He Was Just My Butler

Capheus awakens to knocks at his door only to find a familiar face with a different personality.

My chest felt tense as my eyes adjusted to the sight of a white ceiling above me. The room was well lit with sunlight and I was lying in a bed covered in white bedsheets. I sighed, remembering the dream I just had, and I paused to think. Alive? Why would I be alive? I’m obviously dead! My chest suddenly relaxed and my fingers began to tingle. I couldn’t tell whether I was in the real world or not. Perhaps this entire adventure had been but a dream, but looking around at the room, I remembered the hotel and realized that I was still in my hotel room, only that now it was morning.

That was when the excitement came. I fled from my covers with nothing but my pajamas on, and opened the closet doors. Thinking that I would see my regular clothes, but to my surprise, I saw much more than I had anticipated. Inside, were tons of new pairs of clothing. From suits, to pants, to socks, to even three pairs of new shoes and boots, all of which could not have possibly been mine! Did the previous inhabitant of the room leave his clothes behind by accident? I knelt down to examine the shoes and realized that they were pristine.

Black with small laces tied into bows, heels high enough to make them into tap shoes, and made of pure black leather that was sewed together into a masterpiece. These were much more expensive than the converse I had at home. These were meant for someone of importance, like a rich man or a lawyer. I glanced inside of the shoes to check their side but as I picked them up and turned them upside down, a small slip of paper fell from it’s soles. I put the shoe back in it’s original place and picked up the paper, wondering if it really could be for me.

I unfolded it and read it to myself several times before making an understanding.

“Good morning Mr. Malideux! I hope you slept well! I am sure that by now you have noticed the clothing in the closet. Feel free to take it all. I do hope that they are the right size since sometimes the records become outdated, but if you need anything else, write to me or come visit! My address is 22 Cherihill Ln. It should be the little house with the picket fence out front and the willow tree. Just give my door a knock or give your letter to your new butler and I shall meet with you as soon as I can.

Your friend,

Thomas Gundev.”

Who could this be? My friend? How could I have a friend? Well, the butler from earlier perhaps, but he never said his name. It was too difficult to tell who this man was, but he obviously was generous enough to provide clothing and trust me enough to give me his private information, or perhaps it was “the usual” in this world to give people your address? I suppose it could be since there aren’t even any phones or so much as a radio. The only news you received were from others and even then, news still spreads fast. News of a newcomer could spread like wildfire, but newcomers must come all the time!

I pulled on a pair of black dress pants, buttoned on a white shirt, fiddled with my tie in the mirror for what felt like a whole hour before finally tying it decently, grabbed one of the black tailcoats from the closet, and styled my hair to make it look more like what the men I saw as I was walking here wore on their heads. My hair was too long and a bit curlier than I remembered, but I managed to comb it so it was slightly hanging from my face but not so much to look sloppy or mediocre. This was, as it felt at the time, the fanciest I had dressed myself since my elementary school graduation.

Turning to face the mirror, I saw a man standing before me, one of which I could barely recognize. I was a whole different person, standing with his back straighter and chin higher than he imagined he could ever have it be. This couldn’t have been me, at least not in my lifetime, but it was. Here. I was here. I was a man in a world I did not know, but I didn’t feel alone or afraid or clumsy or foolish. I felt alive.

Knock, knock, knock!

I turned on my heel, already knowing who could be at the door. It had to be my new butler and as I swung the door open and faced the man, I was surprised to be right! Not only was I surprised by one thing, but by several. First of all, the butler was the same one that had brought me here, only his hair was combed, he wore a white suit with a white top hat, and he seemed slightly taller and skinnier, but they shared the same face. To be honest, I was a bit spooked by all of the similarities and differences. He greeted me with a stretched smile, but unlike the butler from before, this smile was much more practiced. It felt like he was wrapping a bandana around his face and holding a pocket knife close to his back, but he didn’t seem like the type of man to stab anyone either.

