Chapter Two : Serena...

Chapter 2

As I felt her slender fingers grasping for my neck I felt myself struggle for air. I wearily said, "I'm sorry… Serena I never got to meet you again…" at that moment Louise's grip on my throat seemed to loosen , "W-what did you just say?" she asked with a hint of confusion in her eyes. I couldn't answer her question because the moment I opened my mouth to say another word I immediately fainted. Serena… She was my childhood friend back in the day when I lived in the slums. One day when we were nine she had to leave because she was getting adopted by a high ranking aristocrat family ; their daughter had died from a heart tumor and Serena coincidentally looked identical to her. The day she left we talked one last time and that was when I promised to work hard so that one day I will be able to meet her once again. She was the reason I became a maid because I hoped that I could be alongside her as her faithful attendant. If I die like this I will never be able to see her again…

Seemingly moments later my eyes slowly fluttered open, my vision slightly hazy but I was able make out the figure of a slender young lady. "Where am I? What happened?" I queered the blurry looking lady, dressed in something that looked like a red smudge. "You are safe," a long pause occurred when the lady opened her lips once again, "For the moment at least..." A few blinks later and my mind's gears slowly moving I realised that I had made a fatal mistake. My vision now crystal clear, I could see that the 'slender young lady' was actually Louise Von Heimberg… My body began to shudder violently, recalling what had previously happened. " W-why are you here?!" my voice slightly cracked as I spoke, " I thought you wanted to k-kill me…" The young madam leaned towards me but as she did I moved back, eventually hitting my head on the fluorescent wall of the luxury looking bed that I was laying upon, "Ow…" Louise pricked her pale graceful fingers along my jaw and onto my chin, slowly lifting it up towards her face so that I was looking directly at her. "Don't ask me questions, I am the one that needs to ask you them," she pulled my red tinted ear with her dagger-like nails and whispered softly, " Answer wrong and your head could become a wonderful ornament for the stables, and your body feed to the pigs." My heart began palpitating out of my chest and a cold sweat trickling down my forehead , "what was she going to ask?" I thought to myself, "whatever it is I need to answer correctly, or she really will let my blood decorate the floors…"

"So what is the question?" I asked politely, hoping that my good attitude would make her a bit more lenient towards me. But I don't believe it worked as the young madam was silently staring into my light green eyes as if trying to find out something, trying to read me. "How do you know Serena?" she asked me, her face stern and eyebrows crinkled. "Ooh Serena… She was my childhood friend, we grew up together in the slums, she is someone extremely precious to me…" I felt my eyes water a little as I thought of the fond memories we had together. Suddenly, there was just silence, for minutes on end Louise's face was just blank, perplexed at what she had just heard. Did she know Serena?The young madam quietly mumbled, "Sarah… you are Sarah..?" her face turned pale all colour draining from it as if her blood was being drained, "You are the one that Serena asked me to protect…but I almost killed you..." Confused by what was just said I held Louise's hand and leaned towards her, "She said that? Where is she?! Please tell me!" My eyes glistened excitedly to see my long lost friend but my words caused the young madam to wince, looking as if she just experienced death. She opened her plump soft lips and said, "She died…she was murdered 8 years ago..." All hope in my eyes faded, now all that filled them were tears that blurred my vision, " What? By who..?"

Louise replied, "It was…"

To be continued…