Young Mistress

Christopher felt his leg turn into a log of wood. He wanted to run, to hide his shameful face from her? Why was this death so personal to him? He had killed the poor woman. Suddenly, her eyes met with his. He could see fire burning in them.

"You!" Rage overwhelmed her as she ran towards him. "You murderer. You killed her!" She threw herself at him, hitting him everywhere, "you killed her!"

Christopher waved away the nurses that were about to pull her away from him. Phil saw the bitter look in his eyes and stepped forward to protect anyone from coming closer.

"So what? Because we are poor? Our lives don't matter?" She pushed him, tugged at his shirt again so he would not run. She had to pour out her mind. "Only the rich lives matter? You disgust me!"

Deep down, Anika was furious at her entire family. They abandoned her. They left her alone. If it were her, they would have left her to die too.

"Everyone abandoned me." She was saying out loud. "My own foolish parents died. I should have died all these years ago too!"

Christopher winced. That woman wasn't her mother? Still...she was dead. Because of him.

"I should just die too. No one cares anymore. I knew that. I just kept pretending that..." She sniffed. Her whole body was shaking now. She was furious and less sad. She was exhausted. "I thought someday, I would be loved. But no. I should just die!" Then she ran off.

Christopher did not need to tell Phil to go look after her before he did. The nurses were muttering from one corner. "She was so excited when she managed to get the money for the surgery."

"Yea. She kept waiting for the doctor assigned to her. I didn't even know it was Doctor Shall."

Christopher pretended not to have heard as he walked away. She had gathered the money? Even if she hadn't paid, he was ready to carry out the surgery. Why did she have to die?

Phil ran back to meet him after what looked like hours. "I'm sorry. She's nowhere to be found." He said with regrets.

Damn it! "We have to find her, Phil."

His friend advanced towards him. "It wasn't your fault." But Christopher threw his hand away from his shoulders.

"I need to have a word with the Chairman." Christopher said. Phil knew he had no shot at changing his mind. He knew of his friend's anger. All hell had been let loose now.

Anika did not even know where she was. She just kept running until she ran out of breath. Her anxiety pills were still in her pocket. She brought it out and was about to use a pill when it dawned on her. "What's the point of trying to live? Huh?" She flung the container far away and crawled back into her corner.

Hours passed when she finally crawled out.

She checked her phone. A bitter smile appeared on her face. "No missed calls." Left for this unknown number that called her earlier.

Of course there was nobody to care about her. To know what she was up to. To worry about her. Tears stained her eyes, making her vision to blur. The only person who ever loved her was dead. And she didn't even have money to bury the poor woman!

It was dark now, with lights from cars and street lights brightening up the road. Even the night sky was cloudy like it was about to rain. The air felt thick. Not even the weather cared about her.

"What's the point of anything?" She sighed heavily. Her chest hurt. Her throat was dry. Her stomach growled angrily like dragons were fighting inside her but she didn't feel hungry. Or even thirsty. What was the point of anything at all?

The road ahead of her was busy. Cars raced on the street. Her steps were heavy and slow. But they were gradually leading to the main entrance. She heard someone shout, other than that, the only noise she could hear again was her chest beating so fast. She thought she heard someone shouting.

Another step. And then another.

In no time, she was facing the busy road. Just one more step, and that would be the end of everything. She would finally be able to rest.

With an attempt to raise one leg up, a furious voice startled her. "Young mistress! Don't you remember me?"

Young mistress? She turned to find a tall old man staring at her. He was very tall for his age because he looked at least 70 years old. But very fit. Even his voice was firm. A scowl was on his face, but it softly melted again.

She was still shocked at who this man was when he held her hand tight and pulled her away from the road.

"Do you not remember me?" He asked again. "Please let's go to the car. It's parked over there."

Anika scoffed. "If you mean to kidnap me, you're not getting any ransom. I've got no one to care about me enough."

But the man looked confused. "Please. Follow me to the car parked there. Or at least, let us step into this dinner." There was a dinner just beside them, he was pointing at it.

Like she was in a spell, Anika found herself following behind. Was she dead already? Maybe she was, and this was some angel guiding her to the right path. Yea, that made more sense.

"Young mistress—" He said as soon as they sat down.

"Stop calling me that. Why are you even..."

The man looked shattered. He didn't even know where to begin, but he swallowed and started talking anyway. "I don't know how to start but let me bring up the Golds first."

The Golds?

"My name is Carlos Shay, I used to be your butler years ago. After the terrible accident, everything changed. You just disappeared. I only found out later that the Golds took you with them, along with all the money and gold they could steal."

"I don't mean to interrupt you but," she frowned, trying to process what he was saying. "The Golds? What are you..."

"After your parents' unfortunate death, they took all your stuff."

"They saved me. Took my stuff?"

"They were ordinary maids but after your parents death, they stole everything of your properties they could lay their hands on and fled. They tried to kill me to silence me. I managed to survive their attack but it was too late. You were already gone. I tried finding you all these years."

Maids?

Anika bursted out in laughter. "The Golds are maids? Does that even make any sense to you?"

"You should know, young mistress, that I have been searching for you for years. So I have proof. Enough of it. They thought they'd taken everything you and your parents owned. But what they stole was only just a percentage of your real wealth. I've been searching for you to reclaim your throne as the last heiress of the Delacroix."