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1047 Words
ARIEL.
In shock, I stood before the monstrosity of a roof, the wind billowing at my hair and face. It was extremely cold up here and I kept rubbing my arms to feel warm.
The man who had assigned me to this place as a punishment left as soon as he dished out his instructions.
"You'll be cleaning the whole of the roof and make sure you're done before dawn."
How the hell was I going to complete this task before then? I looked around me, eyes wide in panic. I was several storeys high, looking down at the Palace yards below. Anyone who fell from here would break their neck and for the love of me, I wasn't ready to die.
But I was on a suicide mission here. Being asked to clean this roof was like signing a death note. There were several death traps here. There were several turrets, having circular tops with crenellations. I knew stepping there was suicide but I had been asked to clean it too! How the hell was I going to achieve that without sliding to the floor and splitting my skull open?
I was glad that I hadn't been asked to clean the keel on the other side of the castle's roof. It was a fortified enclosure with guards perambulating.
Underneath the roof was a terrace and a balcony. I had no idea where it led to but there were steps that led up here, meaning someone could come up and sit here.
I started cleaning, brushing off the dust from the nooks and crannies of each stone block. My hair was soon filled with dust and I kept coughing as dust particles wafted into my nose.
I became really thirsty afterwards but there was no way I could get water. I had no access to it and no one could leave their positions until evening.
After an hour of cleaning, I took a seat and leaned against the wall, almost tearing up when I was hit with the realization that I was a slave sold off by my stepfather.
Life was unfair to me. Thinking I had finally escaped him, I was brought here and asked to clean the roof of a monstrous castle! Who the hell cleaned roofs?
Wiping my tears, I pushed to my feet and continued to clean until the sun set down the horizon. I watched as people went in and out of the Palace from here. I watched warriors train on their horses and gardeners tend to the gardens. If things were better, I would have enjoyed sitting here to watch people and the sunset.
I was just about to pick up my bucket when I missed a footing on the parapet. I let out a scream, my arms flailing in the air as I searched for what to hold onto.
I was almost slipping and I dared not look down below. I was far high up and falling would mean death.
My eyes caught a lattice inches away from me and in relief, I grabbed onto it, breaking a sweat as I hefted myself up and took a seat on the stone block.
I burst into more tears, thankful that I was still alive. I hated to be here. I hated that this was the lemons life had given me. I couldn't make lemonades out of it, instead, it was sour, slapping me right in the face at any chance it got.
I looked down at my dress to see that it was torn and bloodied.
Frowning, I pulled my dress up to see a gash on my thighs. I must have gotten it in the fall. More tears poured down my cheeks and I pulled my knees to my chest before covering my face.
It was already dusk and I wasn't even halfway done with cleaning. I couldn't go back down to our quarters because I had been strictly instructed to make sure I cleaned everywhere up.
By the time I was done, I was extremely tired and it was almost dawn. I had no idea what the time was but I knew that the midnight clock had struck a few hours ago.
When I retired to bed, Daneesha was already asleep.
Clang! Clang!
"Ariel!" Someone called from my sleep. It was muffled at first but my eyes cracked open to see Daneesha standing over me.
"We need to get ready. We have a long day ahead of us."
Sighing, I pushed to my feet, still feeling tired and sleepy. All of my joints hurt and I could barely move without staggering and groaning in pain.
I looked up to see Daneesha staring at me with a sorry look. "I heard what happened yesterday. You crossed Mirabel's path. She's the one who emptied the bucket of water on you, right?"
I nodded. "Is that how she is?"
"She's an old slave. They always demand respect from everyone. You should have just left when she asked you to."
"But I had no idea!"
"I know that. I'm sorry." She reached under her pillow and pulled out a rolled-up paper. "Here. I kept bread for you. I wasn't awake when you came. I should have given you then."
Taking it from her, I smoked in appreciation, nearly bursting into tears. I hadn't eaten all day yesterday, even missing lunch because I wanted to be done really early. My lips were dry and I felt like I had been dug out of the grave.
Sinking my teeth into the bread, I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. "I'm so hungry."
Daneesha took a seat beside me. "Eat up. We're working together today."
My eyes flew open and I turned to look at her. "Are you for real?"
Daneesha nodded. "We were all assigned to different duties yesterday because we had to prepare for a feast today."
"A feast?"
"Yes. For the rich people. So all we will be doing today is decorating the hall and getting ready. Eat up. We need to be fast."
Daneesha stood to her feet. "One more thing you need to know. Some slaves will be picked out to be auctioned to other rich men. Pray we are sold to good people."
My mouth hung open in shock.
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