HAZELIt’s another day and I’m doing my chore for the day. Just like the last two days, I have been given just little to do and I’m doing it diligently and efficiently. I’m in front of the pack house watering the flowers as usual and suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps so I immediately turn back around only to see Cathy and two of her minions who are the same ones from yesterday, with one of them holding a bag of something indistinguishable in her hands. She has a very murderous looking expression on her face towards me, and goes on to eye me with open contempt before she speaks. “You, Hazel, why are you being singled out and given little chores to do for three days now while the rest of us have to work tirelessly throughout the whole day? What’s it that’s so special about you, eh?”The pitch of her voice rises with each word she says and I just look at her without saying a single word to her. Then I suddenly realize something. She is jealous of me. I wonder what exactly she is
HAZELI’m stunned and taken by surprise completely when Cathy suddenly pushes me to the ground because I wasn’t expecting her to do anything like that at all. She is going too far with her bullying but there is nothing I can do about it still. I have to keep my cool. Remaining calm like before is my only option here, as I cannot afford to lose my temper at all, because things will only get worse then.So with that thought firmly in my mind, I pick myself up from the floor gently and start to pat the dust and flour off my body, not minding Cathy as well as her minions who are still glaring at me. I take my eyes off them as I continue with what I’m doing.Cathy turns to face me once again and as I raise my head up to look at her, I can see the fire of her hatred for me burning in her eyes. I don’t know why she hates me this way. I don’t know why she is hell bent on bullying me and trying to make my life miserable. I’m not even sure that I have ever done anything bad to her since I have
HAZELSoon after that, the taskmaster leaves the laundry site, but not before giving Cathy strict orders to wash all my clothes that she ruined including the ones I have on currently,When he leaves this place, I’m left alone with Cathy who is glaring daggers at me from where she is standing and if looks could kill, I would be dead in an instant. But luckily for me, they don’t, so I’m still looking at her as she keeps glaring at me. Then I decide to go into the pack house and leave her here to tackle the mess of clothes which — luckily or not so luckily for her — are still in the laundry site. So now, all she has to do is just get some laundry detergent and get down to washing the clothes. I catch her gaze one last time before I leave and the hateful glare she gives me would have been enough to send me reeling if I don’t already know the amount of hate she has in her heart for me. But just like before, I still don’t pay any mind to her as I turn to leave. I’m glad that she has gotte
HAZELShe is here. She really is. My mother is here. She is just a few feet away from me!“Mother!" I yell, reaching out to her. I try to move closer to her, but it seems like the closer I move towards her, the farther she becomes.But I don’t want that at all. I want to touch her and feel her hands wrapped around my cold body in comfort, but… but, I can't. I just can’t. When I touch my face, I notice that it's wet. That’s when I realize that I'm crying.“Please, don't go!" I manage to voice out amidst tears. My sobs increase as more tears pour out of my eyes, and I'm about to break down completely at this point.However, I'm not ready to give up just yet. I keep on walking towards her, and a sheer kind of determination is very visible on my wet and now red face.While I'm walking towards her, I notice something startling: she is not alone. There is someone just right beside her.My face morphs into a frown as I pull to a stop to see who it is. Slowly, the tall shadow becomes visible a
HAZELI'm done with all of my chores for the day, and currently, I'm on my way to my room because I have just had dinner in the kitchen, and I have nothing else to do. I push the door to my room open when I get there and when I'm inside, I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas. I don't bother to shower because I'm so tired, and I just want to sleep. I jump on the pallet I use as a bed, ready to fall asleep immediately my head hits my makeshift pillow, but I'm surprised as that doesn't happen.Instead, I keep tossing and turning on the bed with my eyes wide open. I'm so restless, and it's apparent that the sleep I need is not coming anytime soon.I try to will myself to sleep, but I can't because my thoughts are all over the place. I even try to think about a calming memory that can serve as a lullaby to lure me to sleep, but no matter how I search the recesses of my memory, I can't seem to find a single one.Perhaps, it's because I don't have a single happy memory in my entire li
HAZELI scream, the sound filling the small space of my room as I'm suddenly jolted awake from my sleep. My breathing is heavy as I pant loudly, and my eyes dart around the whole place as I check if the unknown monstrous creature is still anywhere near me. My eyes are wide as I do that and after scanning the entire room for a few minutes, I still don't see anything remotely close to that, so I give up on my search and focus on getting my breathing steady.I'm still breathing hard even as I look through the windows so that I can determine the time of the day and see if it's already time for me to get up and prepare myself for my daily chores. ***As I go about my morning routine, the remnants of the nightmare are still clinging to the edges of my mind like cobwebs, and they refuse to be brushed aside for whatever reason. The image of that unrecognizable monstrous creature that was chasing me through the woods is just replaying in my mind over and over again, and it leaves me with a se
HAZELIt’s a new day and what it just means is another day of work for me. And the only thing that is certain about today for me is that I'm sure no one will bully or accost me. I'm also certain that I won't have that many chores to do today, and I'm glad about that, at least.Later on, as I move through the halls, a sense of isolation weighs heavily on my shoulders like a bundle of invisible chains binding me to the shadows and bringing me down.As I pass by the other maids, it is very obvious to me that they are avoiding me and their eyes slide past me as if I'm nothing more than a ghost haunting the corridors of the pack house. They have always avoided me, but it seems that now, they are only making it a point to do so because the taskmaster probably issued them a warning to stay away from me.The whole thing is quite irrelevant to me so I just label it as unnecessary and push it out of my mind, choosing instead to focus on my familiar routine of cleaning, sweeping, and mopping the
HAZELAs the news of the head taskmaster's departure from the pack spreads through the pack house like wildfire, I know that things will be different for me from now on.The rest of the taskmasters around, including the low ranking ones, will surely be glad that they have been given free rein for the moment, and the cooks will be happy that they won't have him breathing down their necks for some time, while the maids will be pleased that the taskmaster's presence won't hang around them and suffocate them anymore.As for me, a sense of foreboding settles over me like a heavy cloak as the news gets to me where I am. For the first time in recent times, I find myself truly alone. I will be without protection from this moment.I know all too well what this means. It means that with the head taskmaster gone, I will definitely be vulnerable to whoever wants to take advantage of me. It also means that I will be exposed to the whims and machinations of the other maids in the pack. They have ha