Hiding in the Shadows - Old Version (Other one is new one)

Chapter 1: Remorse (OLD)

July 25th, 1845 at 9:00AM

The skies were gloomy and grey, clouds drifting lazily across the frame of my window, each about the size of the chips of faded paint that occasionally fell down on me as I lay in my bed.

A bed, I laughed at the thought. A bed is what I used to have. A bed is comfortable, and I don't think you'll ever get a pile of straw and a heavy, scratchy woolen blanket that could be comfortable. But still, I managed.

Living in the attic of the stables, working for my room. I say my room lightly - It was a small room, about 10 meters squared, with a group of 5 boys, and me. It was cramped to the point where your back feels like a permanent 'S'. It was considered a frozen arrangement of wood in the winter and during the summer, the opposite.

But one thing was for certain. It beat the last few years of my old life, hands down.

I had spent them running, running for fear of my past and what could happen in the future if I stopped. Kicked out of an orphanage here, banned from a tavern there.

No one ever wanted me. No one would ever want me. And the nightmares each night were the worst - and the same each time. Waking up in between my parents cold corpses, blood pooling in the small indentation I occupied.

"KAITLYN!" My name was shouted, doing an amazing job at making me jump out of my stupor.

"Another shit day, stuck here, shoveling shit." I muttered to myself. Of all the dead-end jobs, this had to be the one that included housing. I put on my apron, an old and tattered thing, And began to walk downstairs. As I opened the door at the top of the common room, I noticed that something was off, all of the other stable hands had lined up against a wall, in neat order.

Since when has there been order around here?

"Care to join the line Mrs. Kaitlyn? Or would you like to fetch me the keys to the stocks?" he spit the words out with venom, his long nose hooked over continuously pursed lips. Letting out an audible sigh, I continued to walk to the rest of the Stable hands and join the line.

"Let me explain this simply for you low-lives; we have a guest coming. And we will accommodate this guest with care because, should he like one of you enough, he says that he might very well buy you." As she said the words, I felt ashamed. Had I really sunken to a position so low that I was considered to only be a commodity? Something for the rich to buy and trade, as I toiled to the every whim? Looking around me, I could see that each and every one of the boys in the line around me had started to whisper, looking at one another with grins as they realized that they may be able to leave this hell hold.

After we cleaned the commons, "Making them look good" as the marshal had said, we were allowed to sit together in our own corner of the attic awaiting the guest's arrival. I took a seat in my usual spot on the cold hard floor, leaning against the frame of one of the only two windows in the room. Drifting off into the world of my imagination, I began to imagine dragons flying through the sky, as bands of Knights chased on horse back, ready to fight. And this was a world that I wished I could escape into, getting away from the lingering death of my family. And it was after what seemed to have been a decade, some one knocked on the door.

The reactions from the crowd assembled in the small attic room varied; where some stood up and ran to the door, hoping to gain the favour of our guest. And others, like me, just sat and waited, not particularly wanting to be the chosen one. After the first wave of confusion faded away, we were all drawn downstairs, either on our own or by force thanks to the Marshal.

Not long after we were stood, yet again, in a line across the commons room. We stood in complete silence, scared that even the tiniest peep would mean a lashing. Or worse.

Standing across the

"Well Mr.Ashe, here are all the hands currently employed at my stables, as you asked," The marshal said, as he turned and took a seat nearby, intent on watching the proceeds of what this Ashe man was going to do. I took a deep breath, millions of ideas rushing through my head as he slowly paced the length of the line.

Suddenly breaking the silence after a handful of strides in front of the line he raised a finger toward me.

"You. Follow me." Stunned, I barely managed to comprehend the fact that he was pointing at me. Murmuring under my breath that I would follow, I walked out of the stables commons with him. A few meters out of the Commons room and a ways down the winding stone path that lead to the village, he stopped. He stopped and turned to face me, Slowly letting his eyes drift across me, taking each and every detail. Taking this as a moment of opportunity I did the same. He had a narrow, oblong face with sunken cheekbones and a pointed chin. His slit-like eyes were a faded gray-blue. A short pointed nose stuck out from his face, with just a small gap from his Brunette hair that hung straight down into an angular cut at his jaw.

As his eyes made their way back up to meet with mine he asked, "Kaitlyn. That is you right?"

"Y-yes..." I stuttered, Clearing my throat I continued, "Yes, and your Mr.Ashe?"

"That would be me," he replied, his face never once loosing its look of seriousness,

"Now that we are here, away from the prying eyes of your 'friends', let me tell you my offer. I have a very, so to say interesting line of work, and I need help. As I age, my job continues to become harder and harder, and the odds of my death are always rising. May I add, that should you become successful in your service to me, then I can guarantee that you will no longer go hungry, nor have to sleep on a pile of moldy hay."

As he said the last few words, I suddenly became very interested, this could be my shot to get back to my old life, to finally shake of the poor me and begin to make money.

"Ill do it." I snapped back, not even thinking about the consequences - something that I would regret for the rest of my life.