R.E.birth

by Thomas W. Everson

  It only takes me a few moments to obtain the coats from the upstairs closet and return to the guests. The man holds out his arm but when I try to give him his garment he shakes his arm expectantly and I slide the coat over his extended arm and then move around to his other side to assist him with his other sleeve, where he proceeds to get his elbow caught and struggles a moment to shove his arm in. The woman’s goes smoother however, with no catches or snags.

  This is a little much. Putting on people’s coats for them? Are they children? Oh, wait, they’re drunk.

  Duchess Tamiell shows her guests to the door, with me following along to open it for them. The Duchess kisses their cheeks while they say their farewells and I close the door.

  “Servant, go help Evalyn finish cleaning and then retire for the night,” Duchess Tamiell tells me while yawning.

  She must have forgotten about her previous notions from when she was caressing my arm, as she shows no further interest in me. Instead she opens the metal door and I’m assaulted by the smell of urine. There is a lantern lit inside and there is something similar to a toilet in there, however the seat is attached to the wall and underneath is a removable pot. It seems so unclean compared to the modern toilet I’m now used to, but apparently this is what I have to deal with for now. When she shuts the door behind her I quickly walk to the kitchen to find that Evalyn already has everything under control and mostly cleaned up.

  “Evalyn, we have a problem. The Duchess got a bit too friendly out there and I’m not sure whether it’s the alcohol or that notion you put in her head, but I am apparently a target of physical affection.”

  She snorts as she bursts into a fit of laughter. Finding nothing funny about it, I cross my arms and frown at her. But seeing me this way causes her to laugh harder, having to put her face in her arms on the counter.

  “Why is this funny?”

  In between laughs she finds a response. “Because I can’t tell what’s funnier, the fact that she bought my story, or that she actually took the initiative with you, or that you’re taking this so seriously.”

  “Seriously? I’m being held here against my will by you, and for all I know she’s going to try and bed me! That’s serious in my book!”

  “Why?” She calms, wiping tears from her face.

  “I…I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem right that two people should be intimate unless they’re married.”

  “So noble and old school!” Evalyn clasps her hands in front of her chest and sways back and forth mockingly.

  “Pick at my moral guide, sense of chivalry or gentleman’s ways, whatever you want to call it, I don’t care, but you need to help me out here. What can we do to dissuade her?” I take a moment and think of a way to jolt Evalyn into helping. “What would it take if it was you?”

  My statement catches her completely off guard and she blushes. She covers her face and turns away, giggling a little, acting like I had asked her to be the Duchess, rather than just put herself in the Duchess’s position.

  “Oh Rain! Why would you ask me that? How would I know what it would take?! What makes you think an old lady like myself would even find you attractive?!” Her speech is elevated and fast.

  “Evalyn, cut it out. You know what I meant. I need you to get in the mindset of the Duchess and then figure out what it would take to put her off.”

  Her laughter kicks in again while she still faces away from me. “Well if it were me, just be yourself!”

  “Har har,” I sarcastically laugh. “If you don’t want to help then I’ll do something drastic.”

  “You could try telling her you’re taken,” Evalyn turns back around, her face normal again.

  “I tried that with Eve and it just made her try harder, especially because Ami was there.”

  “I’m afraid you are just going to have to figure it out on your own Rain. This old lady has no wisdom for you.”

  “Thanks for nothing. I’ll avoid her as best I can.” I turn and walk out on Evalyn and head upstairs.

  Her attitude is all over the place. Angry, sarcastic, jovial. I don’t understand what drives her mood or emotion. How irritating.

  I’m tired once again and when I run my hand over my face it’s still swollen. Having forgotten about it because I was busy, it’s now at the front of my mind and I feel a headache coming on. When I reach my designated room I enter it to find it dark, only partially lit up by moonlight shining in through the window. Heading to the bed I find my mind is going fuzzy and my eyes are heavy. As soon as I rest upon the mattress it feels like the muscles in my body are being sapped of their energy. When I close my eyes I can feel myself sinking into the cushioning of the bed and it’s comfortable.

