The Serving Girl // Book 2 in the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Thirty-One

I wanted to spend the whole of the next day hiding away in my room where no one would bug me, but I couldn't. Not completing my chores would be a quickfire way for me to be dismissed but I felt as though I was past the point of caring what Mrs Ealing did to me. She had broken me down too many times and for the first time in a long time, it felt easier to give up than to keep fighting. It was a fight I knew I would lose no matter how much effort I put into it and I didn't think it would be worse the hassle if Mrs Ealing had her way.

Back at the factory, we knew that if someone lost all hope if they gave up fighting for even a second, they weren't going to make it. We watched people stop working in the middle of a shift, exhausted from the earlier hours and lack of food that they simply stopped working. The foreman would remove them from the factory floor, and they would never be seen again. We all knew what had happened to them even though we would never speak the words out loud. I hadn't given up at the factory because of Isabel. Now Isabel was gone, and I had no reason to keep fighting. I was ready to give up once and for all.

Fighting no longer seemed worth the effort, though Miss Jenkins had different ideas.

"You can't hide away in your room. I know yesterday was tough, but you have to work through it or you'll just be giving Mrs Ealing what she wants," Miss Jenkins said. She nudged a plate of scrambled eggs towards me, but I ignored it.

"I don't see what is so bad about that. She wants me out, who am I disappoint?" I mumbled, digging my nail into the wood of the table.

"After everything you've been through, I never thought I would see the day when you give up. Eat that and you can wash some of these dishes. You'll think clearly once you've got some food in your stomach."

Sighing to myself, I grabbed the plate of scrambled eggs and pulled it towards me. I had no desire to eat any of it no matter how much my stomach may have wanted me to. In truth, I had no desire to do anything other than stare at the wood of the table and think about how many more times I could end up letting everyone around me down. Doctor Ealing and Robert had taken a chance on me when I agreed to allow me into their home, and I had done nothing but drag them down and disappoint them. The best thing I could do for everyone would be to leave, but Miss Jenkins was determined that I would stay, even after what she had heard the day before.

Still, I didn't want to start the day by upsetting someone else, so I slowly ate my way through the eggs even though my stomach churned, and I felt as though I was going to vomit every time I ate something. I couldn't shake the feeling that Mrs Ealing was just waiting in the hallway for me to make a mistake so she could throw me out of the doors without looking back. It was a stupid fear, I knew that, but I couldn't shake the feeling. It felt like the factory. Where every movement of every day I waited for the foreman to throw me out for the smallest of things. At least my dismissal with the Ealing's wouldn't result in possible death.

When I had scraped the plate clean, just to prove to Miss Jenkins I had eaten everything, before shuffling my way around the table to the sink. Manoeuvring my way around the table with the cane was difficult but at least I was hidden out of sight from the rest of the family. Usually, I would have gone to the office with Doctor Ealing and Robert, but Miss Jenkins had made the decision that it would be best if I stayed behind and Esther took my place. I would spend the day hidden in the basement where no one could get me.

"I need to go and complete a few chores upstairs, you'll be fine here on your own?" Miss Jenkins asked, handing me another plate.

"I'm not going anywhere in a hurry," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can. Once you're done with that, you can start to peel the potatoes, they're in the pantry."

"Take as long as you need, I'll be fine down here."