Fiction: Bent
The beast opened its mouth and came toward me. I stood unable to move a muscle. But the beast merely stopped at my feet and sat down. It whined like a child needing a pat on its head. I wanted to laugh for scaring myself. I lifted my hand and was about to pat the dog when a light caught my eye.
Someone appeared with a lantern held low to the ground and keeping their face in the shadows. The lantern's light lit the uneven, stone paved pathway that led to the gate where I was standing. I should not have stepped inside the gates but I didn't want to wait. The cold breeze lingered around me.
The man seemed almost shy as he stood in front of me with his head bowed a little. He held the lantern high showing his face lined with many wrinkles and scars. "This here is Lionel." The man said and then he added, "My name is Ralf. I am the housekeeper. You must be Mistress Sarah Bright." His voice was light and worn as if he was tired of talking just after a few words. Ralf said no more after that. I nodded. "I am." I bended down and pat Lionel. His hair was a soft as feathers.
I was here as the new mistress of Hallow Manor though it was only in title as I was merely a caretaker for the place. Its rightful master was my father Count Blule but he was too busy counting his money and his many sons. I was his only daughter but I was not special. Not in his eyes, nor my stepmothers. To say how many stepmothers I have is to say how many people ruled me. At times I struggled to refuse their commands as I had never thought myself their daughter or servant. Father had his own money but my stepmothers' riches kept him in a healthy state living among the rich folks. Father said I must obeyed my stepmothers or else I would be turn out to the streets. Father did not care for me as parents should and that was why I sometimes loathed him.
It was only after I turned nine, I began to see why my family shunned me. I was a strange one. I was too bold, too inquisitive, too talkative, too unladylike. I was not born a beauty and I walked with a limp after being bitten by a neighbor's dog at three. Now at twenty-two, I was not married nor do I have any marriage prospects and in this sense, there were no other choices for me other than to work for my family. But I was happy for I had never thought a woman needed a husband to be happy. I was not educated like my brothers. They went to school while I sat at home learning to be a lady though I succeeded at none of the skills I was supposed to learn but I got to read a lot of books. I taught myself the things I needed to learn and yet, I had not learned the art of deceit or even lying.
My only talent or thereof considered as talent by others if they knew, was that, I could bend an animal or a beast's will to mine. This strange power came just after I turned eighteen. One of the house visitors brought a dog. His name was Walter. Walter was an odd looking creature with oodles of white curls. Walter did not behave well. But when Walter came upon me, he became docile. When I told him to sit, he sat. When I told him to run away from his owner, he did. That was not a very nice thing to do but his owner was such a haughty lady and she treated him very badly. Walter was found three days later in the cellar of one of our neighbors who had been feeding him.