At least, not fatally. I stood idly for a moment, questioning whether I should really move at all, but I soon concocted a plan on how I could greet him. After all, I couldn’t really tell whether he was a stranger or the fellow from yesterday. They were too much alike, so I had to put it to the test.

“Are you the fellow who shewed me here yesterday and then left?” I asked. Yes. I was blunt and I had no regrets. I never said I had to ask question after question and follow him around while analyzing him to see if he was some kind of evil clone. It was perfectly respectable to ask bluntly, as long as you keep your manners I suppose. My brother could’ve really used that, especially towards me. The man chuckled and bowed as if he was born with his spine bent.

“I am not sir, though I do concern myself with your choice of words! Did your butler leave you suddenly?” he asked while bending forward as if he was talking to a child. He reminded me of my father. Both of them did, but this one slightly less, mostly because he wore colors that were too bright and flashy and his tone was faked. He sounded like a talk show host! Was this how I was to be welcomed to this victorian, gothic, beautiful, and wondrous world? By this chuckling clown?

I tried to calm myself, reminding myself to never judge a man by his appearance, but his personality felt like it was written all over him with his own hands. It was like reading an instructor's manual!

I simply nodded. There was no need to go into detail about it since it wasn’t really anything special. He just left. What was so terrible about it? Sure he left me a bit stranded but that didn’t matter much since I eventually got to my room. He’s just a butler.

He was just my butler.

“Well, I apologize on his behalf. Some of us tend not to be very social, especially with newcomers. I am positive that he didn’t mean anything personal. May I help you gather your things?” He asked, but I didn’t feel like granting this man an opportunity to dive into my personal belongings. I only had my old pajamas anyways so I didn’t really need any help.

“No, that’s alright. I had barely any belongings to start with” I replied but was surprised when he chuckled again. He really was nothing like the previous butler. He was…..cheerful.

“I’m afraid I won’t be doing my work if I let you pack all those clothes by yourself.” He pointed towards the closet, reminding me that I did, in fact, technically own a whole wardrobe now. I sighed, the stress becoming disgusting, and nodded for him to enter. He smiled as he walked in, revealing his white cane. How old fashioned he was. Was this considered fashionable? I didn’t know. I was never really into that side of clothing. He walked towards the closet and immediately pulled out a sparkling new luggage. It may not have been the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, but it was decent.

It was black with a handle and a tag. The lining was gold and going by the state of everything in this town, it couldn’t have been real. He popped open the luggage and set it on the bed before carefully folding the items from my closet on his lap and placing them accordingly in the luggage.

He was very organized with what he was doing and he even folded my socks and placed them in a specific spot between my pants and my shoes! I immediately knew that he was putting everything in order from what is worn at the top of your body to the bottom. He must do this often, perhaps even practice by the way that he folds so quickly and efficiently, and I was surprised to see him close the suitcase within only a few minutes! I felt bad for not doing anything so I helped him through my closet by giving him clothing item after clothing item for him to fold and place.

When we were finished, I thanked him for the help and he smiled yet again as if he had practiced it. He offered to carry my suitcase for me, but without even a nod or a reply from me, he took the handle and lifted it with ease. That suit case must have weighed as much as I did! How could a man so thin lift something so heavy with only one arm? I offered to help him but he insisted that he was alright carrying it.

“We should be on our way then!” he said before turning his back and then standing beside the door frame, facing me, and waiting. For a moment, it felt as though I couldn’t move. I was about to follow a man I barely knew out into a village that I had just arrived in to show me a world which I just entered. The first words that formed in my mind were simple yet they gaped at me more than I thought they would.

“Where are we going exactly?” I asked before taking even so much as a step towards the door. His face dropped and he didn’t seem so eccentric anymore. He seemed almost….malevolent, as though his character had just completely changed in the pressure of a moment. My breath was turning slightly heavy just watching it unfold as he stood beside the door.

“To your trial.”

Author's Note

I'm not entirely sure what genre this book would be considered so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know (: