by Dalia Wright
“Excuse me,” she felt someone touch her shoulder. She spun to see one of the men who was scouting.
“Oh,” Melina said, and tried to quickly dry away her tears. It didn’t work and she knew it. Too damn bad. “Yes?”
“I just wanted to let you know that you did a good job up there. It seems clear something has you distracted, but please don’t let this stop you from coming out to more of our events. I know it can be hard to get into.” He gave her a soft smile before turning and heading back into the other room.
She stared after him. had he really just come out to tell her that? That’s so nice of him. she thought. She took a deep breath and looked down at her phone, thinking about the phone call from Chris. She knew that if she wanted to keep this job she was going to have to get going. I can take a cab. If she was going to be working from now on it wouldn’t kill her to take a cab there, even though it would leave her with $50 in her bank account, if she was lucky.
Chapter Four
She ended up getting lucky. The cab ride hadn’t cost her much, because the driver got lost along the way, but she didn’t care about the details. She was just happy that she didn’t have to pay the full fare. She made her way up to the penthouse and towards the door. This is it. She reached out to knock, then remembered what Chris had said. He said just to come in, right? So she did. She opened the door slowly and stepped inside.
“There you are.” Christ looked down at his watch. Melina knew she’d been pushing it.
“Yeah, my cab driver got lost. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it or not,” she admitted.
“Come,” he said, and motioned for her to follow him and led the way down a hallway. He came to a stop in front of a door. “This is your room.”
My room. It was all setting in. she was actually going to be working here, for Josh. I still have no clue what I’m doing. Maybe he had a kid or something. He had interviewed her during the day, so maybe the kid had been at school.
“Master Josh will be waiting to have dinner with you. Do not keep him waiting, please miss.”
Christ left her standing in front of the door. She reached out for the handle, her hands shaking as her fingers curled around the handle and she pushed the door open. It was a large room, with a walk in closet- the doors open to it, and a large TV across from the bed. Melina sucked in a deep breath. It was amazing. She’d never been a room this big before. Sure, maybe a house, but never just one room. This place is amazing. She wasn’t sure what she had expected from a penthouse but this had not been it. Maybe the issue was that she hadn’t been expecting anything. Either way, Melina was left speechless as she made her way through the room and towards the bed. Her brow furrowed as she looked down at it. No, not at the bed, at what was on the bed. A simple blue dress. She checked the tag. Yup, size 4. Was this why he wanted my clothing size? Nonetheless it was creepy to have to give your employer your clothing size on first meeting them. I don’t know how I feel about him. He seemed really nice, but there was something about him.
She touched the fabric softly. Was she supposed to wear this? Why are we having dinner? Why not just talk more with less formal clothing? It didn’t make sense to her. I guess it doesn’t matter if it makes sense to me or not. She took a deep breath, knowing that she didn’t have much of a choice. She retied her hair in a bun and changed into the blue dress. Apparently it fell to her knees and managed to hug her body better than any other dress she’d worn. She took a deep breath and looked herself over in the mirror that was in the walk in closet. She gasped when she saw the reflection staring back at her. She looked beautiful. Biting her lower lip nervously, Melina made her way out of the bedroom and down the hall that Chris had led her down before. She looked around as she tried to take everything in. There were several other rooms. One caught her eye at the end of the hall. She could have sworn there was something beside the door against the way – almost like a lock, but why would someone have a room with a lock on it? This isn’t a movie, after all, she reminded herself, though it did kind of feel like one with the day that she was having today. No, if it had been a movie I’d have gotten that part instead of ruining any chance I ever had at getting it.
She tried not to let her dismay over the events affect her too much as she stepped into the dining room. Her eyes locked on the man who she’d be dining with. He wore a simple grey suit, his eyes on the clock as she came to a stop.
“Good evening.” He turned his attention to her, his eyes studying her carefully. She crossed over to him and for a split second she was sure she heard him take a deep breath when she came to a stop in front of her.
“Hi, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”
“What’s wrong?” His eyes didn’t leave her face.
Melina blinked. Her mind went blank. Was she that bad at pretending everything was okay?
“Oh, nothing just…”
“Did you hurt yourself?”
How had he known? “I… yes… dancing. I fell.”
“You dance?” He raised an eyebrow stepping away from her. “You never mentioned that before.”
“Didn’t I? Oops.” She wasn’t sure why he would need to know her hobbies, but she wasn’t going to voice that.
“Are your legs okay?”
“They should be, thank you for asking.”
“If you would like anything to put on them, let Chris know. He’ll get you something. I’m sure we have a wide selection in the house right now.”
“Okay.” Melina made her way over to the table and sat down at the seat Josh didn’t take. She bit her lip, looking him over. How had he known she wasn’t okay? It was like he could sense it or something. Can he sense if I’m nervous? she wondered.
Melina mentally shook herself. She was being silly and she knew it. It’s not like people could actually sense if something was wrong or not. It wasn’t like the paranormal actually existed. She looked up at Josh, his bright green eyes sparkling as he stared at her. Melina felt her cheeks flush. She looked away quickly.
