Love being different

An awkward walk

When we finished lunch, Mr. Trudi helped Mr. Mancini to stand up and handed him a cane. I realized he was very tall – in order to walk he needed to lean heavily on the cane and that made his chest arching downward. I offered him my arm; he grabbed it with his left hand while he kept holding the cane with the other one.

Trudi told me that, for his daily walk, Mr. Mancini loved to go through a small path at the edges of the forest surrounding the castle.

Said the butler.

We went out in the courtyard; Mr. Mancini was hanging on my arm and our pace was quite slow, as the aged man took very small steps.

At some point, we arrived at the entrance of a small trail:

Once he said that, Trudi dismissed himself with a bow to my new employer.

We entered the trail; we had already been silent for a few minutes and I didn’t know what to say. Silence was all around. A song I used to sing in my bad moments came to my mind and I started to sing. I had a sweet voice, our walk was becoming pretty pleasant and I noticed that Mr. Mancini was curiously listening to me. He was still grabbing my arm, so I put my hand over his and we peacefully went on till the lake.

I got stunned by the sight of that incredible water of amazing colors melted together - from a shade of dark green, down to a lighter one which resembled tropical waters.

After this moment of astonishment that made me stop singing, I said to Mr. Mancini:

He nodded with a delicate smile.

I saw a bench close to the shore and we sat down. Mr. Mancini pulled out of his jacket a little book and intimated me to read it. When I looked at the cover and the title (The terrible blood drinker), I realized it was a horror and that made me feel uncomfortable:

From his expression, I understood that he was disappointed, so I changed my mind - I didn’t want him to fire me, I desperately needed the job.

I reluctantly started to read: the story talked about vampires killing innocent people.

I was literally terrified.

Mr. Mancini understood my distress - probably due to the paleness of my face or the trembling of my voice - so he gently took the book away from my hands and hinted it was time to come back.

We arrived at the castle in absolute silence; I didn’t want to sing anymore after reading that book. Trudi was at the front door waiting for us and he led our way to accompany Mr. Mancini to his bedroom. I was very surprised to discover that it was on the same floor as mine, with only two rooms separating them.

Said the butler.

Asked the man.

I had the impression he was anxious to hear my reply.

I answered calmly, although I felt there was something weird. Anyway, many things were weird in that place, so I greeted him and went to my room.

I lied down on the bed and decided to watch a movie. Later, I was distracted by a soft knock on the door: the waiter brought my dinner. He left the cart and recommended to leave it out of the room, as he would pass by during the evening to pick it up.

Once I finished dinner, I pulled on a silky, rose nightgown which I found in the wardrobe among many others. I cleaned my teeth, untied and brushed my hair and, while looking at myself in the mirror, I wondered if I really was that nice girl dressed in silk.

I smiled reflecting on how my life was changing. I was certain that the most important thing was for Mr. Mancini to live as long as possible; otherwise, I’d be completely lost.

Suddenly, I realized it was almost midnight and the cart was still in the room. I briskly took it out and, while I was in the corridor, I had a strong sensation of being observed. The corridor was dark and I couldn’t see, but I was sure that someone was there; I could sense his presence.

It was a strange situation and I started to get scared, I left the cart and quickly returned inside my room closing the door behind me.

A strong knock on the door as if someone punched it made me flinch.

Fear made my blood curdle, I sneaked in the bed with the blanket all over my head.

I was shaken by what happened and the next day I would have asked Mr. Trudi for some explanations.