Bartleby’s hand was still bleeding. Jergens, being the understanding and kind gentleman that he was, shrugged and hoisted Bartleby onto his back.
“Wha… What are you doing?! Unhand me!” Bartleby struggled against him his kidnapper casually ran down the halls at a casual pace of casualness. “Hell no, man. Besides, you think I want to carry you? Yer freaking blood is leaving a stain on my shirt.” Jergens didn’t even know where the ‘infirmary’ was. Hell, he didn’t even know WHAT an ‘infirmary’ was. He hoped he was going in the right direction, but knowing his own luck, he probably wasn’t.
After a while Bartleby, growing a bit faint from blood loss, lightly tapped Jergens’s shoulder. “Do you even know where you’re going?” he almost whispered. “The infirmary is well behind us now; you see the plaques on the walls, don’t you?” Jergens turned around without a word and doubled back, noticing that there were indeed little sheets of metal on the wall with unrecognizable scribbles on them. Jergens guessed that these were probably words telling one where to go to get to somewhere… or something like that. Hell, he didn’t know.
After a bit more of running and pushing away bewildered servants, Bartleby tapped his shoulder again, this time barely moving. “You passed it again…” he managed to mumble out. “You can’t read… can you? I should have known…” he faltered and fell limp against Jergens. The red-headed youth promptly began to panic and took a random turn into another hallway.
It wasn’t very well lit, and the whole area seemed to be giving off some bad vibes. At least to Jergens it was. Unlike the rest of the estate, it didn’t look like anyone maintained it. He saw that there was a large door at the very end of it all, and he walked towards it, exhausted from carrying the extra weight of Bartleby around. His hands were supporting both of Bartleby’s legs, so knocking was out of the question.
The next day the servants of the Bartleby estate awoke to a rather strange situation. Their Master no longer had the quiet, subdued air that he usually wore, but rather had quite the spring in his step. If that wasn’t strange enough, they also woke the sound of a hideous screaming coming from the nearby dog kennel. However, injuries at the kennel were quite common, due to the ferocity of the hounds that lived there, so they just took it in stride. They were also greeted to the new employee, the young man simply called ‘Jergens’. He was a somber fellow, walking through the halls with a vacant look in his eyes, as if he were in a stupefied trance.
As Bartleby dined on some pastries and tea for breakfast, one of his servants came into the room and whispered into his ear. “Master Bartleby, the missus is awake now. She wishes to see you.” Bartleby nodded and followed the man down the spacious halls, leading him to a grand doorway. The man knocked on the door promptly and called, “Lady Bartleby, the Master is here.”
The door opened a little and a young woman stood peeking through at them, a childish light in her eyes. She looked to be in her twenties, with long creamy brown hair. Her shining eyes widened in glee as she threw open the door and flung herself on Bartleby. “Big brother!” she cried, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek. “Ah, hello Nip.” Bartleby returned her hug, petting her hair affectionately.
Nippers Bartleby was her full name, actually. She was the first born between the two and resented for the fact that she was female, and therefore unable to carry the family name. Bartleby was born soon after though and Nippers was just quietly swept under the rug, guilt prevented her from being completely wiped out, but shame kept her hidden. Unlike his parents, Bartleby loved his sister immensely. She was the only person that called him by his first name, not even his own parents did that.
