Storytelling: "Be Careful What You Wish For"

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One day, I’ll live there. That was exactly Hagen’s way of thinking when he’d walked to school every day. The Ellsworth Estate was impressive, at least, what he could see from the other side of the fence when he angled just right to see past the trees. Occasionally, he would get a glimpse of the people that actually lived there. That was how he knew a family of four lived there. A mother, father, a boy and a girl.

With childlike wonder, he’d stopped every day, looking to see if he could glimpse the people inside. The children of the estate went to private schools, so even though he guessed himself to be close in age to the boy inside, their paths never crossed except for the few times he was able to glimpse them. With childlike wonder, he would stop every morning and afternoon. That wonder never seemed to go away as even as a high school senior, he had stopped every day.

He wasn’t sure how today had come about when he thought back over it. His best friend knew about Hagen’s infatuation with the estate since they’d been children. When her mother had heard from another mother who had heard from this person and that person, he never would have guessed that it would lead him to that gate and inside those walls. Granted, he wasn’t actually ‘living’ inside the estate but for a dream created by a child, working inside it was close to a dream come true.

His first day, he only met the mother of Ellsworth. He couldn’t call her charming. Actually, he couldn’t call her anything under the category of pleasant. As an employer, she did give him the extensive list of expectations and the short list of things that would instantly get him fired. In the scheme of things, she was pretty kind compared to the head maid.

He met the father two days later and the children returned home the following week. By the time they arrived, he had an understanding of his routine and expectations, as well as the random little things that came up that he would have to take care of. It wasn’t an overly pleasant job in his opinion, it just provided two of the things he had been looking for; money to survive and the estate he adored.

Sara, the daughter, was two years younger than her brother and lived a rather active lifestyle. She was rarely home for anything more than sleeping and noticed Hagen about as much as any other person working in her home. She didn’t speak to him unless she needed something and after a first attempt to be social failed, he gave up. The evil look from Sara was enough to dissuade another attempt but the one from the head maid commanded it.

The son was the opposite. Leyton seemed to always be home. He also didn’t speak to Hagen. Though, truth be told, he hadn’t actually heard him speak to anyone. Instead, he seemed to merely look at people, almost through them. It gave him the creeps when more than a few seconds passed under that dark gaze.

It was the first of November when a change happened in Hagen’s routine. He came to work to find only the head maid and two others still in employment. The mother and daughter were gone and it didn’t take him long to figure out why. Within two days, a younger, prettier model strode through the halls as if the house had always been hers. Even without having been close to the mother, Hagen instantly took a dislike to this woman. He figured he wasn’t alone when Leyton remained in his room even more than before.

By December, even those new people were gone. The only staff members remaining from the start of the year before were him and the head maid. By January, even she was gone. They began replacing staff members so often that Hagen often couldn’t get their names right before they were leaving. On more than one occasion, he considered leaving with them. His determination came from the house itself, sure that it was a worthwhile trade.

With the fading of the winter snow came another challenge. He was passing through the hall like any other day when he felt that gaze on him. Coming to a stop, he turned, finding Leyton looking at him. When Leyton approached him, he felt nervous. Would today be the first time he heard him speak? He watched as Leyton pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up, looking at Hagen expectantly. “Phone?” He questioned, earning a nod. It was with slow recognition that he pulled out his own phone, Leyton taking it roughly from him. After a moment, the sound of Leyton’s phone going off was heard, Hagen’s phone was returned to him and Leyton had walked away.

Hagen didn’t think about it for a few days until a message came through is phone. “Arrange my CD’s by release date.” Hagen read aloud, “But I don’t even know who you are.” Hagen explained to his phone. A second later, another message came through. Leyton. “Oh.” Hagen mumbled as he turned and looked around him. No, Leyton wasn’t around him.

That was the first of many messages he received from Leyton. From that day on, he received more messages from Leyton than from anyone he knew. They were always short orders like the fans need cleaned again, the car needs washed even though it had just been done the day before. His favorite was the one where there was too much rock in the driveway. The more tasks he completed, the more Leyton seemed to come up with. The worst part, Leyton’s father was home less and less and Hagen was not about to complain to the newest lady of the house.

Three months passed this way and Hagen had pretty much made his childhood dream of living in the Ellsworth Estate a reality. He was there as five because Leyton only liked the way Hagen made his breakfast. He was lucky if he left by midnight because of the many tasks Leyton came up with. He’d tried to give them to someone else once, so Leyton had fired the girl and made Hagen do her job as well.

Hagen awoke one Tuesday morning in the middle of June to several text messages. The first one informed him he was late. A look at the clock informed him he was about five hours late. Scrambling to get himself up and out the door, he didn’t read the other messages until he was on the bus. There was the list he expected every morning. Then there were additional lists for every minute he was late. He hadn’t even completed reading them by the time he arrived at the Ellsworth Estate. Even if he’d had more time, he was far too angry to even see the small screen any longer.

Going inside, he found Leyton sitting at the dining room table. Dark eyes looked up at him as he came in but Hagen was already angry. “Why?” He questioned, the first time he’d ever asked that of anything he’d done during this job. “Why are you doing this to me? Why do I have to do stupid little chores that no one in their right mind would even think of doing? Why can’t I go home a single day on time? Why can’t you torture someone else? Why are you so terrible? What is wrong with you? WHY!”

Hagen watched as a small smile formed on Leyton’s lips. He wasn’t aware Leyton knew how to smile. He nearly lost his anger at that shock alone.

“Why?” Leyton repeated, nodding a bit as though thinking over his answer. “I think…”

“You can talk?” Hagen questioned, his mind playing back the few words Leyton had used. His voice was soft, unimaginably so. He was starting to doubt this was reality because a voice that soft did not pair well with the obnoxious brat he’d been dealing with.

“Of course.” Leyton answered, smiling fully as he watched the confusion that had to be all over Hagen’s face. “Did you think I couldn’t?”

“I…” Hagen sighed. “No, I didn’t think you could.” He admitted. It was already obvious from his thoughtless words. “Just…answer my question.” He said, trying to dissuade focus on his assumptions.

“Oh, yes. You asked why.” Leyton started. “At first, I just wanted you to leave like everyone else.”

Hagen nodded. That made sense. He was the last of the staffing that had been there when Leyton’s mother had lived her. That had been then though, so, “Then, why now? Has your reason changed?”

“Now? Mm. Now is different. Now...well, I can’t tell you that part yet.”