“What kind of dance do you do?”
“Um, jazz.”
“Jazz, interesting. I’d love to see you dance for me sometime.” He said as someone entered the room, carrying a tray with their dinner on it. Melina’s stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten all day. She took a deep breath of everything. It all smelt so good. She watched as the woman carrying the tray lay it down in the middle of the small table and Josh reached for it. Dinner looked like it was chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and veggies. A big meal, but it all looked and smelt so good. I wonder if that’s what it’s always going to be like here.
“A big slice or a small one?”
His words snapped her back to reality. He stood over the chicken, ready to cut into it.
“Oh, I um… just a small one.” Her cheeks flushed. She knew she shouldn’t eat any of the stuffing, but she wanted to so badly. It smelt so good. Her stomach grumbled again as Josh cut into the chicken and served her a slice. “It looks amazing,” she said.
“I’ll be sure to let the staff know you think so.”
“Are there a lot of staff here?”
“Not many, but I do like to keep some on call if I need something. Christian and I are not the best cooks.”
“So, that’s something I’ll be taking on?”
He nodded, cutting himself a piece of the chicken. He sat back down as Melina reached for the stuffing, taking a little more than she knew she should. She bit her lip. I’ll make up for it, she thought.
“You look guilty, are you trying to steal my silverware?” His green eyes sparkled.
“Oh, no,” she said quickly, not realizing it was a joke, “I just… will have to work hard to burn this dinner off.” She gave a grin.
He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize you were on a diet or something.” His lips pursed as he took a fork full of dinner.
For a split second it felt like she had said something wrong, she just wasn’t sure what it was. Guilt tugged a
t her stomach.
Josh watched her carefully. He could smell everything and he hated it. That was one of the reasons that he stayed inside so much. He hated the smell of new things. It made him nervous. It made him lose control. It will be fine. Even if it wasn’t, Christian was in the next room over with a gun. That was what mattered the most- and that was the biggest reason he didn’t go out in public. Sure, Christian could take the gun but it wasn’t going to be easy to explain away.
I’ll have to make sure we get some food for her in here. What did people on a diet eat? He had no fucking clue. With his metabolism he had never had to worry about dieting. Something about spending your night screaming and trying to break free from a change really kept the weight off. I’ll send Christian out for it tomorrow. It would be an interesting night, that was for sure.
They ate in silence for a while. Josh had no clue what he was supposed to say. He didn’t know how to interact as well as he’d like to. He didn’t know how to make polite chitchat. With it being only him and his best friend, he never had to worry about it, but now here he was worrying about how he was supposed to keep this woman across from him entertained. He could still smell the nervousness on her as they finished their meal.
“That was very good, thank you.”
“It was my pleasure to have someone to eat with.” He gave her a smile as he stood. She followed suit. He glanced over at the clock. They still had a little longer until he would need her help. He cleared his throat. “Please, join me for a walk.”
“Of course.”
As they walked, he could sense the pain in her legs. He heard her wince as they made their way down the hallway, away from the room he hated more than anything. The room he knew he needed.
He took a deep breath as the stepped out on a back patio. They were stories up from the ground, but that didn’t bother him. Heights had never bothered him. “Tell me, do you still agree with your choice to move here?”
“Yes. I don’t miss it back home at all. Do you?”
“Miss it?” He glanced over at her and nodded.
She felt bad for him for a fraction of a second. When she was little she always used to get homesick, but now she loved to be away from home.
“I don’t have any family there anymore, though. It didn’t make sense for us to stay there.”
“Us? You mean, you and Chris?”
“Yes. He was my best friend growing up and when I decided to move I wanted him to come along with me. I’m sure you understand how lonely it can be to have no one around that you can count on.”
“It’s gorgeous up here. It must be a wonderful place to get away from everything.”
“It is. It always calms me down.” He sounded sad as he said it.
They stood there in silence for a couple of seconds. Her mind raced, trying to fill the silence. “What do you do for a living? I mean, you know everything about me down to my dress size, and I don’t know the first thing about you.”
“I’m a medium.” His eyes sparkled.
“What?”
“My pants size. They are a medium. As for what I do for a living, I work from home, though often I’m locked in my office. I work for a shipping company, since my family has been employed by them for so long, they are accommodating about my location and hours.”
“Oh, interesting.”
At around 9:00, Josh led the way back inside. He said there was something important that he wanted to show her. He led me down the hallway that they had taken to get outside, and down the hallway to her bedroom. Past her bedroom and towards the door that Melina had noticed earlier. Are we going in there? she wondered. Her heart skipped a beat as they came to a stop in front of the room. Melina watched as he typed something in but she didn’t know what the code was. She bot her lip. What would be on the other side of this door? She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out, but she knew she had no other choice but to walk into that room, after all this was her new job. She took a deep breath and followed Josh into the room.
