The butler was not hers

It was dark and thunder could be heard from outside the window of Riley’s room. The small girl was under her bed hiding from her worries. Her black hair grazed the floor as she lay on the hardwood floor.  She had a rough day at school today and didn’t feel like dealing with her parents. Her parents were always very busy so Riley never saw them much but when she did they would always pick on everything she did or wore, so Riley decided it wasn’t worth it speaking to them. She flinched and cuddled into her blanket as the sounds of the thunder increased. She sighed and started crying as she thought of how bad today was. 

Riley was a small and timid girl so people often picked on her. Riley can still hear the voices of her classmates teasing her of her appearance in her head as she cries harder trying to get the voices to stop. She wanted badly to be stronger, prettier, and even less sensitive. Maybe then people wouldn’t pick on her and she would make a friend. She heard her door fling open as she heard footsteps towards her bed. Riley started to wipe her eyes frantically trying to get the tears to stop. 

That’s when she saw a man in a suit pop up looking under the bed. “There you are!”, the man says. His dark eyes gazed into Riley’s light brown ones. “W-who are you?”, Riley questions, stuttering slightly. The man's eyes darken slightly as he smiles and says, “I’m your butler Nigel, silly!” Riley stares at him nodding as she says nothing. “I’ve been looking for you, what are you doing under here?”, Nigel asks. “I needed to get away for a bit…”, Riley replies looking down at her lap. “I see…” “Now how about some tea to calm you down?” Nigel asks with a smile. Riley nods. He pours the both of them a cup of tea and sets it near. “How about you tell me what happened today?” Nigel says as he takes a sip of his tea. Riley sighs and takes a sip of tea before she opens her mouth to speak. “Well today, these kids were making fun of me for my appearance and overall it’s been a pretty lousy day, the thunder doesn't help either.” Nigel nods. “Hm, Well I think there's nothing wrong with your appearance, you're beautiful the way you are,” Nigel says with a gentle smile. Riley smiles back as she starts to feel herself cheer up.

 “And as for the thunder, how about I read you some Alice in Wonderland to keep your mind off it?” Nigel suggests. Riley nods as she sinks into the blanket while drinking her tea. 

She starts to feel comfortable as if she knew Nigel her entire life. Riley sighs as she starts drifting off. That’s when she starts to remember, her face changes drastically. Her skin was turning blue with fear as she tried to blink away her sleep. ‘Wait.. I don’t have a butler..’ Riley thinks to herself horridly as she tries to stay awake. She looks up to see Nigel smiling wide at her. His teeth are all showing as he grins a very Cheshire cat-scary grin. That’s when everything goes dark. 

A week later a small 12-year-old named Riley Jones was found dead under her bed.