43

                                    

                                          

MARIA 
The maid stood frozen with the bed linens in her hands, staring at Maria as though she had spoken a language that Maria didn't quite understand. With how wide and round her eyes were, one would think that Maria had asked her to behead a man and bring the head to her. 
When the woman just continued to stand there without saying anything, Maria repeated the question. "Is there any other entrance apart from the one out front?"
The woman snapped out of her trance and stood straight, fixing Maria with a susceptive gaze. "Why do you ask?"
Maria shrugged nonchalantly. "Just wondering."
To say that the woman didn't believe her would be an understatement, but she wisely refused from questioning Maria further. "No, the house does not have any other entrance."
The woman's eyes darted away for a split second when she'd uttered the words and that was enough for Maria to know that the woman was lying to her. She probably thought that Maria was asking so that she would escape and if that was what the woman thought, then she was very very correct. 
Rising up from her perch on the side of her bed, she made her way over to the maid who was gathering Maria's dirty clothes, pretending to keep busy. Keeping her strides slow in order not to spook the woman, she went over to her then stopped directly in front of her and laid a hand on her shoulder. 
The woman jumped from the contact and Maria quickly withdrew her hand. 
"What's your name?"
She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Olivia."
Maria nodded. "You can trust me, Olivia, I have no evil intentions."
Maria considered just how much she could tell the woman. She wasn't foolish enough to tell the woman everything, but she wanted to give her a little bit of the truth in order to make the woman trust her.  
Giving this woman some of her truths would be taking a long leap without knowing where she was going to land, but Maria was willing to take that leap if it meant that she was going to get out of this house. It didn't have as much guards as the vampire's castle did, but it would still prove difficult to escape. 
However, Maria was willing to take that chance. 
Gathering her resolve, she spoke. "I'm sure you've noticed that they don't let me leave this room, have you?" She waited for the Olivia's hesitant nod before proceeding. "They're keeping me here because I made a mistake and they... they're going going to kill me eventually." When Olivia's eyes widened in alarm, she nodded as solemnly as she could muster. "I can't let them kill me, Olivia. I have to leave. I believe if you were in my shoes, you would do the same thing."
Olivia's eyes widened in alarm at the mention of Maria wanting to escape, and she shook her head, taking a step back. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I really am." Maria already sensed a 'but' coming. "But there's no way I can help you. I would be risking my head and my job."
Seeing that Olivia was willing to help her but the only reason she didn't want to was because she was scared of getting caught, hope bloomed in Maria's chest. 
She held fast onto the woman's arms and tried to assure her. "I'll never tell if you help me, you should know that." She might think that Maria was just saying anything to get her to speak, but everything she was saying was true. "Even if I get caught, I'll never let them know who helped me."
Olivia shook her head and tried to step back, but Maria's desperation ratcheted up and she held onto the woman tighter. "You don't have to do anything else other than tell me where the other entrance is, Olivia," Maria begged, "Please."