn't get that tune out of my mind.

  "Dancing bears...painted wings..things I almost remember...hmm...hm...hmm..." It was stuck like a good dream, or was this an omen? For things to come? A spiritual bad omen?

  ?───? ??? ?───?

  I tossed in this empty bed. The loneliness engulfed me this night. In the 18 years of my life, I have always slept alone. This night felt strange. As though I was the only one here. On my own. They only human in the creation. Catherine is human yes, but there is something very inhuman about her. Something morbid. Not human per se, more or less a beautiful creature. Not a woman. Even that white figure wasn't human. Was it a spirit? An entity perhaps. The omen good nor bad is not a premonition. What is done is done. I'm here. If I had seen this omen before, maybe I wouldn't have travelled up this mountain. I would retreat to London.

  My brain since shut down into a deep slumber, my body sunk into the soft creme-coloured sheets. The sparkle behind my eyes dissipated, just darkness. The mattress shifted in weight. I was mid-sleep with one blurry eye peeking open. I rotated my neck with a sense of something holding me down by my throat. Like a stone, trapping my airway. I could still breathe softly. The gown I sleep in was loose than other gowns I own. The heaviness of what was on my neck travelled down my back to render it bare.

  "Huh.." I tried to free myself by rolling over onto my back. The force wouldn't allow me.

  "?nchide-l..." It was hands. Sharp cold hands. It reminded me of Catherine's hands. Was it Catherine's? They were forceful but delicate. No window was open even though there was a sense of a draft. It was in fact, Catherine Valeria. I can tell, her hair in the corner of my eye. Long horse black strands glided my pillow. It must be Catherine. Unless another dark-haired woman is living here I haven't been acquainted to. "N-no.." I begged still under the heavy weight.

  My begging was for naught. Little noises escaped my lips, her firm press became stronger. To the point of pain. The pain intensified while an unfamiliarity occurred. Something pierced into my naked back. The sense of cold and heat fluctuated down to my backside. The pain was excruciating. Nothing I experienced. Is this what it feels like to be stabbed? It feels like it.

  "Valeria-.." I squeaked out begging for her to cease. Nothing availed, she was digging into my skin. She murmured under her breath as she growled out something else in Romanian. Something was running down my back as if she poured cold water down my spine. My hands were free though frozen in fear made them clingy to the sheets. I freed one hand grazing my bare back. I guessed it was blood. My blood. She was tearing me to shreds. I screamed into my pillow fearing the pain was too much to bare.

  Have I upset her? What deed have I done that this would be an acceptable punishment? To be torn up?

  "P-please!-.." I cried out, muster enough strength to flip myself around onto my back. It was in fact my Lady, Catherine Valeria. Nevertheless; she appeared different. It could have been the lighting, but she seemed to be darker. As though all of the shadows in the room decided to preside all over her body. The contrast of shades made her bare shoulders light, whereas her face and lower stomach were black. Her hair wasn't in frame. A faint outline of her head's shape. Catherine's hands were covered in specks of my blood. She raised her hands to her face, flashing the crimson shade.

  "This will work." Her jagged teeth were exposed, salivating into her palm. One swipe of her tongue into her hand, wiping the blood away. "You work fine.." She growled lower leaping onto me. Catherine's nails ripped through my throat. I couldn't breathe. A whistle through the gash in my throat. "N-N-" I can't move or speak at this moment as Valeria tore my ribcage apart. "This is all I wanted! You Bella!"

  ?───? ??? ?───?

  "No! No!" I jumped out of bed stuck to the sheets. My whole body was in a sweat. A pool dripping onto the floor. "Jesus Christ! For fuck sake!" I can't catch my breath. My chest pounded, and my heart wanted to run away. Jump out of my ribs. My back ached. It was no more than a dream. A terrible, blood-crudling dream. I have never experienced such a visual dream in my life. Such a frightening sight. Why in gods name would my brain conjure that idea? Of Catherine Valeria eating me? Yes her medicine does resemble blood. Perhaps my brain did that association? Surely.

  "Bella! Bella!" Catherine shouted from a distance. Far from my room. I hesitated to call back, I still had her in my mind on top of my ripping my throat apart. "Um..yes my Lady?" My fingers regained feeling by pulling the handle open. "Get out here!" My feet grew cold on the floor. The sweat accumulated off my body was dissipating. I shuffled along the floor to meet Catherine. She stood at the bottom of the stairs. "What is the matter? You screamed?" Her body hunched over a banister.

  "Oh, I apologize, my Lady, for it was just a nightmare."

  "Come down. You are drenched. I cannot allow you to go back to your room. You will fall ill." I took each step from the stairs lightly. My body burned every move I took until I reached her at the bottom. The back of Catherine's hand pressed against my forehead. I was taken aback, I just witnessed Catherine tear me apart, then she was playing doctor. "Shit, you are burning up. Come into the kitchen."

  Is this an act of her kindness? I may have hit a heartstring with Catherine Valeria. If her heart was in working order. Maybe, just maybe, this will be a glorious start to our work relationship.