Beyond the King's Gate

Chapter Six

"The princess is coming!" Someone exclaimed. Bethany whipped her head around to see the servant in the doorway. A few hours earlier, she recalled all she had gone through to get here. This spotless room.

It was early in the morning, when she was ordered to deep clean the room, for the coming guest. Staff was short, for they had a lot more to clean and do around the castle before evening would fall, so it was up to her to take up the monumental task of cleaning the room all by herself. It hasn't been used in what seemed to Bethany, a decade. The moment she came in with a broom, and a candlestick. She sneezed violently.

The room almost didn't breathe, it was as though not a single dust in the air moved out of place. Everything stood stale and eerily still. All of the furniture was covered. It was as though somebody died here.

There was a story, a history about this room that no one dared uncover. Bethany wondered why until now no one was allowed in here. Even for a cleaning. Webs from spiders lined the ceiling corners. Darkness lurked in the walls of this room. Everything about the room felt off. 

Her eyes beheld the room, there was ornate detailing on the walls, she rarely ever saw. It had a big bed covered by sheets, in the middle, on each side of the room were windows almost reaching the floor. Curtains adorned the windows making them appear even larger. Up above the covered chaise lounge at the foot of the bed, hung a grand chandelier. Even though it was covered with a layer of dust, it was still so beautiful.

It seemed that no matter how long she had lived here at the castle, she hadn't seen all the rooms of this palace. She knew it would change with age, as she would be asked to do more and more. But for now? Bethany was astonished.

A servant walked by, and it kicked all nonsense out the door. She didn't want to be in trouble, she would ask her mother later if she knew more about the room. For now, it would have to wait.

Rushing to open the windows quickly, she pushed the window out to open it. Once the cold morning breeze wafted in, taking out the stuffiness, she then lit up the candles around the room. Finally she could see in better detail. Scrunching her nose she was assaulted by a terrible smell coming from who knows where. She tried not to let it bother her as she spent the hours taking off the sheets covering every furniture, scrubbing, dusting, folding, bringing in fresh linens. She was a mess by the end of it.

And all the while she sought out the origins of the foul smell.

Finally came an idea, Bethany ducked under the bed, to her awful surprise she finally found the terrible source of the offensive smell.

Shrieking, she pulled back and fell on her bottom. Her heart raced.

A dead mouse. Gross. Bethany sat there on her bottom. Waiting, hoping it would magically disappear all on its own. A shudder ran through her. She could do this.

She had to. The mouse wouldn't disappear and she couldn't very well leave it, for the poor princess to breathe in all night. Ha, well maybe she deserved it. Bethany gulped. Feeling guilty for her displeasure towards the princess, she reasoned that it was because she was jealous of her.

Reaching underneath the bed she pulled the dead mouse from underneath, and rushed to close her mouth. "Eww." She silently cried in pity for the animal, who knows how long it's been there. She disposed of it out of the open window as fast as she could.

A shriek was heard, and Bethany ducked in fear of being seen. Please let nobody see that it was her, she prayed. She stayed like that for a while, waiting to hear no more talk below, but she overheard whomever was beneath say, "Who had cast such a wretched thing out a window? I tell you," she spoke to whoever she was with, disdain coloring her voice. Bethany dared not to look. "This place looks just wretched."