  I wonder what Ami is doing. Or rather, how she’s doing with Eve.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  My bell rings yet again and it hardly feels like I have slept, but upon opening my eyes I can see why. It’s still dark out and I can’t tell if it is still night or early morning. Grumbling and turning over on the bed I think to myself.

  Do I get out of bed and find where the bell is ringing from or do I anger Tamiell again?

  Coming to the conclusion that I don’t really care to be yelled at so soon after waking up, I stand up and make my way out of the room. When I follow the sound of the ringing it leads me back down the hallways toward the stairs and to the last room on my left before them.

  This must be the Duchess’s room then.

  It begins ringing louder as if she’s shaking it to death so I knock on the door. Silence falls and I hear her speak.

  “Enter.”

  As I open the door into the room I see is lit by several lanterns. Her room is far more luxurious than the one I’m in, being intricately painted fading blues from light to a medium in a gradient going from top to bottom on the walls. In just the right light, the blues seem to sparkle, as if there are gems embedded in the wall, reflecting light around the room and illuminating the objects quite a bit more.

  The furniture of the room, the bed, a nightstand, and a very large dresser, seem to be finely carved and polished with their swirling details jumping to the attention of the gazer due to the special lighting. But as nice as the other pieces of the room are, she has a similar bathtub to mine sitting on tile toward the far wall, a wooden bucket by its side.

  She is sitting on a canopy bed, its see-through pink curtains down, slightly obscuring her figure. But I can see her legs outstretched and she’s wearing a dark red, provocative nightgown. I stand at the door and wait for her to acknowledge me from the book in her hands.

  “Is it morning, Duchess?”

  “No,” she puts her book open and face down then looks at me with a look in her eyes I’ve seen before from Eve.

  “What can I do for you then?” I begin to get nervous.

  “Come over to my bedside.” I can hear a hint of glee in her voice.

  “Duchess?”

  “You heard me servant.” She pats the bed, indicating that I come over.

  Walking slowly over, I try frantically to think of a way out of this situation that Evalyn has put me into.

  What can I do? What will stop her advances?

  When I reach the side of her bed she pulls a drawstring and it brings the curtain up to the top of the bed’s frame. A smirk crosses her face as she pushes herself up from the sitting position, putting pressure on her hands. Pulling her short hair back from one side exposes her neck and I notice just how low her nightgown hangs as it exposes a fair amount of skin from her shoulders down to the top of her breasts.

  “Servant, your friend has told me about your skills in the bed. Are they true?”

  “I am afraid that Evalyn has misled you Duchess. Neither she nor anyone else has bedded me. I am celibate, waiting to marry.” I look away, keeping focused on the bed’s curtains.

  “Well, that is unfortunate for you.” She catches me off guard with her assertive tone and I can see her out of the corner of my eye maneuvering
herself around, sitting up on her knees at the edge of the bed, grinning seductively.

  Unwilling to accept a verbal ‘no’ for an answer, I back up a few steps, hoping that by outright refusing her I will be able to anger her and push her interest to at least disciplining me rather than trying to be intimate with me.

  “Duchess, I cannot.”

  “Cannot or will not?” Her grin turns to a frown.

  “Cannot. I have told you that I am waiting to marry and since we are not married I cannot,” I tell her as boldly as I can muster against this emotionally intimidating woman.

  “I am no longer going to be nice about this. Get over here,” her voice raises slightly as she demands my obedience.

  Before I can refuse her again a long, drawn-out moan comes from outside the room and down the hall, a moan that sounds like someone is in pain and suffering.

  Evalyn?

  Turning to leave the room, despite the fact that the Duchess is probably burning holes in my back with her eyes, I go to find Evalyn down the hall. One room farther than the Duchess’s room, groaning comes from inside and it gets louder when I open the door.

