It was finally time to meet my mother. I woke up with a twinge of panic as I couldn’t identify until my last thoughts before sleep came back. I did not remember what my name was before becoming Anastasia. I was almost sure my name started with A but that was about it. I had to have a life before here. The more I tried to remember, thoughts about my sick mother kept interfering. Almost like something was preventing me from thinking too hard about my past. My mother… She had to be someone with red hair and pale blue eyes, otherwise genetics don’t work in this story. I thought back to the paintings I had seen of the red haired lady I had seen in the hallways. It had to be her.

The maid helped me into a dark blue dress I had not realized I owned. Then again, all the unsightly pink dresses had disappeared and been replaced by blue and green outfits. Who had the maid appealed to, to get my whole wardrobe changed overnight. I felt less ridiculous as I walked the confusing hallways of my new home, following the maid who seemed to be walking as fast as possible regardless of whether I could follow or not. Big house or not, I did my best to memorize the path that she took and in no time at all we were in front of a door and the maid was gesturing to it.

She knocked and for a few seconds nothing happened until a feeble voice said “Who is it?”

She sounded quite weak from her nondescript illness. I almost found myself feeling concerned until I reminded myself that none of the people were real. What did it matter if a few novel people died? 

The maid answered, “Anastasia asked to see you”. 

There was a pause.

Did everyone need time to doubt my motives?

The voice on the other side of the door got louder, “Don’t lie to me! She has not visited me once!” 

An outburst followed with what sounded like a coughing fit. I backed away from the door.

“I don’t think she wants to see me,” I said in a small voice.

She did not seem surprised but she probably wanted to keep her job enough to not tell me anything. Her attitude was starting to get annoying.

“If you have something to say, just say it.” I said in a venomous whisper. 

The lady seemed taken aback and maybe she would have said something but I kept going, my voice echoing in the fancy hallway.

“Why do I even keep you around if you are going to judge my every action? I’m like 8, I’m sorry I don’t act as perfect as you expect me to but at the very least I am not stuck in some stupid maid job like your stupid daughter.”

I watched her face contorted with rage and then added in a cold whisper, “remember I can get you fired.” 

The rage and most of the color drained from her face.

“Where is my father?” I asked.

“He is busy.” Her voice shook a bit. Maybe she was dying to do some screaming of her own.

“When will I be able to see him? I want to ask him for a different maid.” 

Whatever color was still in her face drained then. She opened her mouth and closed it almost immediately.

“You used to be a noble.” I stated “You must not be happy that you have to serve me. You must think you deserve so much better but if you did, you would still be a noble right now. Taking out your frustration on me is only going to help you have no job at all.” 

A long silence followed. It was broken by a small voice from the other side of the door saying my name between raspy coughs.

“I am right outside, mom.” I said watching the maid closely.

 “May I come in?” I asked in an almost innocent voice. 

I wondered how my mother had heard. She had been coughing the whole time so she had at the very least not heard the whole tirade.

The maid opened the door with an almost pained look on her face. The room was empty except for a bed. The sheets looked thin but at the very least they weren’t ragged rags. And the occupant of the bed…

 She looked bad. Her hair had a few strands of red left but it was mostly white. Her eyes were the same shade as me. Her skin color would have been similar to mine if it was not for the sickness making her look all pale and clammy. 

 My mother. I could feel a strong affection for the woman and I wondered if it had come from Anastasia or from me. Maybe the real Anastasia was still in there somewhere? 

“Hello mother,” I said with a small bow that the etiquette lady had taught me.

Surprise registered in mom’s face but her coughs kept her from talking.

After a minute or two, she choked out some words that sounded like “finally remember to visit me”.

I smiled in spite of myself.

“I wanted to improve in my lessons before visiting you, to prove I could be better.” An easy lie. 

A moment of silence followed. Like everyone else, she must have been trying to figure out my evil plan. At least that is what I thought until I saw the wide smile spread over her face.

“I heard you wore the dress I gave you” she said, her voice was low, her breath labored. 

“I realized it was a very nice color,” I said, staring at the wall. 

“Maybe I’ll be able to convince you to change the color of your room.” she paused to cough “that pink looks like vomit”

I liked that lady a bit more.

“One step at a time,” I half joked.

At that time, her coughing became so bad that the maid rushed to get me out. She didn’t speak to me as she led me out. I half turned to assure my new mom that I would visit again and maybe imagined a small smile on her face between coughs. 

As soon as we were out of the room, I turned to the maid coldly. 

“Today is my day off right?” I asked.

She nodded.

“I don’t need you hanging around me all the time. Go do whatever else you do!” I ordered and I was a bit surprised to see her walk away. 

I really need to get that woman fired.

It might work to my advantage in the story to get rid of the maid and her daughter. 

Or I could push to have the kid as my maid?

It would be funny if the main character were my maid and getting to know her might not be a bad thing.