No Escape From Them
a warm, gentle voice chuckled beside me, breaking through the ringing in my ears.
I turned to see Mrs. Jade, the head maid. She was a sweet, older woman with kind, crinkling eyes and a neatly pressed uniform. She had greeted me at the door with a smile that instantly made the knot in my chest loosen, if only a fraction.
"Thank you, Mrs. Jade," I said, my voice sounding incredibly small, barely rising above a tentative whisper in the echoing space.