Back to the past: Life of a boy.

Back to the past - Echoes Of Ossian

From the moment I opened my eyes in that cold secluded space I had only for myself, I heard the annoyed voices of the maids and servants. We woke up early in the mornings so that everything in the domain could be perfect once the masters woke up. 

The Head maid gathers us every morning and gives us each chore to do. I am late this morning and have to rush through the back alley leading to the main house, the cold was so intense that night that I thought that, every time my eyes closed, I would never wake up again and I was terrified of the dark, no one was around me, the maids quarter was all the way to the back of the house, I slept in a small storage room near the forest, it took me some time to gather with the other that were already giving me some looks.

 As always, the Head maid didn't bother talking much with me, her dark orbs were glaring at me with disgust and her raspy voice would usually bark at me for the same orders.

Cleaning was a significant part of a servant's duties, that what they repeated in my ears everyday.

I had to sweep, mop and dust various rooms, including the masters' chambers, receptions areas and hallways. Fine tapestries, delicate decorations and valuable artifacts would require special attention to prevent damage.

The other maid and servants didn't even bother to look at me anymore. Since I was brought up at a young age, I have mastered my role perfectly by now.I didn't have much of a choice, I must do what I am told to do, without asking anything, like that i could see another day and at the same time, I could prevent painfu punishments from the head maid.

To pass time, i worked quietly listening to others.

The maids loved to talk amongst each other, and I have heard some faint gossip about me too, they call me the bastard of the main family. It didn't ffect me, I already knew it; I also knew for sure that some of them were already there before I was born so I had no other choice but to believe them. The story of my pitiful life was already all around the domain, I was a laughingstock. 

I had no other choice but to work to earn my living, some food and somewhere to sleep in. It was the only way for me to survive. 

My favorite moment of the day was probably polishing the swords and armor of the guards and soldiers of the clan. I could watch some of them training and I was fascinated by that.

I wanted to join them to become stronger, so that fear wouldn't haunt me my all life. It was a foolish dream,. 

I would never have thought that I would have to join them to stay alive.

I began my day cleaning up around the domain and stoped my mind from wandering around…

The master was known as the head of this powerful and rich family, and he is supposed to be my "father". He never bothered looking at me if we crossed path, he despised me. He never wanted me from what I heard from some maids making fun of me. He didn't have a choice, getting rid of a child in a womb was against the family laws. So instead it threw me here. 

He was married to a noble family young girl for political reasons, I knew that she couldn't be my mother, her eyes were cold looking at me.

He was pressured by higher ups to have an heir, but it never happened. He had few concubines, and my mother was one of them, she was bought over a dept, sold by her family. 

He never loved her and did everything to make sure she understood that fact, she was only a toy in his hands. She passed away a few years after giving birth to me, coincidentally after an heir was born in the main family, from his current wife.

Since then, I was put away from the family treated as the bastard I was, I was only just a kid, but some faint memories of her came back to me…

I didn't know if my memory was tricking me but after hearing the maids, I was sure that some of this story had to be true.

I spent my boring day like aany other before. But i couldn't help myself anymore.I was curious to know what was behind those golden doors, I noticed that every maid seemed to avoid them, walking so fast with their heads down and rushing to disappear from their sight, as if they could see them.

 I decided to open them while I was cleaning around. Maybe I shouldn't have but my curiosity was stronger than my reason. The head maid was going to punish me if she finds out, she often yells that she hated my "childlike behaviors". I found it strange at times, the fact that in her eyes, I wasn't a child. She often looked at me with strange eyes, not the same look as she talked to the other maids. She looked at me as if she hated me to the point that in her eyes, I was a nuisance to everybody around.

It didn't matter, I couldn't spend time thinking about that when the golden doors were right before my eyes. I touched them gently tracing the gold flowers engraved on the handle before pushing them lightly to open the door. 

To my surprise it was empty, only a black and impressive desk was at the center of it, there was a multitude of books and papers scattered all around the room. Like someone went mad and threw them all around. I bent down and held one in my hand, there were a lot of symbols that I couldn't read so I didn't understand what it was about. It was fascinating and I kept wondering what secrets those symbols were hiding from me.

When I was about to back off and go back to my chores a cold chill ran through my back. I realized that someone was behind me, but before I could face it and excuse myself, a hand grabbed me by my neck and held me high, furious eyes were looking at me, I couldn't breathe anymore , it was much more terrifying that the hateful looks that I was accustomed with, not a sound came from me.

After some times that fell like an eternity, the man in front of me looked at me with disbelief and when I though I saw the most furious eyes that I could ever imagine, his expression hardened, and his eyes went crazy. I was terrorized and I couldn't understand a word coming from his scream and spit. 

"How is it possible, … Those eyes …again…I already got rid of you, why are you haunting me!! "He screamed shaking me even more. 

Who could he possibly be talking to? 

He dropped me on the cold ground and began hitting me, I could only shrink myself the smallest I could so I could disappear from that nightmare. 

I didn't know if I was screaming, he was louder than me, but someone came, an old man calling for the master to calm down.

He was screaming hysterically questioning endlessly why I was still here, why was I still alive.

I didn't know what was happening but after a while, as I sobbed in a corner of the room the head maid came running apologizing, I never saw her in so much fear before, she then looked at me in disbelief and told me to bow and ask for forgiveness, grabbed me from my arm dragging me behind her to the maid quarter .

I couldn't even lift an arm or even walk so I was grateful that she thought of helping me get out of there. She wasn't so bad after all. 

She dropped me to the floor, and it was the first time that I saw how a maid chamber looked like, it looked warmer than mine. I was lost in my thoughts when she began screaming at me.

"What were you thinking! Have you lost your mind? Do you have a death wish? Do you even know who that was? "

I just looked at her in disbelief while she yelled at me. 

Most of the rumors were in truth not just rumors he was truly a monster.

General POV

The father's grudge against his ten years old son was way more powerful than his reason. Seeing in his son's eyes the same look as his late concubine made him go crazy, or even crazier than he already was. His eyes were the same dark orbs that looked at him terrified with that never ending amount of grudge before fading away in emptiness like there never was a soul behind them. 

He could not stand his accusatory look every time that he had to face that young boy. It only made him aware of what he had done…that he was a murderer. It did not matter to him if he was only a child, he didn't see a child in front of him, only a dreadful sin. It was like she was always looking at him through his eyes. 

He had to come up with a plan to get rid of him, but he couldn't, even though he was a bastard, he was still the first-born son in the eyes of the elders, and it was the only reason for him still being alive. 

They feared that the weak condition of his wife would transmit to her son, the second heir of the family, killing him before he could even pretend to be the headmaster of the clan.

They had to keep the bastard alive, a substitute for the real heir.

Echoes Of Ossian

After few days I was still left alone in my storage room, I couldn't stop thinking about all I had been through, and the pain was killing me. I felt like throwing up, my insides were killing me. When the night came, I couldn't stop thinking and couldn't close my eyes one bit.

What if he came back for me ?

Without noticing it, lost in my darkness, it was already time for me to wake up. I had work to do, I didn't want them to find me useless and throw me away. Not after what happened.

I may have thought sometimes that the best thing to do in my situation was to rebel or escape. I thought about it often, but I didn't have any resources, nowhere to go and more importantly, no one by my side. I was alone and added to that if I tried to go against the orders, they would seclude me in prison or worse.