  “Evalyn?! What is wrong?” I ask.

  Another moan escapes her lips and I find her lying in the fetal position on the floor, lit up by a single lantern. Moving quickly to her I kneel down and place my hand across her forehead to check for a fever. Her skin feels normal.

  “Evalyn? Can you hear me?” I ask.

  She looks up at me, smiling deviously and I realize that she just saved me from becoming a love slave. Letting out another moan that almost convinces me that she’s actually in pain I look behind me to see if Tamiell is there, but Evalyn catches me off guard and wraps her arms around my neck while whispering in my ear.

  “You owe me.”

  “What is wrong with her, servant?” The Duchess’s voice comes from behind me.

  I have to play into it or else the Duchess will become suspicious, “She is ill. What food did she have before I got here?”

  Evalyn moans again.

  “I am not sure. She served me potatoes and eggs, but I could not tell you if she ate any of them. As you can see I am fine.”

  “I need to get her some water. Where can I get some?” I ask her while fluctuating the tone of my voice to mimic worry.

  “Out the back door there is a water pump…”

  No sooner than she’s spoken, I lay Evalyn down carefully and run out of the room and make my way to the back door. When I’m down the stairs, out of earshot of Tamiell, I let out a chuckle under my breath. Despite Evalyn telling me that there was nothing she could do to help me, she found something anyway.

  But if she thinks I owe her, she’s wrong. That was just payment for getting me into this mess in the first place!

  In the kitchen I look around for something to put a lot of water in. The glasses in the cupboards won’t hold enough to make this believable. Searching the wood and food closet I find a bucket on a shelf next to a sack of potatoes. I pull it down and head out back, finding the pump just as the Duchess mentioned. It doesn’t take long to pump up a bucketful and I find my way back inside.

  Grabbing a wooden cup from the cupboard, I cautiously make my way back upstairs, taking care not to spill, but the water sloshes and like waves crashing against rocks and I fail as it springs up and flies all over. Around the corner at the top of the stairs, Duchess Tamiell still stands in Evalyn’s doorway.

  “Excuse me.” I push past her. “Here Evalyn, I have brought water!”

  Kneeling down, I dip the cup into the bucket and put one arm around Evalyn to elevate her. Playing the part of the worried friend, I put the glass up to her lips and she begins to drink. While she does an evil thought crosses my mind and I wonder only briefly what kind of repercussions that it will have.

  Would playing a prank on Evalyn right now be prudent?

  When Evalyn looks at me I furl my eyebrows in a menacing manner and show a very toothy grin while whispering as quiet as I can, “I spit in there!”

  Evalyn’s eyes go wide and she chokes. She’s hurled into a violent fit of coughing by her body’s reaction to my statement. Leaning her forward I slap her back a few times.

  “Evalyn! Evalyn! Are you okay?!” I ask with artificial fear in my voice.

  With watering eyes she looks at me angrily while continuing to cough rapidly. Taking a breath in through her nose she lets loose a large cough through her mouth in my face, spittle and all.

  “Just breathe Evalyn! You’ll be okay!” I tell her. “Here, we will get you up onto your bed!”

  Getting up, I move behind her and put my hand inside her armpits. When I try to help her up she drops all of her weight on me and I stumble, nearly collapsing into the bedpost.

  “I am too weak,” Evalyn’s voice comes out soft and innocent, just loud enough for Duchess Tamiell to hear, but under her breath she whispers to me. “The war is on.”

  Her arms flop over my back as I hoist her up by the waist and fling her over my shoulder like an oversized bag of potatoes. Moving to the bed, I roll my shoulder and let her fall off onto the mattress. I pull back the covering, help her into it and then tuck all of the blankets under her so that she’s cocooned and can’t move, even going so far as to sit on the bed so she can’t get free easily.

