The friged winter blew on as a tiny James stood in a market place. The bright orange glow of the New Years lanterns illuminated his hollowed out cheeks and the dark bags hanging under his eyes.

The shadows of people swirled together to create an intricate dance on the shop windows and the snow covered ground. James’ miniature hands pressed against the glass window of a small candy shop.

“Look ma... mama?” When he spun around to point out an exceptionally delicious looking price of red velvet cake to his mother, he found himself alone. His bright blue eyes widened and he felt an overwhelming wave of panic and fear wash over him.

He pushed his way into the crowd and past a fiddler on the roof of a toy shop. The faceless figures danced around him, bumping and shoving their was past. He clenched his fists around his white button up shirt and turned down a alley to escape the chaos.

It wasn’t until about halfway to the othher end that he began to hear the faint step of someone trailing behind him.

‘It’s an alley way. There’s only one way to go. There’s no way he’s following me.... right?’ He tried to convince himself. James quickened his pace and so did the footsteps. The wetness of the snow began to some though his black dress shoes into his socks and as he ran, there was a squelching sound coming from his feet. James’ breath came in fast and urgent white clouds in front of his face.

Like an idiot, he tripped over his own feet and stun sled to the ground. He spun around, his eyes willed and his hair sticking out in all sorts of directions. Looming over him was an aristocratic looking man that couldn’t be over twenty. He had dark brown hair and wore a vibrant blue suit. The man reached down for James and a pitiful wimpier echoed through the alley.

\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

James jolted upright on his mattress that was placed on the dirty floor of an abandoned shopping mall and clutches the sheets tightly. He ran a hand through his sweaty brown hair and closed his eyes. He threw off his blankets and let his bare overweight feet touch the cold cement that sent a shiver down his spine. He reluctantly stood and made his way across the old Macy’s to a brown wooden chest full of dirty clothes. He changed out of his pajamas into the outfit that smelled the least like a fat homeless teenager. He stared at himself in a broken mirtor. His belly hung out over his pants, pimples and his nose took up 90% of his face.

Once outside, James shoved his hands in the pockets of his red and blue wind breaker and pressed the metal button, signaling the crosswalk. The person on the sign across the street turned green and James stepped out into the street.

Already halfway across, a bright purple sports car came driving down the highway clearly way past the speed limit of sixty miles per hour. The cool fall air was broken with loud screech and the scream of passerby’s. James’ heads stung immensely and the world around him swirled and disappeared into a dark haze.

—

Death was soft. Well, softer than James had originally planned it to be.

“Wake up idiot!”

James felt something being ripped off of him and instinctively turned on his side and curled up in a ball for warmth.

“Elliott, get up this instant! Master will have our heads if we aren’t doing chores by the time the sun rises!”

James peeled open his eyelids only to be greeted with a dark room and a persons face. James shot up and stumbled back.

“What tha...”

The room around him was one that resembled the orphanage. Wooden bunk beds were lined up against stone walls and the floors were covered with dust and bugs. There were holes in the walls that housed small rodents and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. A girl with short brown hair stood on the latter of his bed, only her upper half visable.

The rest of the beds were empty and the light was on. James ran a hand over his face and looked at the girl.

“Wha... who are you?”

“What do you mean?” She replied tilting her head, confusion dancing across her face.

“Where am I?”

“In Lord Kunningham’s mansion? Come on Elliott, stop goofing around and get up all ready.”

She hit the back of his head and climbed down the latter, disappearing out of the room. James grabbed the dirty white button up shirt, brown overalls and brown trousers that were neatly folded on the end of his bed, climbed down and changed into them. He slipped on a pair of bright red socks and brown boots and grabbed the news boy hat that was hung on the post and walked out of the room into a large meeting hall where serve ya were gathered, quietly chatting.

“Attention! Attention! The chores for today will be announced!” A nicely dressed man boomed over the crowd.

He began listing off names and jobs, pretending to care about what chores we got.

“Elliott and Cathey, scrubbing the floors.”

“Now then. Now that that’s taken care of, I’m obligated to announce that the King and other distinguished guests will be coming tonight to attend a banquet. And Elliott I swear, if you spill wine on the Prime Minister again, I’ll beat you myself.” He eyes Elliott, sending chills down his spine. “Everyone better be on your best behavior tonight or else. Dismissed!” He clapped his hands together for emphasis.

The room erupted in chatter once more, and the brown haired girl approached him.

“Looks like you and I are partners huh?” she said through a smile

“Has that guy always has such a long stick up his ***?”

“Mr.Ferrel? Haha, yeah. He’s kind of a killjoy.”

“No kidding”

The duo exited through the main door into a tacky hallway. Golden tile lined the floors and the walls were painted light blue. Elliott cringed but kept walking. On their way to the supply room, they passed a large mirtor hanging over a brown table.

Elliott stopped to examine himself. He had short wild blonde hair that was littered with dirt, and striking blue green eyes. He had fair skin, white teeth and his face was perfectly sculpted to look like some kind of idol.

“What are you doing? Hurry up! Don’t get me in trouble with the Lord again!”

Elliott tore his eyes off his reflection and hurried behind Cathey.

___

Though many people lived there, the mansion felt deserted and cold to Elliott. As the pair walked through the twisting corridors, the feeling of uneasiness grew. The only sound was the heels of his boots as they clicked against the marble tile.

"Here we are," Cathey said as they stopped in front of a wooden door with rusted hinges that looked immensely out of place in the otherwise grand hallway. Cathey plucked a brown key off of the keyring that was looped around her belt and jabbed it into the door with enough force to make Elliot jump.

The lock made a clicking sound and Cathey turned the doorknob, revealing a dark rectangular shaped room filled with a ridiculous amount of cleaning supplies.

She swiftly entered the room, leaving Elliott standing awkwardly in the hallway. He rubbed his palms on his trousers and clicked his tongue a few times, letting his eyes wander around the corridor, though it was identical to all the other ones they had been in. A few beta males scurried past, shooting him odd looks before his savior finally emerged from the darkness and handed him a mop, herself holding a bucket of soapy water.

“What now?” Elliott inquired as he trailed behind Ctahey, trying to match her unnaturally fast pace.

“Now... we clean,” she answered in a grim tone “I’ve only actually been assigned to the library floors once. We barely hit the mark... and that was with a team of seven,” She smiled, though Elliott could see the dark circles under her eyes.

\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~

They eventually arrived at the massive white mahogany doors of the library after many wrong turns and several trips up and down the same staircase. Humongous roses were etched into the wood, the stems twisted around in a variety of designs and patterns, then ended with the flower itself upon the golden doorknob.

Casey wrenched open the hefty doors so that Elliott found himself standing in the enormous room. The ceiling of the library was dome-shaped and painted to resemble a pale blue sky, with golden-winged angels resting on clouds, playing elegant harps. The walls were a creamy white with golden swirls as a trim. In the middle of the room was a white grand staircase with a long rug that was rolled out from the head of the stairs to the base matched the blue color of the mural. The floor consisted of large white marble squares. Bookshelves were embedded in the walls of the first floor and an indoor balcony that encircled the entirety of the room, they were stained a teal blue to match the railing on the edge of the second story and the sleek pillars several inches away from the walls, that stretched all the way to the second floor. Stone statues of kelpies, the water creature said to drown young maidens.

Cathey placed a hand on Elliott’s shoulder, snapping him out of his moment of awe.

“Right. Prepare yourself… we have a long day ahead of us…”