A MAZE OF GREED

It had been two days that Ruth shifted in 'the great manor', and yet she was left with half of her things unpacked. Mrs Payne wanted to do it alone as she knew how busy Ruth was, but Ruth did not let her.

'No, Mrs Payne. You are already tired by sudden moving here. Only You and Thea were there for the packing and moving. I do not want you to tire yourself more. I will do the rest of the things.' Ruth had said.

Tonight, Elsie allowed Ruth to go two hours early so that, she could have some rest and look after the remaining things. Ruth was glad for that.

She came home and changed her uniform into a simple and comfortable loose white nightgown. After dinner, she gave Mrs Payne her medicines and, send her to sleep.

Letting her long coffee brown hair hall like a waterfall around her shoulders, she walked towards a small balcony. The servants quarters were of decent size, bigger than their previous home. It was spacious with separate washrooms so that the people would not have to use common washrooms.

What she liked was a small balcony provided with the living room. She always wanted it in her home. Stepping outside in the balcony, her eyes looked ahead of her, where tall establishments were the core of 'the great manor' where the O'Dell family lived.

The servants quarters were at some distance away to provide the family and the inhabitants of the servants quarters their respective privacy.

Ruth was amazed. She had no idea that the place where she lived was so grand. The three buildings built in a semicircle around a garden looked amazing in the nighttime. She saw light coming from various rooms, people in those rooms were still awake.

Spending ten more minutes, Ruth returned inside. On her way, her eyes fell on the red coloured book that she took from Elsie- 'Lethal Love'.

Her mind wavered from the task she was determined to do after seeing that book. She wanted to read it so bad but could not find the time. Elsie had told her that she could keep the book as long as she want.

But Ruth did not want to prolong that time. It was Edwin's gift for his cousin.

Ruth giggled softly. Him gifting a romantic novel to his younger cousin sounded so weird in her opinion.

-"I liked them, but not now, because you do not like them."- He had said that about bananas.

Heat rose to Ruth's face recalling his words. How easily he said that, as if he was speaking with someone he was close to or someone that he knew very well. But how did he know that Ruth did not like the bananas?

Did Rees mention it to him? No! Why would he? They must have many other important topics to discuss than her likings and dislikings. Then how did Edwin O'Dell know something so personal about her?

Giving up on that thought after five minutes of futile pondering, Ruth decided that it was time to unpack the remaining things. Sighing, she sat on the floor cross-legged. She decided to start with the bigger packages; so that when she would be tired, she did not need to deal with them.

She opened it and started sorting out the things which were inside it. Some of those things reminded her of Mr Payne.

Oh, how much she missed him! His wise advice and words of wisdom were what she was left with after he was gone.

While doing her task, she found a neck belt with a small bell attached to it that she had bought for her lovely cat. Ruth's heart fell at the fact that her cat never returned. She was her best friend. Ruth could talk to her for hours, and she did not complain. She could confine her cat with the things that she could not say out loud, in front of even Thea or Mrs Payne.

Why does everyone that she loved have to leave her behind alone?

Ruth looked in Mrs Payne's way. Would she also leave her?

That only thought made her feel like crying right then and there. Shaking her head clear of those awful thoughts, she continued her work.

More than an hour later, she was happy that her work was almost done, sooner than she thought. Now only a small package remained.

Ruth stretched her hands above her head and yawned. She hurriedly pulled the package towards her and started opening it, so that she will get to finish with it and could go to her warm bed.

She found some of Mrs Payne's belongings inside that package. She kept aside to let her place them as she desired. She was paused by a sight of a small box, that was placed at the bottom securely under other things.

Ruth looked at that box in confusion. She had never seen it before. It must be Mrs Payne's. She picked it up to put it where Mrs Payne's other things were, but curiosity that was her weak point did not let her.

The box was old and plain. What could be inside it?

The thought of opening it touched her mind, but she should not open someone else's personal thing. But It was Mrs Payne's, so it would not count as the intrusion of privacy, would it?

Giving in her curiosity, Ruth slowly opened the box. She did not know what she was expecting to see inside it, but the white feather took her by surprise.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she bit the inside of her cheek. Her fingers itched to touch it, and she did. She took the feather gently in her fingers and observed it mesmerisingly.

It was a simple feather and had no ink in the bottom that told her, it was not used for the writing. Why would Mrs Payne have it in the box? Was it related to her memories with Mr Payne? She wondered.

She searched inside the box, but there was nothing more. To feel the softness of that feather, she slowly put it on her cheek. Smiling greedily, she started moving it on the length of her face- from her cheek to chin then to the other side of her face.

She moved it then to her forehead and her eyes closed on their own accord. As soon as the feather touched her forehead, her smile froze. Her brows creased in the middle of her forehead as some images formed in front of her eyes.

Ruth did not dare to move, the feather remained touched to her forehead. Her eyeballs moved behind the curtain of her closed eyes, and her frown deepened.

The images were blurry. She could make out some movements. There were people and maybe... trees?

Her breathing turned rapid as her chest heaved up and down. A thin layer of perspiration formed on her forehead, and her body became tense.

The blurry images then turned grainy. She saw tall trees and the open sky peeking through their green canopy. She could not hear any sound other than a sound similar to the wind flowing through an endless tunnel.

A face appeared in front of her. It was a man. He was tall and had a heart-shaped face. His big green eyes smiled, lifting his naturally higher cheekbones some more. His golden-brown hair was unruly on his head that gave him a charming look. He was a very handsome man with a slightly crooked long nose.

What made him different were his eyes and a small smile playing on his lips. His smile was different yet felt somewhat similar to Ruth. It had that mischievousness to it, but it meant no harm. It was as if he was enjoying the foolish world's stupidness, mocking it but would not hesitate to step in if the time called for it.

Ruth's heartbeat accelerated. She watched him extending his hand towards her. His face looked genuine, but something made her wary of him, yet she fought the urge to place her hand in his.

She saw a hand appearing in front of her, and the man took it caringly. Ruth's body started shaking in fear because that was not her hand. She tried moving her hand, shouting, but he seemed unfazed.

She was there right in front of him but still was not there. His smile widened, and his eyes gleamed with sheer fondness.

Ruth found her moving along with him, but she did not want to go with him. Before she could see where he was leading her, many images- uncomprehensible and confusing- ran in front of her eyes.

She could not pick onto any single of them. Suddenly white pain shot in her head, and her hand that held the feather on her forehead fell to her side as she screamed from the core of her pit.

Mrs Payne woke up startled hearing Ruth's wailing. She hurried towards her in panic.

"Ruth.... Ruth... what happ-"

She stopped midway when her eyes landed on the white feather.