EARTH

On earth, he gained fame, wealth and all one could ever need to lead a happy life. But he was angry, shattered and torn. He kept himself isolated in the dark. He is the night roamer, protector of earth and the beloved idol of millions.

PRESENTLY

“Wake up! It’s your first day at work, better don’t be late!” Katy yelled, bringing the alarm close to her ear. Lia pushed her aside and stands up sluggishly, dragging her feet as she heads to the bathroom.

“Cold water again?” She murmured as she pushed the shower button. She got admitted into the university last week; she knew she needed money to make it work. Two days ago, she got a job from one of the job sites she stumbled upon as a house keeper. She was selected, interviewed, and followed by the resumption date, Monday, eight o'clock am.

As the shower flushed down the soapy foams on her hair, so many thoughts ran through her mind like what to wear, what to do with her hair, and all the girls stuff. As she contemplated, Katy’s voice brought her back to reality.

“Don’t spend a lifetime in that bathroom, these dresses are not going to wear themselves!” Katy added.

The dresses were neatly hanging beside the mirror, all ready to be worn. As she stepped out of the bathroom, she inspects the dresses curiously and was suddenly prompted to ask.

“Who bought these?" she asked looking awed by the sight of beautiful dresses. She scrubbed off the water from her hair with her damp towel while gazing endlessly at them. Her fingers ran along the smooth silky gown inquisitively. “I don’t remember you having any of these” She raised her brows questioningly while waiting impatiently for Katy to reply.

“These were the dresses Jason bought for our engagement night. Unfortunately, he was a total jerk!” Katy explained with an obvious frown.

“Oh my God Katy, I didn’t know about that. What really happened?” she asked with her eyes budged out inquisitively.

“I was a puppet all along. That son of a thousand fathers, was into someone else” she explained gazing deeply into an open space as if staring intently at someone she abhorred.

“Am so sorry Kate!” Lia tried to console her. “That asshole just lost a priceless gold!" She adjusted Katy’s face mask into place, with a soothing smile sprawled on her lips.

“No! no! no! You don’t have to be sorry. It's a good thing he left, now i have my own freedom outside his deceptive and controlling personality. Like I said earlier, he was a total jerk! Now try these on you, you might never want to take it off ever again” Katy teased, trying to avert the conversation of Jason, one of which was the most painful experience she would never want to recall. She almost drank herself to death; or worse, end her own life.

“Hmm! Let’s see” Lia hopped in excitement as she picked one of the dress from the hanger.

“So, who are you housekeeping for, is she rich?” Katy asked with her mouth full of doughnut that almost made the “rich” sound “witch”.

“Sure he is, I think so!” Lia replied shortly, staring gorgeously at herself in the mirror. Suddenly, her self confidence lit up. She was fancifully dressed, more than other days, perhaps. Often times, she has been teased for looking too simple like a man. Her oversized clothes and tattered ponytail couldn't suggest otherwise.

“Oh! It's is he, and not a she? Wonderful!" Katy's lips tilted with a small smile.

“Yea, he is! Mr Williams… something, something?” Lia shrugged. “What’s his name again? She pats her head trying to remember. “I can’t really recall, but I do know there was an “O” in the last name” she said hazily.

"Do you happen to know if he is single and hot?" Katy winked at her, with the intention of starting that kind of conversation she hated.

"That is not part of the job description, Miss matchmaker! Even if he is hot as volcano, what has that to do with me?" Lia asked, rolling her eyes. "He could be married with kids or probably an old man with a lot of grey hair and awkward walking steps" She added. Katy shrugged and focused on her doughnut innocently, but suddenly she gasped in amazement.

“Wow!” she stared agape at Lia as she spun around in the beautiful dress.

“What do you think?” she shrugged, not sure how the dress looked on her.

“This looks wow on you. Like you are getting married today?” Katy commended with a loud giggle. But Lia give her a questioning look that made her tame.

“Okay! Alright, I know people don’t get married with short dresses. But I must admit, you do look like a princess” She praised again.

“Thank you!” Lia bowed elegantly with a smile.

“I seriously hope you will find your prince charming soon”

“Spare me that!” Lia waved the thought of it aside, the thought of finding prince charming. Of course she has read books and stories of how people found true love and was happy ever after. But her true love was never in the chapter of any fairytale. Or maybe, it was just her non romantic part building up that ugly philosophy in her head. She sighed and takes one last look at her outfit, before she kissed Katy goodbye and rushed outside the door.

