Day 2 and time to find out more about the place Cathy has found herself in and the people she has to share the house with. If you haven’t read part 1, the link to it is included at the end of the post.

Grisham House Part 2

A loud chime. I jumped. Bloody clock, frightened the life out of me. I moved down the hallway and stood in front of the giant grandfather clock. The pendulum swung back and forth, each chime, nine in total, boomed through the house.

“I told you not to move.”

I turned and gulped. Ms whatever her name was stood outside the door, hands folded across her chest and a scowl on her face. She definitely needs makeup. Beside her smirking was a tall man dressed in a slim-fitting suit and immaculately polished shoes. His hair was dark, black or brown, it was hard to tell from here, but he was striking. All he was missing was a top hat. I huffed and sauntered over to them. Best get this over and done with.

“This is Mr Grisham, lord of the manor.”

How I didn’t laugh I don’t know. Lord of the manor indeed. I cleared my throat instead and held out my hand. “Cathy.”

He looked at it like it was infected or something before glaring at Ms Sulkface who gasped in horror. “Sorry, your lordship,” she said before grabbing my arm and squeezing tightly. “You curtesy, not hold out a grubby hand. Who do you think you are?”

“Take your hand off me.” I wrenched my arm out of her grip.

“You’ve your work cut out for you, Ms Peckham. I’ll leave you to it.” He walked back into the room we were standing outside and closed the door.

Peckham glared at me but didn’t say another word. She marched me up two flights of stairs scowling the whole time and pushed open the second door on the dark corridor before shoving me inside. “Breakfast is served at seven.”

“That’s a bit early for me.”

“You’ll be called at five to prepare and Eve will show you what to do.”

She spun on her heels and left before I could even comprehend what she’d said. If she thought I’d be making any type of appearance before noon she was sorely mistaken.

***

Light flooded the bedroom and a girl about my age stood over me. “Ya need to get up. We’ve lots to do, and I don’t want to be getting in any trouble.”

I blinked repeatedly. “What time is it?”

“Five. Now hurry.”

She pulled the duvet off me and stood with her arms folded. “Come on, up you get.”

“No chance,” I said, dragging the duvet over my head. I heard her footsteps leave and smiled. No way was I getting up in the middle of the night.

I’d barely fallen back asleep when the duvet was wrenched away again. “Hey!”

“Get out of that bed now or you’ll be sorry.”

Peckham. The nasty cow stood glaring at me.

“No.”

“You’ll do as you’re told.”

With that, she tipped a glass of water over my head. Ice cold. I shrieked and bolted upright. “What the…”

“Clothes are there.” She pointed to a chair on the other side of the room and left.

Eve stood shaking at the door. She was a petite thing, dressed in a grey dress with a white apron tied around it. Her fair hair was pinned back, and her cheeks were flushed. “Sorry,” she mumbled, as I peeled my mass of curls off my face. “I had no choice. I can’t get in trouble, not for anyone.”

I huffed and stumbled out of bed. Clothes indeed. A grey dress that looked more like a sack and a dirty white apron waited for me.

Eve tapped her foot on the floor. Black lace-up shoes.

“I’m not wearing these.” I held the clothes up in disgust.

“Ya, have to. Bathroom’s down the hall, second door to your right. Kitchen is down the end of the hall, take the stairs all the way to the bottom. I’ll be waiting there. You’ve five minutes before Peckham comes back and believe me, you don’t want that to happen.”

Eve left and I cursed my mother. I wasn’t staying here.

#

Will Cathy get to leave and where has her mother sent her? Find out more in tomorrow’s episode. If you haven’t read part one yet here’s the link.

Grisham House Part 1

Until next time,

Keep reading and writing,

Amanda