And My Name is Amy -Chapter 4

Months ago, about the time that I started this blog, I had a weird dream that was hard to explain, and the details of the dream faded quickly. I wrote down the main concept of the dream before I forgot it. A group of kids were kidnapped and given new identities. I was sure that I would be able to make this idea into a book, or even a series of books. I choose to take my time writing out details. I wanted to write character descriptions, backstories and have an outline prepared before I officially started writing the story out. This proved to be too difficult for me. I lost focus since I also needed to keep up on writing stories to post each week. But I couldn’t get this idea out of my head. The writer’s block I have had hasn’t helped any because “Amy” the main character of this story just wanted to tell her story. So, I threw my whole plan out the window of planning everything out and I just started writing. Before I knew it, I had the first rough draft of the first two chapters. I have decided to share this first draft with you. No updated versions will ever be posted, but I plan on putting in detail later on that will take this from armature story to a novel worth trying to publish. I hope you enjoy this for now though. I will post chapters as they are written.

Amy woke with a start the next morning, trying to slow her breathing. She needed to look around and remember where she was. She hated that she couldn’t talk herself down like she did as a kid. This nightmare had happened, and she was still living in the aftermath. She allowed herself silent grieving time. Early on the other maids would treat her as a baby when they heard her crying. There was an unwritten rule that acknowledging the past made you weak/ so now Amy has learned to stay quiet and keep a neutral face in front of the others.

Matilda walked in as she did every morning to wake all the maids. Amy got up with the rest trying to dry her eyes without anyone noticing. Matilda walked up to Amy and instructed her to follow. After four hours of bathing and detangling hair, Amy finally felt like herself again. Once put into put into the uniform Amy looked on the mirror and seen that she had grown years in just a few months. She repeated to herself again “Danny, Eric, Joann, Stephine, Clayton and my name is Amy.”

“Millie, as a maid for the house of Crimson, being shown off to guest is a no-nonsense role. The lord and Lady Crimson invite all the high government officials that control Aurum. None of these officials are willing to admit to the roles they played to take over the land and create this new country.”

“I’m sorry Matilda, I don’t even know what our government is. I know we don’t acknowledge before Aurum.” Amy was barely opening her mouth to speak, afraid of the consequences, “but we had been cut off for two years. I don’t know the history or laws. All I know is I am expected to clean and stay silent.”

“I understand you worry,” Matilda replied at her normal volume, “I shall address that and your follow up questions in the weeks to come.”

Amy understood this to mean that it’s not safe to talk here but Matilda was willing to explain.

“As you know, victory day is a day we praise our king for showing us the way to prosperity. Every citizen must contribute to the prosperity fund. This can be in the form of land, gold or positions. Each household likes to show off what their gift will be before it gets sent to the king. That’s why the celebration ends up lasting a few days.

“If you are chosen you will be assigned a visitor to be a maid for. You will work with a team. Some of you will be assigned to the room to always keep it spotless. You will also assist the visitors when in the room. Some of you will be assigned to follow the family around to be ready to serve them however needed. There will be a day shift and a night shift so that everyone can eat and sleep. The visitors are not expected to learn our names so pay attention and be ready to act”

Matildia spent the rest of the day walking Amy around the manor describing the finer details of what a serving maid does verses a cleaning maid. Amy did start to notice that as they were going Matilda would say “As you know” quite often and then dive into an explanation of why a certain tradition is recognized. This gave Amy a broken history, or at least the history as is currently written. Amy learned that there are four realms and are named after colors in Latin. Then the landowners of each realm are named in honor of that color. She also learned that not all citizens are royal or property to the royals. That there are people who live and work for the landowners. They run the businesses but have no say in the laws that govern them. That is for the king and the landowners to decide.

Amy wished she could learn more. But when the week was done the household had to concentrate on the preparations for the visitors to the manor. Amy would just have to stand by and keep her ears open for any more potential information.