It was exactly eight o’clock am, when she arrived at the stated address. As the taxi dropped her off, she alighted and stared at the large gate curiously. She couldn't be sure if the address led her to the right place. She was expecting a usual house. “Yes! The usual houses. But why was there a mansion instead?” she asked inwardly.

“Well! Let’s take a look” she shrugged and stepped into the gate which automatically opened as soon as she got near. She wondered if it was meant to open like that to strangers, or there was a camera watching to know what kind of strangers should be allowed in? As she walked in, she memorized every details, for safety reason, as her father would always teach her.

The mansion had large gates, kind of old fashioned, but in a wealthy way. There were magnificent white horses that lay freely in the garden, just by the south side of the mansion.

“Who keeps such a large amount of horses these days?” she huffed and moved ahead. It took more than four minutes to walk to the main building, she had to walk through the endless drive way which was unusually long. At the sides of the driveway were lots of beautiful and rare trees standing lively in neat lines. Without doubt, one might think he was on an endless passage way to the afterlife, as the whole place seemed calm and surreal. When she approached the entry door, she had to admit to the gorgeousness of the whole building. As she admired, she felt something strange. As she turned back to see how much distance she has covered to get there, she was surprised that it was only a small one. In less than sixty seconds, anyone ought to have gotten to the mansion itself. For a moment, she paused and wondered where she has been walking all these while. The long drive way, the beautiful horses, and the rare trees, was it all in her head? She thought, staring at the building which was now an inch to the large gate. She immediately glanced across her watch and realized that an hour was already gone in a flash.

"But how?" She quizzed, still startled by the strange occurrences. It was as if she was stuck in the maze of her own mind. But then, she felt dizzy and staggered back, but held on to the wall to regain her stamina. When she shook off the dizziness, everything returned to normal. The time, the long drive way, and the horses, which she saw earlier. She smiled unbelievably when she guessed it must have been the food that Katy has warned her not to eat. Now it was reacting weirdly in her stomach. She saddled herself and went back to admiring the beautiful mansion which she thought was like a paradise descended to earth.

“It isn’t really old fashioned after all” she gazed with utter fascination. “So wide! one could have seven families living here without seeing each other for years. And they would be like

“Hey Tom, you were just seven since the last time I saw you?” she laughed at her own silly jokes continuously until she heard a footstep behind her. She quickly cleared her throat, adjusted her dress and turned to meet the stranger. He was a tall, handsome man in his late thirties. Gelled hair, black neatly ironed suit, and a necktie resting carefully in-between his chest. He spoke with a Russian ascent.

“Hello?” he flashed a pleasant smile at the young beautiful Lady who reciprocated with a forced smile.

“Hello and good morning sir” Lia replied politely. “I’m …"

“Miss Lia Michaelson!” He interrupted. “I’m Mr Sebastian Hughman” he stretched his hand forward for a handshake.

“Thank you sir” Lia smiled as she shook his hand.

“Call me Sebastian please? No need to be too formal with me” he implored.

“Ok sir... ahmm! I mean Mr Sebastian, or Sabastaan? She pronounced after the man's ascent, looking stupidly at the young man who didn't care that she was ruining the pronunciation of his name. He cleared his throat and continued.

“I hope you know why you were employed? You are to make sure the mansion is well taken care of on a daily basis. You are to do the laundry, clean, cook the meals and serve the table” He mentioned to Lia, who scrambled something quickly in a piece of paper.

“I think that is too much sir, i can’t handle the work load because, I go to school too. Perhaps you could get more helpers to lighten the pressure?” she suggested politely.

“You have a point lady. But the boss only wants one hand on this job. And besides, it’s a contract and the boss pays triple the price, plus weekly increments and daily monetary appreciations” he explained the pleasantly enticing conditions, as if it was sugarcoated.

“Oh! Am sorry, I... thought you were my boss?” Lia coughed embarrassingly trying to cover the silliness of her own comment.

“It’s okay if you don’t want the job, i will report back to the bo…”

“No no, it’s okay! I’m totally fine with it” Lia interrupted with a short embarrassing smile. Her desperate eyes bulged out wide as she admitted to the agreement of the excessively attractive payment.

