1- The Orphaned Girl
[Celia]
"You had only one job and that is to cook, and that also you couldn't do." Lady Regina threw the plate filled with food to the floor. The curry spilled and stained the woods. Celia stared at the stain, not daring to look up.
"I…" she trailed off, not knowing how to defend herself. For all the bravery she had, Aunt Regina always managed to shatter it completely.
"We do not keep you around for nothing. Learn to give something back to the family who raised you," she hissed, her grey eyes flashing with anger, before storming out of the kitchen.
Celia's shoulder slumped. She wordlessly began cleaning the mess that Regina had left like she always did. Thankfully, this time the other servants weren't present to watch her being taunted or they would have yet another topic to gossip.
'What is so bad about the curry?' She wondered as she cleaned the dish. She then took a spoon and took some curry and tasted it.
'That tastes fine to me?' She asked herself, baffled.
She sighed as she put the spoon in with the dirty dishes and resumed washing.
It was late by the time she got done. The grandfather clock down the hallway chimed 11 times and she knew that she had to flee to her room. She hastily ate the leftovers and then left for her room.
However, she had rotten luck since she was born because just as she reached the landing, she saw Austin, lady Regina and lord Anthony's son, staggering into his room. She stopped and did not even dare to breathe. At this time, she did not want to get into a quarrel with him. She knew that he would only harass her and as usual, get away with it. One of these she might either kill him or get physically assaulted by him, both of which she does not want.
Her mind counted the time it would take him to get inside and then for her to reach her room.
'Why did he have to get drunk so much?' She wondered, gazing at him in disgust. It felt like eons before the man stopped bumping at the wall beside the door and successfully entered the room. The door was then closed with a loud slam.
She breathed out a sigh of relief before hitching her dress and silently rushing past Austin's room, taking another flight of steps that led to the basement and finally reaching her room.
She closed the door and sank on the mattress. No, she did not have a bed in her room. Well, there was nothing much really, apart from the mattress, a chest of drawers, and a small mirror and a candle stand resting atop it.
'That was close,' she mused.
She then unlatched the pocket watch from her waist and looked at it. Almost 12. She took a deep breath and waited.
The change began as usual, with a tingling sensation and then intense burning. She hastily put a cloth in her mouth to muffle her screams. She folded in half from the pain that shot down each nerve in her body. After a while, she felt her nails poke into her dress. She let go and sank her nails into the battered mattress, letting her feet thrash.
When the burning and the pain stopped, she opened her eyes, her breaths sounded ragged to her ears. She blinked back her tears and went to look at herself in the mirror. She gasped at her reflection.
This time the right side of her face was marred, and deep gashes ran from above the eyebrows, down to the cheekbones. Her right iris had acquired a snake-like shape, the color having changed from blue to brown with an elongated pupil. Her lips looked like they were burnt, charred, and grayish.
She raised her hands, and this time her fingers had become scaly, her nails pointed and elongated like claws. Her dress felt suffocating because she knew the rest of her body must have gone through changes also. Only the skin, thankfully. She stared at her hair, which remained unchanged—dirty blonde.
A tear rolled down her cheek. Why did she suffer from this heinous curse? Was this the reason she was orphaned at a young age?
"Stop thinking," she said to herself aloud. Her voice sounded grated and raw from muffling her screams.
She did not dare to look at the broken mirror. She went back to the mattress and lay down. She was too tired to change her dress, but also not keen on finding out what else had changed in her body. She turned to the side that still looked human and closed her eyes, and her last thoughts before sleep engulfed her were, 'I have to find my family. I need answers.'
The next morning began with chaos. Celia was five minutes late for her duties, the first one being taking the breakfast tray to Lady Regina's bedchamber.
"Today's wage will be deducted," Lady Regina said as soon as Celia entered the chamber.
Celia tried not to grimace. She still couldn't shake off the form she had morphed into yesterday. It had been the goriest of the many to date. She wordlessly accepted her unfair punishment.
Her midnight black hair tumbled down her shoulder in neat ringlets. This meant that someone attended to her already although she was still in her nightgown.
From her petite features to her innocent-looking gray eyes, she would come across as a picture of innocence and naivety to any outsider. Celia, too, had thought the same until she began to see the various layers beneath that superficial personality. Maybe Lord Anthony, too, had been enchanted by her looks to realize whom he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
As she was about to leave, lady Regina said, "Lord Anthony and I want you at his study this afternoon. We have something to talk about. Don't be late."
Although Celia nodded and bowed demurely, her heart had begun to beat faster. Nothing good happened when the couple summoned her for a 'talk'.
As she navigated her way with these thoughts in mind, she bumped into the man whose presence was the last thing she required at that moment.
"Watch your steps or I might think you did that deliberately," he said. His slimy tone made Celia's skin crawl. Without lifting her head, she bowed.
"I apologize. Please excuse me, sir," she said and tried to leave, but the man was faster.
"What's the hurry? Let's talk for a bit, hmm?" Austin said, his mouth almost touching her ear. His breath was laced with the scent of wine, which made Celia's stomach churn.
"I… I have work to do. Apologies," she said, and wrenching her hand out of his grasp, she hurried past him before he could do or say anymore.