Free Midnight's Song by Keely Victoria

were closer to my true
caste than anyone here. It gave me a temporary sense of
home.
    “Have ya seen Lady Beeti
today?” A stout woman remarked over a glass of cheap wine. She
lounged in a wooden chair, propping her swollen feet on the table.
The servant next to her nodded in agreement.
    “Aye. She’s has been
stirrin’ up quite a lot lately.” The other agreed. A third servant
hovered over them, older and plumper than the others.
    “The woman simply can’t stand the idea
of holding her own. She believes she may have very well met her
match in this new one.” She remarked.
    “I don’t think that we
should worry about the young one bein’ a match!” the stout woman
expressed. “This girl is stronger than the rest. She’s one of us ya
know. Probably raised with the same principles and with the same
stories that we were.”
    I held my breath.
These people were talking about me.
    “You mean like
the monsters of old? ” Her plump friend jovially replied. The two that were
sitting down clanked their glasses together and smiled as they took
a sip.
    “Those old
creatures, my Mum talked about em’ for days on end!
‘ They’re comin’ for us!’ She would always say. ‘ They could be walkin’ with ye this very moment for all I
know!’” The second servant laughed in
reply.
    Their conversation
quieted and I scanned the room, still unnoticed by those around me.
The door opposite of the one I had come in swung open. Immediately,
I caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Two familiar faces, actually. A
handsome, dark-complexioned boy came in and stood alongside a
pleasant-faced blonde. I hushed myself as I realized the identities
of the two. It was Emily Berry, my 11 th caste maid – and Jackoby
Nielsen; a servant whose place was one caste beneath
hers.
    Neither of them touched or
even said very much; but I could see in those few moments that they
both looked to each other with a certain yearning in their eyes. It
was also obvious that they wanted to be at least somewhat
alone.
    So, slowly – I began
backing away. I took one step, then another – hopefully in an
attempt to make it back out the door unnoticed. But, apparently I
had backed away too far; as I ended up falling backwards onto a
stack of chairs and a broom in the corner and toppling onto the
floor.
    When it was over, I was
fine. Every eye wandered up from where it was and looked at me. I
stood there, motionlessly waiting to be yelled at. A few opened
their mouths as if to scold; but everyone suddenly quieted when
they realized who I was. Emily quickly looked toward me in shock,
leaving Jackoby’s side and grasping me by the wrist before she
whisked me into the hallway outside.
    “What are you doing here?” She
whispered to me in distress.
    “I was….I was just looking around is
all,” I meekly replied.
    The look of distress on her face
didn’t lessen in the least. Her hands remained tightly around my
wrists. Had I really done something that terrible? I bit my lower
lip tightly, nervously gnawing until I began to taste my own
blood.
    “How much did you see of
Jackoby and I?” She frantically questioned.
    I gave her a mixed look.
Why did it matter what I had seen? What was the danger here? Then I
realized what she was actually getting at. Emily didn’t care that I
had been in the servant’s quarters – she was worried that I was
going to tell someone that I had seen her with another servant. It
didn’t take long to do the math. Emily was a caste above Jackoby,
and she worked in the same home. She would face severe consequences
if anyone so much as breathed the notion that she and another
worker were in love!
    “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” I
whispered in return. Whatever was going on between them; her secret
was safe with me. Emily quickly fell at ease.
    “Well then,” she told me,
relieved. “Let me sneak you to your room. I don’t think any of the
Ladies would take well to knowing either one of us had been seen
together in