Chapter 2: The horror story

12 years later

Smack!

The thunderous slap across the cheek in the room could be heard.

The sting of the slap was like a lightning bolt, jolting her senses. Her cheek burned with pain, her head reeling from the force of the blow. She winced, trying to hold back tears as she felt the humiliation and anger welling up inside her. This was not the first time she had been struck by Patricia, but the embarrassment and fear never seemed to fade.

The rage in Patricia's eyes was like a shadow that hung over her, a constant reminder of her powerlessness and insignificance.

" How did my clothes get stained!?" She yelled at her, but Clarisse could not utter a word, knowing the gravity. Not talking back at her is one of the rules she must not forget and not responding to her when she's talking is like looking for the tigress's trouble and cutting the tail of its baby. She had received the slap cause she was trying to explain.

" Are you deaf?" She yelled, but all Clarisse could do was quiver in fear.

" I'm sorry ma'am", she managed to say, tears threatening to fall.

" Sorry? Is sorry going to amend my dress? Is that how your mother taught you?...".

As her tirade continued, she cowered before her, afraid to look her in the eye. Her body ached from the endless hours of labor, her feet sore from standing on the cold tiles.

" It would all end in two days, take it in Clarisse, you can do it, just two more days", she comforted herself continuously, she thought that there would be no escape from her cruelty, no respite from the misery of her existence and that all her life would be is a constant cycle of pain, degradation, and hopelessness. But in the depths of her despair, a spark of defiance smoldered, a tiny flame that refused to be extinguished.

In just two more days, she would be free of this place and these people.

She did not say a word till Patricia threw the dress at her face and stormed away. She pulled it down her head slowly using it to wipe away her tears in the process. Just then someone threw dirty panties on the floor for her.

" Do I always have to remind you to come and pack my panties, is it until they started smelling and giving my room some smell before you know you ought to do your duty?",

" I'm sorry",

" Ugh! You disgust me", she said covering her nose and made to walk away but turned and said, "A quick reminder, you know I don't like those machines washing my undies, and do that with your hands, thoroughly", she said and walked away.

Clarisse squatted in defeat and began to pack the underwear; it was her duty to wash their underwear, do the dishes, and tidy up their rooms; she barely had time to sleep, not to talk of having time for herself. Tears filled her eyes as she packed it, it was humiliating to her, she was filled with rage, anger, and fury at her parents for leaving her behind to this cruel family, angry at her mother for saving her that night, now her resilience was restored, she has a tiny hope of survival and has been counting days. Now, just two more days to get away from hell.

She walked out of the room to see the new maid pulling one of the maids to one side, they do that whenever they want to gossip about something which is not something new among the maids so she pays no attention to it, she already knows it's about her.

" Not like they treat any of us maids nicely but what's her deal, does she have some special offense?", The new maid asked,

" Not anyone that I know of", the other maid replied,

" Since my arrival, if I still can't master the house rules it's because of the constant yelling and nagging and beating of this maid, did she snatch the Madam's husband?",

" Can someone as pale and lean as her even get to seduce the chairman?", The other maid laughed but it soon died down as she looked towards Clarisse and wore a new expression of pity, " Ever since my arrival in this house, there's one thing I've never seen, her smile, I can't tell what it looks like. She is the daughter of the chairman's brother",

" What? You mean their cousin?", She was surprised to hear that,

" You heard right, her parents died when she was 12 and they took charge of her, but since then she has become a maid in the house, barely fed, barely clothed, she's always walking around on her feet and no one dares offer her a pair of slippers, I can count how many clothes she has for the past years since I've been here",

" How many are they?", She asked curiously,

" Probably three or four",

" They'd be tattered by now",

" No",

" No?",

" That's one amazing thing about her, she took good care of them even though there are patches",

" Are these people the only family she had",

" No, but these are the only people that probably give a damn. And the people that give a damn treat her like a slave",

" I guess this is why everyone calls her the house slave",

" Don't call her that, that'll be so inhuman",

" Yeah, I won't, that's so harsh, but that's the truth, you know", she said and rolled her eyes, " have they ever treated her nice? You know, on Christmas? New Year? At least they would treat her nicely during days like that".

The other maid burst into laughter, "Sorry, but I found that question funny; treat her nice? they've never; sometimes, she doesn't eat anything during Christmas; all she does is do dishes and wash clothes. They've never given her gifts or bought her clothes, beat her mercilessly at any opportunity they get for any mistake, while their bratty daughter enjoys all the luxury, she, on the other hand, enjoys all the suffering, I think what you've just witnessed is a perfect example of how badly she is treated, I mean, who slapped a bride two days to her wedding",

" A bride?! Wedding?!", She exclaimed, she was so surprised cause there wasn't any sign that a wedding was on the way,

" Yes, a wedding, I feel so bad for her?",

" Why feel bad? This is a perfect opportunity to get away from these monsters",

" Yeah, I would have said that if I hadn't known who she's getting married to, I bet she doesn't know herself and we dare not say a word if you don't want to be her next of kin of suffering",

" Who is she getting married to",

" You won't tell her?",

" I promise. Wait is it some fucked up family?",

" It'd have been better if it's just a fucked up family, the husband is a definition of an unfortunate man, a monster",

" What? Why?".

The maid sighed and drew her closer then whispered into her ears. The new maid gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes widened like she just heard some freaking horror story, she wished she could run to Clarisse and tell her to run, run as fast as she could but all she could do was tremble and shiver away.