Katie woke up abruptly her breath heavy, sitting up on the bed she looked around the room which was dark and quiet. The rain pelted towards the closed windows as she stepped out of the bed, her feet touched the cold floor.
Going to stand next to the window, she saw the heavy rain pouring down from the nightly dark clouds. Drops of water followed one after the other in continuous streamed lines, competing with each other.
It had been more than a month since the incident that took place in the doll maker’s house but it didn’t leave her subconsciousness.
Mr. Weaver often came in her dreams ready to mummify her and it made sleeping difficult. It was like a recurring nightmare that she wished would leave her mind but the doll maker wasn’t the only one who visited her in her dreams. It was the doll with blue eyes and vibrant smile that scared her more.
She was scared to sleep alone. Some days she kept herself awake at night in fear of dreaming things she didn’t want to and it only deepened the bags under her eyes.
And the thunderstorm in the sky didn’t help a bit. It had started raining last night and it didn’t seem like it was stopping anytime soon. The silence the rain brought with it was something that oddly soothed her mind except for the horrendous thunder.
Sipping water from the glass that she had placed on her bedside she got back into bed.
The next day when she woke up, she continued with her chores that were given by Martin. The old butler of the mansion had removed her from tasks that required her to go out to the town not that she could with the on going rain.
Even though the ground was wet and muddy at noon, Katie had gone to work in the horse shed. She felt relaxed working around the animals than inside the mansion as she enjoyed the open air than working in closed walls.
“Miss Katherine!”
She heard one of the boy who worked in the shed call her while she fed the horses with hay.
“Miss Katiiie,” the boy who was no less than eleven years old came to where she was.
“What is it Peter?” Katie asked with her brows raised in question.
“I was wondering if it was alright if I leave early today,” he asked hopefully.
“I wouldn’t mind if you did but unfortunately Caviar is in charge of the shed and you will have to ask him,” she replied picking up the hay from the ground to feed the next horse and the boy trailed her.
“He isn’t here yet,” the boy whined.
“Patience. He should be here in two hours, the rain must be slowing their work which causing the delay,” Katie said with a knowing smile.
If the boy were to go to Caviar he would out rightly refuse him unless the reason was a good one. Caviar with two other men had gone to bring woods as it would be in high demand in the mansion even though there were some already stacked inside. The temperature had dropped lower than last night making the weather cold and if it continued there was no doubt it would turn the entire place icy cold.
“But if you still want to go you can go ask Martin,” she suggested to see the boy’s eyes widen before he shook his head furiously.
“That’s alright,” he slumped his shoulders to take a seat on the hay.
Katie looked at him picking one stray out of it breaking it evenly and she wondered if the little boy had somewhere to go before Dorthy who had entered the shed interrupted her,
“There you are.”
Dorthy came as she tried to fold the umbrella she was carrying to avoid the rain.
“I should have known you would be here. Mrs Hicks prepared meat soup with the feast for everyone and its being served at the chambers of the mansion,” Dorthy said nonchalantly.
“Meat soup and feast?” Katie asked with a quizzical expression on her face.
Meat soup was a soup made of rich broth of highly classified meat that was mostly served for the guests who visited the Lord and it wasn’t served for the servants or maids who worked there.
“Mr. Tanner presented our Lord with a whole carriage of meat this early in the morning and I heard Mrs Hicks say that Lord Alexander had asked to use half of it for us. Isn’t he kind?” asked Dorthy and her friend nodded.
“He is,” Katie smiled and turned back to look at the boy still sat on the hay staring into space, “Peter.”
“Yes,” the boy replied dully.
“I’ll let Martin know that you fell sick and have gone home for the day,” she said making the boy smile wide suddenly.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” she replied seeing the boy run towards the end of the shed to grab his belongings.
“Is that alright?” Dorthy asked looking at the boy head out wearing his ragged cloak.
“Yeah. The weather just calls for a day off work, don’t you think so?” and saw Dorthy sigh.
“I miss being young. You know sleeping in late, waking up late. No worries, no life crisis and no Martin,” she added while she opened the umbrella, making Katie laugh.
“There there,” she patted her friend’s shoulder as they began walking out of the shed
“It’s getting dark,” She noticed.
“What?” Dorthy asked unable to hear with the rain.
“Don’t you reckon the sky is darker than usual?” Katie asked loudly.
“It is but it happens every year, on the same month and day. We don’t know why it happens so, but it’s like a holiday with the Lord treating us with food like meat soup,” Dorthy explained while they walked on the muddy ground, “When one of us questioned Martin about it, he was scolded on not to ask unnecessary questions. Even Mrs Hicks and Daisy don’t speak on it.”
Katie wondered if there was something that Martin and the older staff knew which they didn’t want others talking about it before she could think further on it a strong breeze swept across them turning the umbrella inside out. It resulted in both the women getting drenched as the rain showed no mercy and continued to pour down.
The umbrella being the stubborn one refused to turn around when another breeze came at them. Running to the mansion for shelter Katie sighed.
“The weather sure did turn around from scorching hot to wet grounds,” she said wiping the droplets of water from her arms with her fingers.
“I prefer sun over this damp climate,” Dorthy said scrunching her brows while looking at the sky, “Don’t you find it-”
“Depressing?” Asked Katie making Dorthy smile.
“I was going to say gloomy but yeah depressing too,” her friend shrugged her shoulder.
While Dorthy spoke, Katie noticed someone standing in the mansion’s vast garden even with the sky darker than usual rainy days due to the dark grey clouds that hid any possible light behind them.
“Lets go,” Dorthy urged seeing Katie looking towards the garden.
“Ah, why don’t you go ahead. I’ll be there in few minutes.”
“Don’t be late because there won’t be any left overs,” she said before heading inside.
She stepped down on stair to get a closer look.
Looking at the tall frame who stood there still, Katie realized it was none other than the Lord himself. She wondered what he was doing standing there alone in front of a plant while in the rain.
After few passing minutes with only the sound of rain muting the entire place, she saw the Lord bend down to pick something from the ground. A second later he wasn’t standing there anymore and she furrowed her brows.
“Enjoying the rain?”
She hadn’t expected him to use his inhuman, vampire speed to come where she stood and the sudden action startled her making her slip the stair she was standing at the edge on.
Katie felt the Lord’s hand hold her by her waist before she could fall.
“Do you fall when I’m not around or does it happen only when I’m around?” she heard Alexander ask her, humor laced in his voice.