“You will meet the boss at his convenience. Or maybe, you will never get to meet him in person as long as you work here, because he is extremely strict with his identity. Until then, you will have to communicate with him using a computer you will find on the desk as you enter the mansion, understood?” He adjured.

“Yes sir!” As Mr Sebastian spoke, she thought she saw someone look down from the window, a hooded masculine figure. She peered to take a closer look when Mr Sebastian called back her attention.

“Let us take a look around Miss Michaelson, if you will? he allured.

“Sure, sir!" she said, and walked beside the tall hairy man.

After one hundred and twenty seconds of examining the mansion, he turned to take his leave. “I believe under your capable care, i wouldn't have to worry about anything going wrong?" He questioned, with the intention of getting her reassuring promise.

"Of course sir, I will do my best!" She replied as politely as she could.

"Well then! I will leave you to familiarize yourself with the mansion. Call me if you have any questions" He handed her his office card, and drove off, while she walked toward the entry door. She opened the door and walked into the fancy living room. For a moment, she paused and gasped at the luxurious settings. Everything about it screamed luxury, starting from the expensive paintings to the priceless antiques displaying pridefully on every corner of the living room. She shook her head, snapping out of the hypnotic maze of beauty and unbelief that she was trapped in. The computer was sitting right on the desk like Mr Sebastian said, with a message boldly written on it's screen, “Hello”. She went straight to the computer and typed.

“Hello sir? My name is Dahlia Michaelson, your house keeper!" There was no response for four minutes. She sat waiting for it, and it finally came.

“Very well Miss Michaelson, do your job!”.

His response was so simple and blunt and carried no welcoming remarks, what so ever. She seized a file on the desk that said 'Read me' and opened it to find a list of rules and regulations to be followed and punishments that comes with not following them accordingly. She frowned at the turn of the whole day, the stressful work pattern, and the too many rules and regulations to be obeyed. She knew with her clumsiness, she wouldn't last a day without faltering from these rules.

The mansion was too large and complex for her to handle alone, but she didn’t want to miss out the rare coming opportunity. She needed the money so badly, plus he pays triple. But she expected more like a visible boss maybe? it would serve her better. Not a ghost boss who doesn’t want to be seen.

“Maybe he is deformed or has a contagious disease?" She tilted her head while wondering. "Or perhaps he is a mafia boss who is wanted by the law and would do anything to protect his identity?” She quickly scolded herself for thinking such absurd things. It was not her concern anyway, whether he was blind, deaf, invisible or dead. What mattered to her was that she got her money at the end of the expected month. She did all she had to do and headed home. Her heart raced; there was so much she needed to tell Katy.

“I got to this isolated mansion, pretty big with large gates. But there was this creepy thing about the mansion, like those old haunted houses in movies. I am sure there are ghosts living inside, or worse. The building is very cold, isolated, and strangely designed in an uncommon fashion. And there was this part of the house written “restricted!”. I can’t imagine what is inside, but i have to check it out someday day” Katy just shook her head as she listened to the impossible story. And when she finished her narration, Katy diagnosed her of “first day at work syndrome”.

“It’s only normal to feel a little weird and not yourself at the first day of work, it happens to everybody. My first day at work, my boss's authoritative tone almost made me pee my pant. He inspects every food with scrutiny before they are served out. And in a month, I lost count of how many times he had spinach stuck in his teeth. The weirdest characteristics about him was his abnormal looks, pale skin, and scissors teeth like that of an ancient vampire craving for blood. But now, am use to seeing him that way, he now appears normal to me; because I realized my fear of displeasing him, triggered those ugly attributes" Katy explained, knowing fully well that her story was exaggerated. But it did prove her point anyway, and that was the first day at work suspicions. After all her efforts to convince Lia, she bluntly disputed, reminding Katy that she was not the “feel a little weird type”

“I know you will never believe me. But okay! I will give it a rest today" she fell back into her bed; facing the ceiling and drew a deep purifying breath to clear her mind from those conflicting thoughts.

“Actually, I think you’re the weird one, not the mansion. I agree, hunger can make us weird. But i assure you, a little potato and pepper sauce will go a long way to increase your mental state" Katy teased.

"Why is it always food with you, Katy? Am being real in this matter, don't joke about it. This is one reason why you shouldn't get too attached to work!" She taunted. Katy rolled her eyes and exacted her anger, by piercing her fork aggressively into the stewed potato. She glared at lia and huffily and continued her food.