Haunting

by Ravenpuff

The Young Lady

The old head maid had been laid off, her behaviour declared unacceptable. It was excused with her great age, the young master remembering her as old already back when he first learned to walk. Was only a matter of time before the age would catch up to her, he said. She seemed to have suffered a great shock, the young master paid for the stay at the sanitarium to hope she would be better to enjoy her retirement proper. No mare with ramblings like that could be well.

What few left of the original staff were either let go or simply became very quiet.

If the incident had affected the young lady, she did not show it. Anypony saying anything, asking questions, were shut off swiftly. It was made clear what was not to be mentioned every again, if they valued their job. Anypony laid off did not receive recommendations to take with them, some found it quite difficult to find a new position as words had travelled ahead to other places they had hoped to find open.

Music was back in the mansion, filling the air with welcoming sounds. Fresh flowers removing the dusty smell of the hallways, light let in to let it all feel alive again. No longer a dark, foreboding tomb.

The young lady was chatty and polite, smiling to the staff and thanking them for any small favour or service they provided. Yet most of them couldn’t lift the feeling of unease. But they all held their tongue.

The young master seemed ever so happy, energized and renewed. Finally leaving home again to attend business and renew contact to old friends and acquaintances. The young lady were always excused to stay at home.

“Save your strength,” he would say as he kissed her hoof, smiling with a glint in his eyes.

Her smile would fade as soon he had left and out of sight from the mansion. She would retire to their chambers without further word to the staff. Once he was gone she was quiet and preferred solitude. None of the staff would seek her out; they left her to her peace and quiet.

She never requested food or drinks.

During the meals she always attended as company to the young master but rarely touched her food. Laughing and talking, energetic and charming every moment he was present. Their eyes locked together in that warm gaze of love and longing for one another.

Over time the young lady began changing. Bit by bit she became quieter, even around her beloved, the young master. He would drop a comment and she would quickly reply an excuse of being in thoughts and resume a conversation.

A few maids began gossiping among each other, the noise kept in the mansion, the volume of music, made it feel safe to talk among each other more openly again.

Wasn’t the young lady getting paler?

Didn’t she avoid the light from the windows?

She never touched her food. Before she had least had a few bites, now every dish was left untouched.

One had the ridiculous claim of catching a look from her once. It looked desperate. Pleading.

While the young lady seemed to grow paler, weaker, the young master seemed more energized than ever. A skip to his step, eagerness to see her every time he had been out.

One time she hadn’t been found waiting for him by the door or in the main hall. He had smiled, saying something about being coy and make him go look for her.

She hadn’t done it again after he found her. Ever since she made sure to be first pony he laid eyes on once entering the mansion every time he went out. He smiled so brightly, her smile pale.

She looked fading, like an imitation of a memory slowly washing away. Ready to be let go, yet kept in a tight iron grasp.