I stared with envy at the princess in all her splendor. The picture of perfection. All the riches of the kingdom, although they had none, were spent on her pretty face. The face of an angel with perfect lips, elegantly curling golden blonde hair, and large brown eyes like that of a deer's, such was her namesake, Faun. I worked for Faun as her maid to barely stay alive while she was handed everything on a golden platter. But she was perfect, kind and compassionate, yet always graceful and poised as well. Naturally her maid had to be ugly, with an enormous mound of frizzy red hair and a face full of awkwardly placed features with an abominable mole on her cheek. This maid is me, Ophelia, a hideous girl with an even fouler personality. It was unfair, therefore my envy of her was reasonable.
In the cramped servants quarters, on top of a lumpy mattress, the top shelf of a bunked bed the sunlight broke through and bathed the itching blankets in a shaft of sunlight. I hauled myself out of bed, landing with my feet firmly on the floor. The fire in the small fireplace of the maid's room had extinguished during the night, and I took the liberty of cleaning it out, as was my daily job, yet it covered me in soot, which I was forced to wear for the rest of the day as the princess wears her jewels. I pulled on the secondhand maid's dress, which was in the poor condition of tatters, but it was mine, and it was all I had.
Breakfast was a crumb of leftover stale bread and water, but at least it was something, some days there was nothing for breakfast, as the king did not know how to correctly spend his wealth. It only took a breath or less to eat, and I was down to the kitchens to collect and deliver the princess's feast of a meal. Having had no breakfast or supper the past evening I was famished, and it practically killed me so see the cupboards brimming with fare. This is one occasion where my eyes were certainly not hungrier than my stomach. I decided to grab the cart of food and quickly run to transport the food to her room. Less exposure to the desirable sight means less longing and temptation. Midway I was forced to stop as my hunger protested, surely no one would notice if a morsel of food were missing from this decadent display. I snatched a strawberry and lifted it to my lips, taking a mere bite before rucus erupted and the guards rushed upon me. The lashing left angry red marks on my back for days, but I had grown used to it, as the marks had formerly stained my skin for weeks as had the stinging.
Another servant had been called to deliver the meal, and I was sent to particularly grueling cleaning duties. All for a single, juicy bite of strawberry.
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By evening I had been forgiven, without (luckily) any other drastic punishments, and therefore was returned to my onuses with the princess. I was sent to thoroughly clean and tidy up the princess's room, although she never spilled a drop on the floor nor knocked a ring off the dresser. I gathered cleaning supplies and proceeded to the princess's quarters atop several flights of stairs, a laborious effort I was forced to put up with every day. As I arrived Princess Faun was emerging from the doorway, and I swerved quickly to avoid colliding with royalty, an offense taken more seriously than even stealing (a strawberry). Faun exclaimed,
"Oh, Ophelia!" she stopped midstep to turn to me and look me in the eye, in fact, she was the only royal figure to ever look servants in the eye. Despite my hatred for her perfection, this gained her an ounce of my respect, "I haven't seen you allday! Where have you been?"
Sadly, like all other royalty, she walked away (to her foreign language class, her third, in fact) without expecting me to answer.
"Yes, your majesty..." I muttered somewhat quietly, as she was already in the distance. Her patience with servants could only stretch so far. Yet as she walked away I couldn't help gaze with jealously upon her lucious blonde curls, bouncing as she strode down the carpeted hall.
I opened the door and strode inside. The room was spotless as usual, without so much as a fold of fabric out of place. I might as well go through the uniform procedure. I dipped the threadbare cloth in a bucket of soapsuds and water. I aimlessly cleaned sections of the room, poking around in her belongings to find something to prove she wasn't so perfect. Eventually I made my way to the dresser as I had seen some dust and grime peeking out from behind it, it would be something to really clean. With some effort I slid it aside to clean the wall. As I was washing I noticed a barely detectable seam forming a sort of a rectangle. The only logical explanation I could draw was, according to the size and shape, a door. I had the thought to investigate to see where it could possibley lead.
I left the princess' chambers to carry out some other daily chores. After a day's work I finally was permitted to retire to my corridor for some rest, though most other servants had gone to bed hours ago. I lay awake on my uncomfortable bed, thinking. Thinking of my past, of my memories. The first memory I have is sitting in this very room, at only a few years, conversing with the spiders that rested on their webs in the corner. No memory of parents, no memory of any relatives at all, or even how I possibly could have gotten here. Sometimes, laying awake on a rough, bumpy mattress, I imagine what they could've been like. My mother, or maybe my father had to've been at least as ugly as me. I wonder if that would've comforted me or made me feel worse. But I will never even know, and all I am forced to accept, the only thing that is truth is that they left me for dead, here in this rotting kingdom, or that they are dead. Another miserable truth I must admit, and as I drift away from reality into the blissful calm of dreams, nightmare or not, it's always better than real life. And from the torturous dream of real life, only death can wake me.
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Again, as everyday, I am awoken by daybreak, as the blinding light of the sun blazes through my tiny window. I scuttled around the room completing my daily routine, eyes half open and mind half awake, it was habit by now. No breakfast today, as I suspected due to my theft of yesterday. Another punishment, or maybe the king was just running low on his wealth as usual, and decided that the food of servants was the most compromisable. Either way my plate was empty and my stomach even more so.
I was forbidden delievering the princess's breakfast today, but still was required to tend to her in the daylight hours. Upon reaching her room I discovered Faun sitting neatly on the edge of her massive canopy bed, of the finest and most expensive silks and whatnot, I am sure. Seeing it I can't help but imagine how just one of her exotic, imported sheets could have gotten me a brand new dress for this tattered, shabby one, and a breakfast besides. Faun smiled sickening-sweetly at the sight of me, and called me over to comb her hardly tangled hair. Just as a test, I ran a hand through my own angry red locks, but was dismayed as my hand was immediately lodged against a rat-sized knot. Apparently hairbrushes are too good for us servants too.
Whilst running the brush smoothly through the princess's perfect hair, I came across an idea in my mind when I accidentally dropped the gilded hairbrush on the floor. When I bent down to retrieve it I swiped my hands around beneath the bed, pretending to be hunting for the brush, until my hand connected with something moving. I gently wrapped my fingers around the small spider, and returning to my task, I ever so lightly dropped it into Faun's golden curls. I know it was cruel, and unfair as she was so kind. But doing so felt as if I had finally put some of the unjust acts towards me right. I smirked a bit, and I stifled laugh escaped my crooked lips.
"Is everything alright?" Faun asked, turning her big deer eyes in my direction.
"Oh," I replied, "Everything is just fine, your highness."
