Eight-year-old Aubrey stood in the entryway of the massive home and shivered. She held all of her possessions—or at least the ones that the woman who had been sent by her father to come get her would allow her to grab—in the small bag that she clung to her chest.
“Don’t dawdle in the hallway.” The woman, Miss Ellison, as she had instructed Aubrey to call her, nudged her forward, causing her worn sneakers to slip on the smooth tile floor. “Careful,” the woman hissed. “If you break anything in this house, Mr. Smith will have my head.” The woman scowled down at her.
Aubrey tried to focus on walking carefully and followed after the woman through the massive house. She got so distracted watching the way Miss Ellison’s crisp slacks almost crackled with each step that she forgot to pay attention to where the woman was leading her. The woman’s short narrow heels echoed in the large home, lulling Aubrey into a zombie-like state.
Suddenly, she appeared in a narrow hallway after what seemed like a maze of stairs, doors, and wider hallways.
“These are your rooms,” Miss Ellison said as she opened double doors and stood back to allow Aubrey to step inside.
The room was white. Very bright white. Everything inside was so stark, it almost blinded Aubrey. Blinking a few times, Aubrey set her bag down on the floor. Miss Ellison scooped it up quickly.
“I’ll just put your things away.” She moved over towards a dresser.
“No,” she shouted, rushing to grab her bag away from the woman. “They’re mine.” She hugged it once more to her chest.
Miss Ellison leaned down until they were face to face. “There will be no more of that kind of outburst in this house. Do I make myself clear?”
Aubrey held in a sniffle but nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Very well, put your own things away. I expect this room to be tidy at all times. Your father has arranged for clothing.” She opened two tall mirrored doors. There were more pretty clothes in the massive walk-in closet than Aubrey had seen in any store. Setting her bag down again, she walked over and ran a finger down the soft lace of a pink dress. “Your bathroom is in there.” Miss Ellison motioned towards a doorway. The woman’s eyes ran up and down Aubrey. “I expect you to clean up and get dressed into something more appropriate. Be downstairs for dinner in”—she glanced at the thin silver watch on her wrist— “an hour sharp.”
With that, the woman turned around and left the room. Aubrey heard the sounds of the woman’s heels echoing down the hallway as she disappeared into the house.
She was enthralled with all the clothes and spent a long time in the closet. She was a little shocked to see that most of the clothes were pink. Not that she didn’t like the color pink, but almost every item was a different shade of the color. Nothing was orange, green, red, or her favorite color, blue.
Leaving the closet, she opened the bathroom door and wasn’t surprised to see the white space. A large claw bathtub sat in front of an oval stained-glass window. A glass and tile shower sat in the back corner with two white sinks on white countertops directly across from it. Even the towels were white.
She turned away and sat on the white carpet to open her small bag.
Pulling out a worn picture, she looked down at her mother’s beautiful face and cried for her loss.
A little over an hour later, she pushed her unruly red hair away from her eyes and stepped into what she hoped was the dining room. She’d spent too much time trying to find her way around the empty rooms and long hallways. The place scared her but what scared her more was not knowing where she was. She vowed to learn every inch of the place as quickly as possible.
“You’re late,” Miss Ellison said sternly.
“I’m sorry, I… got lost.” She looked around the massive room. She promised herself that it would never happen again. She wanted to be able to escape any room, even in the dark, if necessary.
She’d seen her father only once before, the day of her mother’s funeral. Now the older man sat at the end of a very long table surrounded by servants as candlelight danced over his features.
“Well, come on then,” Miss Ellison said, taking her shoulders. Then she knelt down beside her and tucked her long hair further behind her