  “Do not worry, I will take care of you all night if I have to, Evalyn. You are like a grandmother to me.” I smile from ear-to-ear while she grimaces at me. “Duchess, I think she needs my care. I will have to stay with her through the night to make sure her fever doesn’t go up!”

  She stays silent for a moment but then responds. “You will tend to her here, but I expect that you will take care of your duties tomorrow and should she be well enough, that she be up and tending her duties as normal, as well.”

  “Yes, Duchess,” I reply. “I will make sure to take good care of her and have her in good health again!”

  The door is shut as Duchess Tamiell leaves and I grab the spare pillow from the bed and plant my face into it and laugh hysterically. Laughing for a great while, my sides begin to ache and I can feel my eyes wetting the pillow from tears. Evalyn squirms against the blankets trying to get out, but with me sitting on one half of them it makes it quite difficult for her. She grunts and writhes in the bed while I continue to laugh. Feeling her get free, I think nothing of it until she smacks me upside the back of the head. Even though it hurts, my laughter continues into the pillow.

  “Your grandmother?!” she whispers exasperatedly. “I saved your hide tonight and this is how you repay me?”

  I calm down and take deep breaths to stop the laughter. Turning to her, sitting with her arms crossed and leaning against the bed’s headboard, I show her my ear-to-ear grin. “You forget, you got me into that mess: you owed me anyway.”

  A whispering battle ensues.

  “Owed you?! You still owe me! I saved you when you almost died!”

  “You saved me?”

  “That’s right! I saved you! If it wasn’t for the vortex you’d be dead in the woods!” Her voice begins to rise up. “Besides, I had a large role in getting you healed up! So you owe me twice!”

  “Calm down!” I put my hands up trying to shush her, while looking over at the door to make sure that the Duchess hasn’t snuck up on us. “Why would you save me?”

  She glares at me and slouches onto the pillows of the bed.

  What isn’t she telling me?

  “I saved you because I wanted to.” She shifts her gaze from me to the window.

  “You saved me because you wanted a male around, didn’t you?”

  “No, I saved you because I wanted to!” She looks back at me quickly with hostile eyes. “You haven’t even said ‘thank you’!”

  “Thank you, Evalyn,” I honestly reply.

  Relaxing the muscles in her forehead her wrinkles nearly disappear and she shifts her gaze to the window. I scoot over to her, stretch my legs out and we sit together in silence.

  “Do I
really remind you of a grandmother figure?” she asks meekly.

  “No, it was just something to get you riled up. You’re not that old.”

  “‘Not that old’ huh?” I feel her jab me in the side with her elbow, but it isn’t hard like I would have expected from her.

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” I jab her back. “I think of Agatha as a motherly figure, therefore you’d have to be an aunt figure to me.”

  “It’s too bad we met under these circumstances, you know, me being dead and all.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I think we could have been really good friends.” She jests.

  Not quite sure how to respond to, what I think, might be Evalyn making a pass at me, I just go with an honest and simple answer. “Well, if you hadn’t done what you did with the house, I’d have died and none of us would have ever met.”

  “Strange how that works isn’t it? Time is a funny thing.”

  My eyes are getting heavy and my mind begins to shut down once again. As I contemplate the odd bond that I seem to be forming with Evalyn, I can’t help but wonder why she chose to save me over letting me die.

  What would have given her motive to keep me alive? Did she know that I would stay with the house? She’s been so hostile toward me that she’s given no indication she actually wanted me around but now her actions are conflicting with each other.

  When I close my eyes I can feel myself drifting out and I let go, soaring into my sleep state where I rarely seem to dream. It’s my silent reprieve from the world.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  My bell rings once again, and I’m woken from my nothingness to light pouring in through the window. Evalyn is leaning on my shoulder, still asleep, surprisingly.

  Gently, I move her by the shoulders so that she’s sitting up in a sturdy position and then move from the bed to the door. As I walk down the hall toward the ringing, I find it coming from the Duchess’s room. When I knock lightly I hear her sigh loudly.