She looked up hearing his footsteps. His mind filled with hatred and fury, he always thought of himself as a bit short tempered, which resulted in many of the punishments he got. He went up to her and addressed her putting on his best face, at least trying to do so.
"What's the matter, Miss Fiona?"
"What took you so long kid, I called for you ages ago? What have you been upto now?"
"I was by the river, had to dump the trash."
"Then why have you returned, shoulda dumped yourself there."
He bit his lips to stop himself from retorting.A wrong move would've resulted in a week's worth of punishment,which he certainly didn't want.
"So,kid, tomorrow we're gonna have a special guest. I want all of the house sparkling clean. Got it?", Miss Fiona continued.
He nodded his head. An argument with Fiona was the last thing he wanted. Any energy spent on that old hag was completely worthless.
He was certainly curious about the guest Fiona had mentioned. But he knew that whoever it may have been,he wouldn't be able to get even a glimpse of them. And this was validated by Miss Fiona.
"Boy,you should keep away from my guest. If I even see a strand of your hair, you'll have your share of misery coming." She said.
With that he was dismissed. He ran to the store room to fetch the broom,bucket and the mop to clean. There was no way around it,he knew. Fiona was the kind of woman who would check every nook and corner to find a mistake. It wasn't anything new to complain about either.And it was way better than being punished.
While cleaning,his mind again wandered off to the special guest. It was pretty likely that he/she was looking for a kid to adopt. But,why this orphanage? What did they see in the inmates of this old manor? Maybe,just maybe, Fiona had tricked someone into adopting. But,she wasn't the sort of person who would go to the trouble,unless she stood to gain something.
Anyway,he was sure that Fiona wouldn't let anyone take him away from her. She would lose an obedient servant after all. He found it pointless to think about the guest. He was sure to find out the next day.
After the work,he crawled up in the corner to sleep. How many more such days would he have to endure?,he thought. Until Fiona dies or she kills you...his mind answered.