“So what's the matter this time?” I ask Mistress. “Same old thing Valerie.” She says standing in the doorway of her old cream painted room. The wallpaper starting to peel and tear from age. “The Master is waiting for you my lady.” I lead her down the hallway. Brightly lit by a wall of enormous windows with the white curtains tied up in a decorative bow. I open the door to Master James room. “Here we are Mistress.” I step back and shut the big wooden corridor doors behind her. I pull my long curly hair into a ponytail and start back into the mistress’s room. Looking over her canopy bed i head towards the closet. Everyday the strangest thing occurs, her closet is painted a crimson red. No one comes in to paint it and for a while we thought it was a leak, but all four walls are completely covered. From ceilings to floor border. The Mistress hasn't found out yet since she never goes into her closet, i don't think i should tell her it would complicate her health and give her unnecessary stress. So i handle it myself. Placing a cleansing spell over the walls. I place the burning sage in the middle of the floor, throwing drops of salt water on the walls and placing a soil barrier around the corners of the closet. Not even fifteen minutes later the bloody red is gone. “Now.” I head towards the kitchen and put the sage in a small wrap of aluminum foil. I head to the back of the kitchen and pull down some pans and frozen ground beef, i walk back into the main part of the kitchen turning on the over and the last thing i see is the pans hitting the floor then everything goes black. “What are you doing here?! Wake up! Wake up now!” I sit up reaching out, the Mistress’s bed. I look down at my attire. The Mistress’s dress? What's going on? I need to change. “Don't.” i feel a sharp pain in the back of my head. “Master James. Oh goodness Master James.” i hop out of bed making the bed up before marching down the hallway into Master James’s office. I knock and wait for an answer. “Come in.” he says. I walk in and bow. “I apologize for the intrusion, but i need to speak with you and Mistress Victor-” i feel that sharp pain again. I look down and hold my head. I meet my eyes with him once more bow and excuse myself. “Valerie what's wrong?” i hear him shout from the other end of the hallway. “Nothing, Sir!” i reply. I need to cook. I make my to the kitchen hearing water boiling and pots tapping. What's going on? “Elisa? I didn't know you knew how to cook sweetie.” I pull up a chair to the preparation table. “Oh yes heh mother taught me.” i watch her cut carrots and put them into a pot. Elisa isn't the Reynolds biological child. She was adopted around seven years ago. The Mistress wasn't able to have children of her own and fell in love the moment she saw Elisa. Elisa and i are close in age though im nineteen and she’s seventeen. I have been working for the Reynolds since i was eleven. Cleaning up after the Mr. and Mrs. when my mother passed, they have never made anything too hard for me. They raised me like their own when my mother died. I am grateful to them. After Elisa was adopted Master stayed in his office more and more. He orders me to bring his food to him now, we used to eat together. I don't understand what changed that would make him isolate himself like this. The Mistress eats with Elisa and i everyday and stays in her study at night up to the moment she goes to bed. “Would you like for me to help?” i look at all the vegetables and meats she’s cut. She looks at me, staring me in the eyes not breaking the eye contact. I look back with the same intensity and aggression. She drops the knife and leaves. “What’s wrong with her? What did you do? What is wrong with her? With you?” Ugh my head. This splitting headache is gonna kill me. I can't take it. I head out the front gates and down the Brooklyn streets. I leave out to the health store, picking up Advil and some snacks since i skipped dinner. I walk up to the gates of the Reynolds mansion and sit there, looking at the outside of the old house. Thinking from an outsiders viewpoint that the house should look old and dusty on the inside, though the house and clean and kept clean daily. "Hmm, my headache is gone." I step into the gates and up to the front doors. "Oh, hello Valerie." I see a tall shadow looming in the front window. "ack my head, geez."