MOVED TO @SNCILS

To think that someone else would actually read such books besides him. To actually be surprised that said someone ended up being one of the newest maids too. And to think, that someone dare spoke up about something that didn’t involve their jobs, this would be a first. No one tried making any kind of conversation, it’s not like he wanted them to do so anyways but…

                                                              Maybe he’ll let this slide for once.

Suddenly hearing Martine speak out with an all too familiar quote, it made the ghost pause in his reading, blinking in surprise as he begun to realize that not only is she brave but also she remembered one of his own favorite quotes from the story as well. It would seem this woman isn’t so boring after all. After having read this book many a time, he pauses and turns to give her a hard stare.

In silence, he stared at her, a thought or two now entering his mind. When did she read this book? How could she remember? It was all pointless questions and he didn’t open his mouth to ask them either. Instead he begins to close the book but didn’t set it down just yet. “I’ve never expected someone like yourself to be the type of person to read.” Maybe he shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover then. Speaking of which…

                                                   He sets the book down besides him.

    “This above all: to thine own self be true,                              And it must follow, as the night the day,                                           Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

     Martine and Snatcher’s conversations have never been this pleasant before. Usually, it’s only him ordering her around and getting all worked up for a single mistake by her part. Not gonna lie, sometimes Martine had to keep herself from speaking back at him, many times she had to keep herself from  finally snapping at his face and call him names, however, she knew better.. she knew that shouting and screaming at each other every single time wasn’t going to make things easier, she was already on thin ice.. and she didn’t want to make it worse, or that would result in her losing her soul forever. And what was she going to do without her soul? She would just become.. an empty, wandering spirit.

      However, to her surprise.. things were different today. She was asked to clean the dust off Snatcher’s furniture in his room, and Martine was planning to do that as fast as she could, and avoid making eye contact with him the whole time. However.. when her eyes fell on his book, she just couldn’t stop herself from feeling intrigued. That book.. it has brought many happy memories in her mind, and now he was reading it..

      Judging by the hard look that was shoot at her as soon as he caught her staring, she realized that it would have been better if she kept her mouth shut and went about her business. However, what she previously thought was pure annoyance by his part, soon revealed itself to be.. interest, which honestly surprised her.. Snatcher has never shown any type of interest in her the whole time she was in the mansion. Guess they both shared a passion for old books, huh?

  .. Hearing the ghost quoting the book as well, sort of made her feel relieved, and she couldn’t quite understand why. It’s probably because Snatcher was finally speaking to her without spite and poison coming out of his mouth.. instead, Snatcher seemed to be peaceful.

    Maybe, deep down, Snatcher wasn’t as nasty as she thought. She was always taught to never judge a book by its cover. However, the teatment that she received inside the mansion never brought her to think about why he might be asting this way, it just brought sadness and disgust.. and now that she finally felt like the two of them could speak.. peacefully, without any sort of anger, she didn’t want to let that go. Maybe if the two of them finally learned to respect each other, everything would be easier

                    .. Or so she thought, at least.

     “I have a library filled with old books in my home, and i’ve read every single one. Reading has always been my own way to keep my mind away from reality, even just for a moment, and enter a whole new world in which i can feel in peace..”

                   Martine explained, in a timid tone.

Being focus on his book at that very moment, suddenly hearing a somewhat familiar voice caused him to pause and look up from his spot at his chair. Being so caught up in reading, the ghost had lost track of time, books always were his favorite thing to read. Realizing that it’s Martine, one of his newest maids at his manor, he goes back to reading his poetry.

“Reading… What? Have you never seen a book before?”

       Martine has never actually spoken to Snatcher outside of work, and to be honest, she had no intentions in doing so anytime soon. Once her deeds were done, all she would do is lock herself in her room and spend the rest of her day resting her arms, which had started to ache badly from all the scrubbing and cleaning away the dirt from the old furniture and floors of the mansion. The only time she walked out of her room was to eat whatever Snatcher had given to her.

         At least he didn’t leave her to starve.. which was incredibly surprising of him.

