Chapter 1 NEW STAFF LIFE

CLARA'S POV

NEW STAFF LIFE

"IF I'M EVER CAUGHT MEDDLING IN THE GREEN FAMILY AFFAIR OR FEEDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE GREEN FAMILY TO OUTSIDERS, I CONSENT TO DEATH BY HANGING-Signed Clara Davidson."

My hand trembled as I signed the non-disclosure agreement. This signature sealed my fate. I had now sold my soul to the Green family.

I had searched for a job for months. I had lost my very good job exactly seven months ago today. I searched everywhere for every kind of job, but either I had 'UNLUCKY' tattooed on my forehead or the universe just hated me.

"Let me show you to your quarters." A strict-looking old lady dressed in nun uniform said to me.

With her hand tucked in between the pleats of her gown, she led the way, and I followed.

"This is your room, and you'll be sharing it with a certain lass called Pat. She is on duty now and will be back soon." She informed me with a British accent.

I looked around the room. It was bigger and better than those shelter rooms I have shared for the past few months.

"Dinner will be served in the servant hall. Get comfortable; someone will come to get you. You'll be added to the servant roster soon."

I nodded.

She turned around to go.

"Thank you so much, Ma'am. Will I be part of the cleaning or cooking staff?" I asked.

She swiftly turned back around and stared at me with the coldest eyes.

"You are just a servant, Child. You better begin to behave like one. You'll do whatever you are asked. If you're asked to scrub the toilet, you will. Asked to wash the bottom of your masters? Cheerfully do so. Do you hear me?"

Fear gripped me. "Yes ... Yes, I hear you, ma'am."

"This is no Disneyland. You'll find out soon." She finally leaves me alone in the room.

I fell onto the bed tiredly.

***

"You must be Clara." A voice woke me up. I opened my eyes to see the palest and fairest face I've ever seen peering and grinning at me.

I jumped up.

"Whoa, whoa...easy." She raised her hand in surrender.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"I'm your roommate. My name is Pat Peterson. Nice to meet you."

Her handshake was very firm. Too firm.

Before I could respond to anything she had said, she held my arm and dragged me out of the bed.

"Mm...you're pretty. We'll be good friends."

"W-what?" I'm stunned by her exceptional boldness.

Without taking her eyes off me, she continued perusing me from head to toe. "I'm only friends with pretty girls. Ugly ones don't make the cut."

Wow, she really has no mouth filters. She indeed was pretty, maybe the prettiest girl I had ever seen. So she probably had all the effrontery to speak about people's looks.

But where was the basic human feeling that told you never to call someone fat or ugly?

"Don't you think you're being a little too...?"

She cuts me off once more.

"Time for dinner; we're late, and the old and cranky Madam Choice will have our heads if we stay any longer."

Madam Choice? Was that the old nun that received me earlier on?

Pat whispered into my ear, "In case you're thinking, Yes, she's the retired escort who turned to religion."

I wasn't thinking. But Pat didn't care. She yapped on.

"Word has it that she worked for years at the Green Club, and once she turned a certain age, she took on the cloth. She was a stripper." She whispered too loudly this time that my ears hurt.

The servant hall was much grander than what I imagined a place reserved for servants should look like.

The old lady nodded at me as I walked in. I made a plate for myself and began eating. I studied the surroundings and found it really beautiful. Chatter from various ends of the table constituted one big hushed noise. Everyone seemed to have their cliques.

"This is the only time we can chat as loud as we wish," Pat explained.

I kept eating. I was enjoying the meal; it was a hell of a tasty one.

"Easy there, new girl, so that you don't choke on the food. You eat like a starving pigeon." Someone random said from across the table. Suddenly all eyes were on me, and everyone burst out laughing.

I shamefully wiped off the sauce that trickled down my face.

Madam Choice stood up and clinked her fork on her wine glass. "Quiet everyone!" she ordered, and the hall went silent.

This woman commanded a lot of respect. She held power.

"We have someone new in our midst today, and I'll like it if we all help her in getting settled in."

"Oh, she's settling in well with all that food in front of her," someone muttered, and there was a quick outburst of laughter.

I looked down at my plate. The meal wasn't that much.

"I said quiet!" Madam Choice glared at the lady who made that comment. "You are too clean the servant quarters this night," she ordered.

The lady tried to plead, "Madam Choice, I apologise-I-I"

"No more words from you!" Madam Choice shut her up. "Does anyone else want to join her, or should I continue speaking?"

"Continue speaking, Madam Choice," everyone echoed. Well, everyone but me.

"We all came here lost once upon a time; I expect us to treat new intakes with kindness, seeing as we were once in their shoes and as clueless as they currently are." She looked around as she gave her speech. "This Clara Davidson, she just arrived today, yes. But she's our sister nonetheless. I expect nothing short of fair treatment from all of us for her. Am I clear?"

"Very clear, Madam Choice." Everyone chorused.

Just as Madam Choice sat back down, three men with rifles by their side burst into the hall and whispered something to Madam Choice. She stood up immediately.

"There's been an affair, some soldiers need to be tended to, and the mansion needs to be wiped clean." She said and dished out tasks to everyone. I was the only one without a task.

She squinted her eyes at me.

"You'll tend to the boss," she announced.

Everyone gasped. I gasped louder.