August

Chapter 4

Solomon asked of God for a take

But then he grieved of my weight

When he had me he cried all day

And said all things run

Evilly under the sun

Klaudia didn't like the other worker so much. He was talking to her now, in short choppy sentences filled with annoyance. He was of medium height with sandy brown hair and reproachful brown eyes. He talked to her as if she was a child, and she felt ready to slap him like she slapped the wall earlier.

"Are you listening? I said you and I only clean the bottom two floors, the amphitheater and lower. The bathrooms need to be cleaned every day after the play or if there is no evening play, after 8 o clock so you can get out of here earlier. And don't expect me to help with that either, I'm maintenance, I do some cleaning, but not the bathrooms or vacuuming. Are you getting this?" he asked with wide sarcastic eyes.

Klaudia sighed, trying to soothe her anger. She needed this job. "Yeah, I hear you," she responded dully, "what was your name again?" He had never told her his name.

He glared at her as if she wasn't worthy, "Ronan. I'm nineteen years old and in trade school, this is a part time job to help pay for my books. Happy now that you know my life story? Any more personal questions?"

Klaudia wanted to spit at him, or maybe cry. But she shoved her emotions away and put on a smile, "Nope. So, I do bathrooms, cleaning up after evening plays. Anything else?"

"We both occasionally clean certain rooms in the castle. There's a paper taped on the wall in the closet with a list. Most of the castle is empty rooms, but some have old furniture and stuff that needs to be dusted and wiped down. That's your job, the general cleaning. Don't worry about oiling the leather, tightening screws, or fixing the windows, that's my job," he stopped there and looked at her, "I don't think you have the brain capacity to do this."

Klaudia had been staring into space again, remembering something, but the memory was eluding her. Her eyes jumped back to him, "Yes, of course I can do this," she said indignantly.

He snorted. Klaudia clenched her teeth. Why couldn't she just focus without spacing out? "Come on, let's go for a tour," Ronan said, sounding like that was the last thing he wanted to do with her.

Klaudia followed him down the same corridor she had seen the cleaning lady. She remembered this and asked him about her. He stared at her, "We're the only cleaning people around here. The manager will hire a professional from time to time, but there is no cleaning lady besides you."

Klaudia closed her mouth. He was obviously lying, but why?

Ronan fished a flash light out of his pocket and shone it around them, "Usually, the only thing you'll need is cleaning supplies from this closet." He opened the same closet the cleaning lady had grabbed a broom from. He shut the door before Klaudia had even looked inside, "I'm not explaining every single chemical in there, I think you're old enough to know sanitizer from toilet bowl cleaner," he said condescendingly. He continued down the hallway, not looking at her. "There are rooms all on this floor that need cleaning, but I'm not going to show you all them because there all on a map that's also taped in the closet that I just showed you. There's too many rooms in this place for me to show you all of them, and I have to get home to study for an exam, unlike you."

Klaudia curled her lip. She had enough. "Okay, you can stop with your condescending tone and comments. It's not my fault I'm in this situation. I have to support myself, or I won't make it on this planet-" she was interrupted by his voice.

"Do you think I care? I have other things to be worried about," he said, annoyed, "at this point, I forgot your name ten minutes ago." Then, before she could cry or push him or react in any way, he flung open a door and stepped inside.

Klaudia took a moment to take a deep calming breath, "He's just an annoying teenage guy, you've dealt with his type before. All these Urbanus people are like this." It didn't reassure her, but she followed him inside.

The room had a gray tinge to it, as if it was stuck in time. It had two paintings, a bed, a chest of drawers, and a large rug. Everything was clean and well kept, but it still looked dusty and dreary. There were no windows on account of it being underground. Klaudia wondered why the architect designed the castle so set into the ground, and she couldn't help asking Ronan, "Why are there two entire furnished floors below ground?"

She expected Ronan to be annoyed by the question, but he smiled and said, "The lord that bought the castle had it designed that way. They say he had a depressive way about him, and he liked to spend his time in the dark, with the ghosts..." he trailed off with a creepy smile.

Klaudia visibly shuddered, and murmured, "I don't like the dark..."

Ronan laughed, "Well, you better get used to it, the only light down here is in the corridors, and those are so old they're yellow and they flicker. But you should see the level below, way darker than this one. Not even the yellow lights are down there."

Klaudia felt ill again, and she paled, "Do we have to clean down there often?" she asked in a whisper.

Ronan didn't seem to notice her fear, "Just one room, and that's the main lower level hall. There's a piano in there," he was going to tell her where the broom closet was downstairs but stopped.

Klaudia was shaking like a leaf, "You said... a... piano?" she asked, her whisper now a shrill gasp. She didn't know what was happening to her, she didn't know why she was reacting the way she was. It almost felt like a prediction was coming over. She suddenly felt like the mention of the piano stirred up memories of the future, if that's even possible. Memories of immense terror and sadness.