     However.. today, something else has caught her eye. Today, she has walked inside Snatcher’s room to ask which rooms were assigned for her to clean today so she could organize herself with the rest of the servants, and the moment she looked up at the ghost, she noticed he was holding a very familiar book..

                          “.. You’re reading.. Hamlet? I really like that book..”

     .. The moment she read the title of the book.. memories flashed inside her head. She thought about those rainy autumn days in which she spent entire evenings sitting in front of her room’s window, listening to the soft sound of the raindrops hitting the glass of her window, and the cold wind howling and causing the falling leaves to dance in the air..

      Hearing the sounds of autumn always brought a deep sense of peace inside of her, and reading her favorite book only made her feel better. Her favorite book was ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare, and Snatcher just happend to be reading it right now..

.    . After she came back to reality, the woman thought about her favorite quote from the book, a quote that has always been stuck in her brain..

                      “..Doubt thou the stars are fire;

                         Doubt that the sun doth move;

                         Doubt truth to be a liar;

                         But never doubt I love..”

While Snatcher flew pass many isles of books in the large library, not once did he notice any living creature from within these halls. With the former royal trying to find the person responsible for his missing book and trespassing, the ghost just couldn’t find anyone yet at all. It turn out to be quite fortunate for the woman, finding a nearby closest full of cleaning supplies seemed to be of use to her. Snatcher didn’t think to look in there at all.

                                     “WHERE ARE YOU!?”

His voice echoed and shook the whole room, causing a couple of cobwebs and dust to come glittering downwards around him. He barely had anyone come in here for his own personal reasons so there would be dust and webs in places one might not expect. Searching for the invader however, he couldn’t find them at all so he begin to look to the exits which there would only two sets of double doors. Could it be possible that they escaped already?

Being angry for someone trespassing, the Snatcher huffed loudly, his body starting to shake in his own rage, a glowing of a dark blue color begins to form in his hand, summoning his power to strike down the character once he finds them. Dashing to one of the exit doors, Snatcher flew right through said door and disappeared, shouting demands and questions of whom that had entered his library without permission.

Martine tried hardest to control her breathing, and avoid getting a panic attack both from the fear of being caught, and from being locked in such a small place. She had to keep herself as quiet as she could, or Snatcher was going to find her hiding place, and then.. it was going to be it for her. She knew she broke a rule, and that is wandering around places she wasn’t supposed to be in, and because of it.. she felt incredibly stupid. She should know better than peeping her nose into things that weren’t hers, especially in books. What if she accidentally found out about things she wasn’t supposed to know?

Even though she only menaged to read about flower essences and perfumes, it was still wrong of her to enter that room after she was told not to, and stick her nose inside of one of the many dusty books. It’s just.. curiosity is very hard to control sometimes, but she had to be better than that if she wanted to keep her soul..

And because of her foolishness.. look at where she’s at now.

Hearing Snatcher’s rage filled voice brought chills down her back, she couldn’t even imagine what was going to happen to her once he found where she’s been hiding the whole time. However, as minutes went by, Martine noticed that the ghost’s voice suddenly became distant, and that’s when she realized he was finally out of the library, and far enough for her to sneak outside without being caught.

She opened the storage’s door as quietly as possible, looking around herself to check if Snatcher was actually gone.

He was, and that was her cue to go.

It was hard being quiet and fast at the same time, she had to make sure she didn’t make any sort of noise with her shoes quickly tapping on the floor so she walked on her tiptoes the entire time, and when she finally reached the exit, she looked around to check on Snatcher, and luckily.. he was still distant, but his raging voice could still be heard.

The woman sprinted toward her room, and as soon as she reached it, she quietly closed the door and rested her back against the shut door, sighing in relief.

Entering the large book filled room, Snatcher knew right away where to go for his book. Being the kind of ghost who likes a clean home, he always knew where his belonging’s should be. However when he quickly discovered that his book is now missing, small alarms begin to ring in his head. If the book wasn’t in one of his laboratories and it wasn’t placed back in the library then…

                                                                                             Where did it go?

