Ego's Trap | ✔

64 | Ego Death ?

☆☆☆ Chapter 64 ☆☆☆

Ego Death ?

After the thousand steps I had to take to get to the top, I stood for a moment to take it in── the view in front of me, that is. I never stopped to admire it all before. As soon as I started working as a maid, much of the things in the Campbell residence became nothing but background noise for others to chat with me about, and even then, I never gave much attention to the people that talked about it in the first place. They were all just background extras in the movie I starred and directed in. I never valued them, just like the things in front of me. Like, say, the front doors. My god, were they ginormous; double my height. And gorgeous── it had a highly detailed geometric design that bled onto the tempered frosted glass in the middle, and the shine of the brown-ish metal it was made of made the design stand out from a distance. It was almost as if the door itself welcomed guests, hosted them, rather than the staff within. A pot rested on each side of the three gorgeous sets of double doors. All had tall skinny trees in the best of conditions.

An old-looking doorbell engraved with the family name of the residence eyed me from a corner. That was my signal to actually go inside── the doors couldn't wait to welcome me. It had been quite a while since the last time I'd come in. They wanted to catch up with me.

I reached for my handbag and dug around for the keys. I didn't need to use the doorbell, so long as the keys were still on me somewhere. Hopefully I didn't leave them at home.

When I realized that my light digging didn't work, I put down the other bag I had on me; my tote bag, and slid the handbag off my arm. I turned it upside down, directly on the leveled (marble-ish?) ground, and lifted it with a hand so that all of the contents could spill out. If I looked hard enough, I was sure I would find it. Er, hopefully.

The door closest to me suddenly opened, and out peeked a maid's head. "Hello Ane, good to see you again. Come on in."

"Uh, yeah, same here, thanks," I said. I picked up all of my things and rushed my way inside.

I worked as a maid at the Campbell residence for a month shy of a year and I didn't know her name.

I could hardly recognize her face.

She knew my name. She knew me, period. It couldn't have been any more awkward than that.

Inside, I came across other maids and manservants that I didn't know, who also recognized me and welcomed me back. I smiled and waved at them all, but kept going forward. I had a purpose for coming to the residence, one greater than casual meet-ups with barely-familiar strangers and pointless chatter. I could do that after my task is completed── I could try and burn their faces and names into my memories, so that whenever we passed by each other in town, I could actually be a decent person for once.

I also came across the matriarch of the Campbells, who hugged me tight, kissed me on the cheek, then got me up to date with all that was happening. Oh, Jordan left again── permanent this time? Oh, no, that's terrible! You're angry at him? Oh, yes, yes, rightfully so. You're staying here? No more vacation? No? I see, you want to meet Hilery's son── ah, yes, excuse me, your grandson. You're going with Hilery? Okay, understandable. Nobody showed up last week for Thanksgiving? Only you? Wow, I don't know what to say, I wonder why... Jade escaped out of the local hospital? It's been months and she still can't be found? Oh my, unbelievable! Oh, I see, Joel wants to stay here for a while. He likes the classes here and has things to do? Good for him, good for him. Oh, Daniel? Really? Wow, yeah, I still can't believe he doesn't want to be a part of the winery...

Business as usual at the Campbell residence.

I didn't really want to think about it much. There was always something going on with them, and I no longer wanted to be a part of it. I couldn't. But thinking about not wanting it was much easier than actually acting on it, especially when the man I will always love was one of them.