Apart from her, when every person of her age used to have their hands with books, she used to have her hands with dust. She was just eight years old when she lost her father. At the age of 18, she sweeps and brooms at “KINGS MANSION” along with her mother on her side, who used to cook, wash utensils and clothes. Alice was a single child to her mother. With all that she could do, she was helping her mother in many ways.
Alice looked so ugly as she worked as a servant and used to work the whole day in “KINGS MANSION” with her mother. Her eyes were filled with dark circles, hairs were all messed up, lips with tiny abrasions, the face was dull, the skin was rough and dark, hands were stiffed, her clothes were ripped, and she used to stink badly with sweat as she worked all day in “KINGS MANSION.”
When at night, she came home to the out-house of “KINGS MANSION” with her mother, there was no light in the room. Yes, they were living in darkness because they don’t pay the electricity bill. How would they? They were very poor, even to purchase something to fill their starvation. While working in “KINGS MANSION,” the King was so greedy that he always used to shout and burst with a huge temper and used to pay a minimal amount to the servants.
Alice had grand ambitions. She always wanted to do something for her mother. She was very skillful with her artwork. She used to paint them during her leisure time. Leisure time was challenging to find, but somehow she managed with that. She used to paint all the pain that she used to feel through a picture. She was so talented, but due to her financial condition, she used to work as a servant at the “KINGS MANSION.” During her darkest hours, at midnight filled with darkness, she used to weep and cry for her situation and dire circumstances and used to make those pillows wet with her tears. She was living in her years of darkness. All she needed was just a little illumination of light, a ray that could get her out of this trap. She wanted to give a happy life to her mother and herself.
One day, at midnight, she woke up in between her sleep. The clock showed the time – 01:15 a.m. She moved slowly towards the broken mirror which was on the out-house where she was living. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a little illumination of light passing through a small hole. Suddenly, she saw someone standing behind the mirror. As there was so much darkness, she could not see who was standing behind, and then instantly, a soft voice with a warm breeze whispered beneath her eyes with words, “KNOW YOUR WORTH.” Until she could imagine what just happened and try to escape from the situation, the image and voice disappeared. She started shivering, and her eyes were closed for a while; her heartbeats grow faster and louder. She couldn’t know what just happened in a glimpse of a moment. She rushed towards her bed and covered her body under a blanket.
In the morning, when she woke up, she saw that the mirror was disappeared. She was left astonished. She went deep into her thoughts, trying to figure out everything that just happened. As she could not, she went for her routine work. Due to many thoughts going on over her mind, she broke a cup that was favorable to the King. The King came to know about this, and he called his soldiers and locked Alice in a dark room.
Her mother cried and wept and begs the King, but as the King was greedy, he did not let Alice come out. When Alice was crying loudly for help, a young man was passing by her door. He was the son of King. When he heard about the whole incidence from Alice’s mother, he felt compassion for her and ordered the soldiers to remove her from that dark room. Alice and her mother thanked the King’s son. The King came to know what just happened, and he told his servants to throw them out of the Mansion. After all that was happening, the King’s son objected, but the King did not listen to him.
Alice and her mother were thrown out of the house. Alice only had her paintings and some of the clothes of her own self and her mother. Alice can’t see her mother like that, as she was banging her head towards the wall. Alice tried to stop that and hold her mother for a while. She remembered the sound that came through the darkness and told her to “Know her Worth.” Alice wipes away the tears of her mother with a piece of cloth. She promised her mother to give her a happy life. She tried to find a shelter for her mother and herself to reside. She found a small empty hut. She started living there along with her mother and sell her paintings on the roadside.
Miracles do happen, and one day, by all her skills and passion, she becomes one of the most famous artists. She builds her own Mansion, and her darkness changed into lightness. It was all because of that sound. Was it? She doesn’t know, but she used to think about it even at her best times. She was very thankful for the darkest days of her life as they give her strength.