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!"  

͟Miss Gray, are you done yet?͟ I called into the other room, and just as the words were out of my
mouth, she appeared in the threshold, looking beautiful as always.

͞There is no need to be so formal, Bella.͟ She said, her naturally dark red curls bobbing up and down
as she happily skipped to my side. ͞As always, call me Caroline.͟ She looked into my eyes with her
yellow ones and her usual warm smile began to grow on her lips. Her features were rather childlike
for a 21 year old, and the smile that was painted on her lips seemed to have a permanent place
there. I sighed at her behavior, but couldn͛t help but to smile. That was just the way she acted. All
the other ladies in her age acted like they were supposed to; sophisticated, calmly and ladylike. Miss
Caroline on the other hand͙ She was a very warm person. If she just walked into the room, the
whole atmosphere seemed to lighten up.

She stretched out a hand towards my face and stroked my cheek, her cold skin connecting with mine.
She stared at me for a long time with scrutinizing eyes, and then her face became gentle and sweet.

͞You͛re so cute.͟ She said softly with a blissful smile on her face, which made me blush. ͞There is
nothing you have to worry about, everything will be fine.͟ She told me, than removed her hand from
my cheek. I nodded, but her words didn͛t ease my anxiety. Miss Caroline had been invited to a cruise
by one of her dear old friends. The reason I was worried wasn͛t that I was easily seasick and we we͛re
going to be on the sea for a week. The reason was that Miss Caroline͛s health was so fragile. She was
born with a sensitive skin, and couldn͛t be in any direct sunlight. That͛s why we lived in one of the
rainiest parts of the country. On sunny days she had to stay inside in her room with the heavy
curtains pulled over the windows, which made it impossible for any beams of light to enter the room.

Caroline moved away from my, her dress swirling in the movement, and then walked over to the
grand piano. She sat down and then turned her head towards me and smiled tenderly.

͞Do you wish me to play anything certain?͟Her eyes beamed with excitement like they always did
whenever she decided to play the piano, but I politely shook my head, and gestured for her to
choose whatever she liked. She shrugged, and then turned back to the piano and started to play a
piece. Her hands moved over the keys gracefully as she played the beautiful melody, and she sang
along one octave higher than the melody. Like everything else she did, her performance was
absolutely spotless, and when she finished, I clapped my hands joyfully. She was very musically
talented, and loved to play various instruments. Piano and Violin were her favorites though.

She jumped off the stool and then came to my side. I smiled at her, and then glanced at the clock.

͞Miss, I think it͛s best if we get ready to go. I have to make the horses ready for our journey.͟ I told
her, and she sighed, but nodded.

͞I͛ll finish the last of my packing in the meantime then.͟ Her words surprised me greatly, and my jaw
escaped its original place and dropped to the floor.
͞You͛re not finished?!͟ I exclaimed in surprise and slightly irritation and Miss Caroline͛s face went
from happy to extremely guilty.

͞It͛s just͙there were so many things to be packed.͟She mumbled, looking down at her feet. I sighed
and shook my head, and was just about to give her a big scold about her when she looked up at me
again, and her eyes looked at me pleadingly.

͞I promise I͛ll be finished before you call me out to the carriage.͟ She said, and I sighed once again,
this time in defeat. She was very aware of her appearance to others and often used it as a weapon to
get what she wanted.

͞Alright, alright. I͛ll be in the stables if you need me.͟ I told her, and her face brightened up. She
practically threw herself onto me, and hugged me tightly to her tiny body in a very unladylike way.
Then she let me go, and escaped the room, calling over her shoulder that I was to call for her when
the carriage was done, and by that time, she would be ready to go. I did as I had said, and walked out
of the big mansion that had stayed in the Gray͛s family for many, many generations. I took a turn to
my left, and walked through one of the smaller rose gardens until I came to my original goal: the
stables. I opened the doors and stepped inside, the smell of dust and animal hitting my nose hard. I
walked over to one of the horses called Zero, and started to groom him gently.

Miss Caroline preferred to ride with horse and carriage instead of with a car, a machine that was
recently invented in another country. But the strange thing is that she detests horses. Or, as I see it,
the horses detest her. They always got very nervous and sometimes angry when she was around
them, and she never visits the stables to check on the horses. But even then, she still prefers the
carriage to the new invented machine that most people of the rich societies rode in. She wasn͛t really
into all these new things that had been invented. Electricity had been a joy of hers, but that was it.
She liked the olden ways more: the traditional ways.