The idea of an important book, any kind of book really, gone missing made the ghost become quite upset. The thought of one of his servants deciding to suddenly go and do something that isn’t part of the contact came to mind, it beg the question… Who did it? And why start something so foolish? Before Snatcher could begin to summon his workers- a loud bang came from somewhere close by in the same room, Snatcher’s glowing eyes perked up immediately.

                                             “Who’s in here?!”                             The question echoed through out the room.

Not wanting to give the invader a chance to escape just in case, the Snatcher begins to dash through the large room, beginning his search for whomever that dare entered a place so private and not for anyone else to sneak inside. “Whoever’s here, you’re as good as DEAD to me!” If the girl is wise, hiding might be the best possible solution until his back is turned away from her… Good luck.

       She has messed up, she has messed up big time.. Why did she have to be so clumsy? Why did she have to knock that book on the floor? She wouldn’t be in this situation right now if only she learned to watch her step. However, the intense fear of being caught and her heart racing inside of her robcage didn’t make it easier for Martine to pay attention to where she might be putting her feet on, or whether she was going on the right direction or not in order to arrive to the nearest exit.

      Her anxiety only amplified when she suddenly heard the ghost yelling, and calling out for her. She knew far well that if he found her in a place where she wasn’t supposed to be, he was going to snap.. and possibly rip the soul out of her body. No, he was definitely going to rip the soul out of her body once he finds her in here sticking her nose in his books when she was supposed to be cleaning and tidying up the place.

      Why did she have to stop and put her hands on the books? Why did she have to be curious? Why couldn’t she just do her job right for once? If she just looked for her cleaning tools and left the room once she realized they weren’t there, she wouldn’t be in this situation right now. God, if she didn’t die from her soul being snatched away, then she was definitely going to die from an heart attack considering how painfully fast it raced in her chest.

     Martine tried her hardest to find a place in which she could hide in order to get away from Snatcher’s fury, but she was unforunately unable to find any sort of hiding place, and Snatcher was too close to the entrance for her to try and escape, that would be a death sentence.

Shame on them, he thought and kept smiling. Maybe this evening would turn out a tad more pleasant than expected. “Still waters are not known to be boring.” He mused. “Just because you aren’t out there with the others doesn’t mean you don’t got an interesting story to share. I can tell.” With his own question redirected at him, he resumed to sip at his drink and wondered how much he could twist his own story to appeal more interesting to her.

“Oh, you know. An old friend invited me. Long story short she discovered this esoteric lifestyle for herself and decided that it was her calling to elevate others. Drag them along, if you will.” He explained as best as he could and shrugged. “I would never question a free buffet. Nor would I spurn lovely company.”

All things considered, he didn’t even think twice about accepting. “I wonder.” He continued, setting his glass down again. “What sort of music would it take to get someone like you on the dance floor? Maybe I could bribe the DJ.”

                𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥.. 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 . So far, he gave Martine a good first impression. To be honest, she wasn’t expecting anyone to be so interested in a woman sitting all by herself, doing nothing but stare at other people having fun.. looks like she was wrong after all. Martine couldn’t help but feel a bit better now that she has found someone to speak to, and someone who seemed so intrigued in her, finally, she has found something better to do than look at the dance floor the whole time, and have those annoying flashing lights hitting her eyes and almost blinding her. A smile appeared upon the woman’s red lips as she listened to the other speak, so.. he was interested in knowing her story, hm? There was really not much to say, but if he wanted to know so badly then why not share it?

              " 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞.. 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 -- 𝐢 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝? "

              𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐲 . Anyone else would tell her to leave if she really didn’t wish to remain a moment more, but what kind of person would leave their close ones behind? It would be extremely rude of her to just leave without a care for the world, even though she was a hunderd percent sure her friend probably won’t even notice if she left.

              𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 , and to her surprise.. it was pretty similiar to hers. Looks like both of them got dragged here by someone else, how funny.

              𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 .. and that’s when Martine started feeling incredibly awkward. She didn’t know what to say -- 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡? Or should she lie not to make herself look extremely boring? She became silent for a minute, thinking about what she should say.. she didn’t want to lie to him, but at the same time she didn’t want to ruin the party’s atmosphere.