•Ephemeral•

Chapter 5: Into the night

...

The next day was exactly how she expected it to be: exhausting.

Jessica spent most of the morning preparing mentally for the upcoming work that was undoubtedly about to tore her tendons apart. It wasn't enough that the cherrywood furniture was already hard as it was-no, they had to carry it by hand upstairs on that infernal , yet marvelous staircase. Luckily she still had the help of the other servants, but the task was hard nonetheless...at least significantly harder that yesterday.

'Why' she thought while using the sleeve of her simple blouse to wipe the pearls of sweat that had formed on her forehead. 'Why can't they just live at least a bit...normally'.

As soon as she finally dropped the heavy wardrobe on the upstairs carpet, she let an exhausted sigh escape her lips. Two hours had passed and the girl already felt like she needed a break. Her small, unused to hard labor figure couldn't handle this type of work. After all, it was the Blackbriar's fault for not allowing the workers to use some modern equipment that would significantly increase their productivity. She tried to brush away the million questions she had swirling around her head, as well as her growing anger that started brewing in the pits of her ribcage. She found herself in their presence for a few days now and she already started finding them not only utterly unpredictable, but infuriating. She understood why they were so eccentric and it wasn't like she met any other disgustingly rich people to compare them to, but to force other people to work in such conditions was unacceptable and unnecessary. Not only that but their attitude was indeed questionable. 'It's like they're bipolar or something', Jessica thought. Especially Meredith. First she treats her nicely, then she becomes harsh, then she holds a dinner for her and in the end she treats her like a spot on her recently polished shoes. Last night she finally thought they could actually build some kind of mutual respect and decency, but again, this morning she was reminded of her place by none other than that viper of a woman. She finally realized that a commoner like her had no place between rich people and she will undoubtedly act like so from now on.

Obviously, she will still treat the with respect but she will do her best to keep all the excitement she had for this job aside and keep a cold relationship between her and that strange family that she no longer wishes to get to know better.

Only the heavens knew how much she waited to be done with everything and get back to her boring and mundane life and never come across a situation like this, ever.

She decided to take a break after all, especially since she had so much work to do and didn't want to absolutely exhaust herself right from the start, and so, she was headed right to the kitchen for some refreshments.

On her way, she encountered Beatrice that was nice enough to ask if she needed anything.

"Even a cold glass of water would be fine." the girl responded, curving her lips into a small smile.

"Oh, dear, if you wish for a refreshment I could make you a lemonade." the woman responded cheerfully.

Jessica thanked her and offered herself to follow the older woman to the kitchen, but Beatrice stopped in her tracks and as she turned around to the brown haired girl she displayed a look of horror on her wrinkled face.

"I'm afraid that is out of the question.", the woman said, terrifyingly slow.

The girl stopped as well, too shocked to utter a single word.

Then, as if nothing happened and she realized her reaction was a bit too extreme, Beatrice regained her composure and cleared her throat.

"Forgive me, dear, I only meant to say that the kitchen is a mess right now and I wouldn't like a guest to see it in such state. It would upset the masters since they like everything clean and tidy, you see?" she said, smiling politely.