After Zero was ready I began to groom the second horse we we͛re going to use to the carriage,
named Charlie. He sighed happily as I drew the brush over his long, strong back.

Miss Caroline had taken very good care of me. I was a servant as a child, growing up together with
my parents who also had served the Gray͛s. When I was 7, a horrible accident happened, and both of
my parents died. Mr. Gray, Caroline͛s father, had no intentions of letting me into the family, and
started to arrange my move from the facility to an orphanage. If it wasn͛t for Miss Caroline, I
would͛ve ended up there and never been able to see her again. She convinced her father to let me
stay with them, and since then I͛ve worked for the Gray͛s. A few years later when I was 13, both Mr.
and Mrs. Gray moved away from the large mansion we͛re currently staying in, and moved to the city,
away from the countryside and all its beautiful nature. They had tried to convince Miss Caroline to
come with them, but she politely declined. She loved the nature here, and wouldn͛t trade the lovely
home she had here for anything in the world.

Eventually, both the horses were groomed and fastened to the carriage, and I brushed the dust of my
dress before returning to the house again. As I walked, I felt a drop of rain falling down on my
shoulder. :
, I thought, and hurried towards the entrance even faster than before, not wanting my
clothes to get wet. Miss Gray had no problem with the rain. How strange it may sound, she actually
enjoyed it quite well. Walking through the woods on the small trails a slightly rainy evening was
something we did quite often, and every time we did her eyes sort of glowed with excitement and
delight. Sometimes she would stop me for what I thought was no reason at all, and then point at
small animals running by, like she knew they were coming.

I was almost around the corner of the house when I accidently stepped on the edge of my dress, and
began to fall towards the ground. I brought my hands up to ease the fall, but just before my face hit
the ground, a cold hand caught mine and easily pulled me up so I was standing. I stumbled on my
unsecure feet, and stared at Miss Caroline in slight shock.

͞Miss Caroline, I had no-͞I began to say, but she placed one finger over my mouth to silence me, and
smiled gently.

͞Bella, be more careful next time you decide to run to escape the bad weather. I wouldn͛t want you
to fall and get a cut; that would be really O
.͟She said, and made a grimace. I blushed, and nodded
in agreement. Miss Gray had an enormous issue with blood, and couldn͛t stand to being anywhere
near it, not even in the same room. She always became very sick, and needed space from all the
persons in the area.

͞I͛m sorry Miss Caroline.͟ I told her truthfully. She cocked her head to the side, her hands on her hips
and her mouth in a disapproving pout, her face slightly frowning.

͞Bella,͟ she called warningly. ͞I don͛t want to say this one more time: call me Caroline.͟ She said in a
firm tone and I stared down at my hands in embarrassment, feeling ashamed.

͞I͛m sorry Caroline͙͟ I mumbled, and her mood immediately changed. She clapped her hands
together excitedly, and squealed in happiness.

͞You͛re so sweet!͟ she gushed, and as always threw herself at me and hugged her small body to
mine. Even though she was 4 years older than me, her size remained smaller. She let me go after a
small moment, and I fixed her dress so it wouldn͛t get wrinkles on it.

͞I was just my way over to you M-Caroline.͟ I said, almost forgetting what we just had talked about.
͞The horses are done and ready to go. Are you done packing now?͟ I asked, and she nodded.

͞I was just finished as well and was on my way to the rose garden so I could wait for you there.͟She
said which made me frown in disapproval.

͞But it͛s raining outside.͟ I gestured around me to show my point, and felt how it started to fall
harder.

͞Yes, indeed it is.͟ She said, knowing exactly what my point was, but avoided it happily. I sighed, and
took her hand and began to drag her towards the door to the mansion, hurrying so the both of us
wouldn͛t get anymore wet than we already were.

͞Caroline, you shouldn͛t sit out in the rain, you͛ll get sick.͟ My voice was practically sick of worry, and
as we stepped into the hallway, we met one of the other servants:Jessica Stanley.

