Gutter Children

My Lady

1909 Kent, England

 I have been working for the Darlin’s for many years now. Not once, have I seen or heard from Calvin. I lost hope in thinking about him every night three years ago. I would never see him, ever again.

“How are you feeling?” My roommate Kat asked me. She had long brown hair that was tied back in a tight bun, and her uniform on. She had been working at the Darlin’s for seven years, and just had her 26th birthday. I, on the other hand, had been working there for almost five years, and was about to have my 18th birthday.

“I’ll be fine.” I lied. I was feeling awful. I could lie over and die right now and probably have some relief.

She put her hand over my forehead and stepped back quickly. “Honey, you’re burning!”

Before I could argue that I was fine, she rushed out of the room screaming for Matty. Great. Matty, another servant, came rushing in and felt my forehead. He was a tall white male and was wearing a white tank top and had a rag over his shoulders. It was his job to tend to the cars. He was 27 years old and was dating my roommate, Kat.

“We need to get her to a hospital. I’ll tell Mr. and Mrs. Darlin. You just help her into the car.” He told Kat before rushing out of the room.

Kat nodded quickly, and rushed back to my side. “Now, you’re going to have to help me a little bit.” She told me. We were both very frail girls. Our work out was carrying trays of tea, washing dishes, cleaning the rooms, and making the house look nice at all times. It was the equivalent to working out for hour’s hard core. Only, we barely ate, making us boney instead of strong.

“Oh my, you’re sweating as if you're a pig!.” She told me, wiping my auburn hair out of my face.

I ignored her, and focused all my attention on getting out of bed.

Kat helped me with the first few steps, but after that I could manage on my own if I walked slowly. My legs and arms just felt too weak to move, but some how I still was moving.

Once in the car, I saw Matty run back with keys in hand.  “They said take you strait away, but Kat, you have to go back. They are having a party in a couple of days and need to get ready.”

“Oh, of course.” Kat said. She then kissed me on the forehead and wished me good luck.

Right when she slammed the door, Matty took off. He drove away from the Victorian styled house and towards the hospital. Looking back, I still could not comprehend how big the house was. They had twenty servants, and still, it seemed to not be enough for the entire up keeping.

“You need help to get out?” Matty asked me. I looked up, unaware that were outside of the hospital already.

Thinking that I could do it on my own, I said no, but immediately fell back down when I tried to push myself forward.

“Let me help.” He insisted. He picked me up, grabbing my back first, and then under my knees easily. “Charity, you are so pale my god.” He told me, but he was mostly commenting to himself.

“Thanks.” I joked.

“Lets just pray its not fatal.” He told me seriously, while he was entering the building. He didn’t even put me down while on the stairs, or when we entered the emergency room. He walked strait up to the man at the front desk and just said the word, “Darlin.” Immediately, I was brought back and pushed into a hospital bed. The lady who brought me in told me to just stay put and wait for the doctor.

I looked at Matty, and he knew he had some explaining to do.

“I asked Mr. and Mrs. Darlin if I could use their name to let us in. They immediately insisted we do so. For today, you are my wife. Consider yourself lucky, Mrs. Darlin.” He shot me a wicked smile, and couldn’t help smile back. We had to be lucky compared to other people. Our masters were nice, and generous, but knew exactly the right time where to draw the line. Most were just strict and became annoyed very easily if you even brought up a personal problem.