Her heart did a backflip. She felt her knees get weak as she looked at the room. Chains. That was all there was. The end wall had several chains on it. Without a word Josh padded over to them. “3421.” He said, loudly.
“What?” Melina stammered, trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. They were in a room full of chains; she knew she should get out of there fast. Before she got chained to that wall.
“That’s the code for this room.” He reached out and took the chains in his hand. She watched as he shackled them onto himself. Her pulse racing as she padded over to him.
“What is this?”
“It’s… important. That’s all you need to know.” He turned to face her. Those green eyes that had looked like a movie star’s when sparking looked sad now. As if there was something hiding behind them that only brought pain.
“I don’t get it.”
“That’s fine, you don’t have to.” Their eyes locked. He held his hand out to her, wrists up. “Check them, please.”
Melina hesitated as she checked that they were on tight.
“Make sure you lock the door behind you.”
“But-”
“Come back at 7 in the morning.” He cut her off.
“I…” What was she supposed to say? What the fuck was going on?
“Don’t ask questions. Whatever you do, don’t ask questions.” It sounded like a threat. Melina’s heart skipped a beat, but she nodded. She backed away from Josh, suddenly scared. He stared down at the ground. She couldn’t wrap her mind around anything that was happening right now. Was it some sort of kink? If she didn’t come back until the morning did that mean he would sleep here? Wouldn’t that be hella uncomfortable?
“What’s the code?” he whispered.
Melina’s brow furrowed. Code? Oh. It clicked. The code she had to remember to unlock him. “3421.” She said it softly.
“Don’t forget it. Now leave, it’s almost time.”
Time? Time for what?
She didn’t dare ask. Instead she turned on her heel and rushed out of the room as fast as she could without running. She made sure the door was locked behind her, her pulse racing. What was going on in this house? What was wrong with these people?
“Melina,” Chris made his way down the hallway towards her. He carried a stack of papers.
“Yes?”
“I’ll need you to sign a couple things before you retire for the night.”
Right. Josh had mentioned something about paperwork.
“And then if you need anything I can grab it for you, no need in you going out.”
Wait, I’m stuck here? She didn’t say it out loud, but that’s what she was thinking. She couldn’t believe they were acting so calm about this. This was not how you went about hiring a... Well, what could she really say? She’d agreed to become his girlfriend for a price. I’m in way over my head. She thought as she made her way over to Chris. He motioned for her to follow him into her bedroom. “So, I’ve got to sell my life away?” It was meant to be a joke, but she wasn’t sure if it came out like that.
“If you chose to leave, then you are free to at any point,” Chris said.
Melina bit her lip. There was something about Josh that made her way to stay. Maybe it was the $9000 or maybe it was him – she couldn’t be sure.
“Why does he sleep in there?”
“Didn’t Master Josh tell you not to ask questions?” Melina’s cheeks flushed.
The next morning Melina slipped out of bed quickly. She rushed for the door and typed in the code to unlock it. She stopped in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her. Her cheeks brushed a deep shade of pink as her eyes locked onto him- all of him. She rushed towards him and crouched down, unchaining him from the wall as she pulled him into her arms. He was much heavier than she thought he would be, but that didn’t matter. She managed to stand with him and get him out of the room. A door stood open, it looked like there was a bed in it. She carried him towards it, her mind numb
. She couldn’t even try to figure out what had happened. His clothes had been torn and laying on the ground. It didn’t make sense. She lay him down on the bed as gently as she could.
He stirred. “Mel…” he whispered, reaching out to her.
“I’m here.” She sat down on the bed beside him, her hand reaching for his.
Chapter Five
It continued. It took all she had not to ask about it, but the pay was damn good. She was making $9000 a month without having to do anything, except lock Josh in that room and let him out every night. And this went on for a couple days. Over those days he went with her to get her stuff, and slowly they actually started spending time together. It was strange, but she was beginning to like him more and more.
“Is this your family?” He asked looking down at an album that had been in her suitcase.
“Yes, that’s where my great-great-great-great-great grandma used to live. She was a servant there, though. It’s not like she owned the place.”
Josh’s heart raced. He knew she hadn’t owned the place. That house had been owned by his family since it had built. He nodded, not sure what else to say. He knew they had been born close to the same place, but…. If her family worked for mine… that would mean they most likely had known about the curse. He turned away from her as he heard a buzz coming from her pockets. She reached for her phone quickly. With his hearing Josh could hear both sides of the conversation.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mel. It’s Seth.”
“Hi, Seth! What’s up?”
“Um, well… actually I was calling because I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight.”
Josh could feel her eyes on him. He turned to her.
“I don’t know… I might be busy…” She stared at him, waiting for him to voice what she was or wasn’t allowed to do.
“He can come here. I’ve got an arcade you may take advantage of, as long as you are free at 9:00.”
Melina nodded, a wide grin spreading over her face. “I started working at a penthouse, why don’t you come here? There’s an arcade.”