͞Bella! Miss Gray! You both are soaking wet!͟She gushed, and ran over to us, shooting me a glare
before she looked at Caroline. She was right of course, and I looked down at my wet dress and
sighed, knowing we would have to go upstairs and change our dresses which would delay us even
more. Jessica disappeared into the kitchen and a few seconds later she reappeared with a towel and
ran towards us, concern showing on her face for Miss Caroline and small irritation that obviously was
pointed towards me. She immediately began to dry Miss Caroline͛s shoulders in a lost attempt to
make her at least a little bit dryer.

͞Miss Stanley, It-͞ Caroline began to say, a reassuring but strained smile lingering on her lips, but
Jessica interrupted her, not listening to a word she was saying.

͞Oh dear, Miss will catch a cold in this state! And your skin; it͛s ice cold! How long did you stay
outside?!͟She exclaimed, being on the verge of panicking completely.

͞Miss Stanley, I can assure you.͟She tried again, her voice that was somewhat calm before sounding
even more strained, and a hint of irritation showed on her beautiful face.

͞We will have to prepare you a bath! Surely it won͛t take long; we won͛t be that late to the ship. And
Bella!͟She turned her head to me, and her face twisted in anger. Jessica had never liked me, and I
doubted that she ever would. To be honest, I didn͛t really care for her much. She was just another
servant in my eyes, another person in the house who wanted Miss Caroline the best. That͛s why I
ignored her snappy comments she gave me time to time, and focused on the bright sides.

͞How could you let her stand out in the rain for such a long time?! Do you have any idea what
could͛ve happened if-͞

͞°

 .͟ Caroline͛s voice was cold as ice as she spoke, and the volume of her words were no
louder than before, maybe even lower. ͞Will you 
 calm down? Bella has nothing to do with
this; it was my own stupidity that brought this down on me. I can assure you that I͛m fine; I͛ll just
need to change to attires that are not soaked inside and out.͟ She said, and Jessica lowered her head
in shame.

͞Yes, Miss Gray.͟She replied in a low tone, and Caroline͛s mood changed completely from being cold
and irritate to the normal and happy self. She was rarely angry, but when her temper got the best of
her, it was   bad.

͞Good. I think it͛s best if we hurry Bella; we wouldn͛t want to be late, would we?͟ she said, a
peaceful smile creeping on her lips, and Jessica looked up at her. I stared at her too, and it took a few
seconds before I regained the ability to speak.

͞No, of course not. Certainly.͟ Both of us hurried upstairs, and after half an hour, both of us had
changed into dry clothes and when we walked together down the stairs we were once again met by
Jessica, who was in a noticeably better mood, and Tyler Crowe, a male servant who enjoyed to flirt
quite a lot, especially with me.

͞Hello there ladies,͟ Tyler said, winking at me as he did, which made me roll my eyes. ͞Miss
Caroline.͟He said then in a more respectful and serious voice, and bowed down his head. Caroline
giggled and smiled at him, finding him quite amusing whilst I ignored him completely.

͞Hello there.͟She answered with a voice soft as silk. Then suddenly,she gracefully passed her
servants and went over to the window. She dragged away the heavy curtain from its place and stared
out into the rain that still was falling down like crazy. She leaned forward and looked up towards the
sky and a grin began to play in the corner of her lips.

͞Is...anything the matter, Miss Gray?͟ Jessica asked, frowning in confusion. Caroline straightened up
and let go of the curtain and looked back at us, the satisfied grin turning into a full teeth smile, which
by some strange reason made chills go down my spine and Goosebumps develop on my skin.

͞No, but thank you for your concern Miss Stanley.͟She retorted softly, and shook her head to herself.
Then she sighed happily, and looked at me, tilting her head slightly to the side. ͞Are you ready to go
Bella?͟ she asked, and I nodded.

͞Yes, I͛ve already placed all of our bags in the carriage.͟ I told her, and she clapped her hands
together.

͞Splendid!͟ Her joy was almost contagious to the rest of us, and I couldn͛t help but to smile back at
her. She turned back to Taylor and Jessica, and her features became less energetic and a little more
serious. ͞Miss Stanley, Mr. Crowe, please take good care of my house while we͛re gone.͟

͞Yes Miss Gray.͟Both of them answered together in unison. Caroline smiled, and then she grabbed
my hand and looked straight into my eyes.

͞Well then,͟ She said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ͞I guess it͛s time for us to go.͟ Then she
grabbed my arm, and the two of us exited the house out into the rain and hurried into the carriage
that would take us to the harbor.