"What am I doing?" you said, and dropped the chair. This wasn't right; to give up now wasn't like you at all. You ran after your old self as fast as you could.
"Hey, you!" you called out when you saw him.
Just about to step into the main hall, he stopped and turned around. "Oh, it's you again," he said. "What is it this time?"
"You can't just walk out of here with my real body!" you shouted. "I've been stuck here for months, trying to get it back, and now you're taking it away!"
Your old self just glared at you. "I told you before, you must be mistaken. I've been stuck here for months, and now I've finally reclaimed my old body. How do you figure it's yours?"
"That was my body, before I came here and was transformed into a maid! You... you were... you were just a mirror!"
Your old self burst into laughter. "A mirror?! That's the best thing you could come up with?!"
You could only stand there, fists clenched in anger toward this... thing that had taken over your real body.
Your old self finally composed himself, and took a few steps toward you. "Really, now... you think this body belongs to you, and you can't even remember its real name?" he asked, calmly. "How am I supposed to believe that? How can you even believe that?"
Your face twisted in confusion. What kind of question was that? You couldn't even come up with one word in reply.
He continued, "I was transformed and immediately set off looking for a solution. I never rested until I finally was able to change back." He took another step closer. "And what did you do? You embraced your new role."
What was he talking about? Didn't he say before that he was a maid too? And that he didn't believe your story? You wanted to speak up, but he would not allow himself to be interrupted.
"Yes, while I resisted any changes until my goal was complete, you decided to become the best maid you could be. You tried telling yourself that you were going to find a way to change back, but--"
You couldn't take it anymore. "What are you talking about?! I thought you didn't believe that I had been transformed?"
A huge grin spread across his face. "When did I say that? I just said that you seemed like a real maid. You took to the role so easily, it was like you had been one all along, don't you agree?"
You saw him chuckle a bit as the anger in your eyes slowly turned to fear. Your old worries about having become "too comfortable" with your life in the mansion were now being replaced with new ones: Had your "plans" just been rationalizations all along? Had that maid's personality taken control of you without even realizing it?
Your old self stepped toward you again, seemingly confirming the worries that were flying around your slowly weakening mind, "Yes, you tried telling yourself that your cooperation was part of a 'plan' to stay unnoticed. But deep down, you were relishing your new role. As if it was what you had always wanted to be."
You desperately tried not to let his words get to you, but your mind kept going back to that sense of duty and pride you had over your first jobs. You even thought back to when you first put on the uniform. Were you really enjoying it all, from the very beginning?
You couldn't even see the look of satisfaction on your old self's face; the whole world around you was blocked out as your mind struggled with these new revelations. You wanted to cry again, but nothing would come out. Your face was entirely expressionless, and your body was still.
Your old self took one last step toward you, and said, "Now, who are you?"
You blinked a few times, and then smiled at him. "I'm Christine, one of the maids of this house." It was something you didn't entirely want to say, but it was the only thing that felt right.
"All right, Christine, would you please show me to the door?"
"Of course." You took hold of his arm and led him into the hall. Again, while a small part of you wanted to resist these actions, it also realized that doing so was pointless.
"You are welcome here any time," you told him as he exited the mansion.
As you had now come to realize, the maid's personality had not been suppressed, it had simply merged with your own. It had slowly asserted itself more and more over the weeks and months until, in your moment of greatest weakness, it became the dominant personality. You were now almost fully Christine, in body and in mind.
Suddenly, you remembered the chair you were supposed to get for the dining room, and raced to the storage room to retrieve it again.