The Maid

Chapter 22

A rush of people ran to the door to see what all the commotion was and in the front was Ella, Rowland, and Rose. They looked in wonder of what happened. "What's going on?" Ella asked. Rose looks at the mess then walks down the hall.

I looked down at the mess I had made. "I loss my grip on the cookie jar and... This happened." I gestures towards the broken jar and cookies on the floor. Ella's faced hardened, the fire in her eyes grew. " That was an antique, it cost me a fortune."she fumed. People started crowding her and calming her down saying " don't get stressed" and "your upsetting the baby." They take Ella back into the dining room.

Rose comes back with a broom and dust pan. I try to grab the broom to clean it up myself. She looks up at me with a irritated look and I back away. Rowland stands and looks at me. "It's okay" he pauses, " we can buy another one, don't worry about it." There was a half smile on his face while his forehead wrinkled with disconcert.

He shuffles back into the dinning room where the family was back to laughing and giggling not knowing what was really going on in this house. Ta quell peaks through the double doors, she had a frown on her face. I realized that I too had one on my face and quickly shifted it to a smile. She didn't seem persuaded and instead looked concerned. "TaQuell, my beautiful niece come and give auntie a hug" Ella walks by the door and picks TaQuell up.

She smiles up at her and TaQuell does nothing but give her a smile back. Ella notices me and closes the door to the room. My heart was broken even more, yes I had a connection with a small five year old girl, I was her Auntie not Ella.
Rose stands up from cleaning up the broken glass. "You didn't have to do tha-" she holds up her hand and I shut up ready to hear what she has to say eager to know why she looked so irritated.

"What did I tell you earlier? Huh, I told you to stay away from Ella. Stop going around Rowland. The closer you get to him the closer you get to her, stay away now, you here me." She ranted. "And don't look all confused, I'm not dumb, I know there is something between you and him. Like I said Ella is crazy, you weren't hired cause your application looked good, your a replacement for the last girl who took Ella's wrath." Rose was breathing hard now, she opened her mouth again to speak but, close it quickly. Then she spoke again

"Honey listen, get out of your feelings okay. Can you do that for me." She looks into my eyes and all that she was saying was to protect me but, I wasn't listening to her. The thumping of my heart was too loud to hear her. All I could think about was how I was going to get out of this hellhole.

I nod and walk back upstairs to my room, locking the door. I grab my phone and dial Kristen's number. It goes straight to voicemail. I call again, come on kris pick up your phone, finally she picks up her phone.

"Hello" Kirsten says. I open my mouth to speak but instead a cry escapes. Suddenly tears stream down my face and I cry and cry till my face is soaked in my tears." What's wrong Ari? Is everything okay?"

I continue to cry, "no, every..thing is..is.... Horrible" I grasp the phone trying to find comfort to seize the pain of my heart. "Calm down okay everything is okay." She soothes. I try to do what she says; I take deep breaths and calm myself. I felt calm and spoke again, "Come pick me up"

"Okay, can you tell me what happened?" She asks. "I'll explain when you get here" I feel a large lump in my throat, " I gotta go" and I hang the phone up. I take more breaths, breathing in and out. I needed to get out of this house, I grabbed my blue duffle bag and started stuffing clothes in it.

After finishing packing all my toiletries and clothes. I checked my phone to see if kris had made it.

Ari- You here