Maria's day gets worse

As Maria walked down the hallway towards her next class, she admired her ring, the purple barrier still glimmering slightly. It had dimmed slightly as time went on, but the ghost hadn't done anything yet, so she assumed it was still trapped.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Maria's arm and pulled into an empty classroom, closing the door behind her. Even though she knew who it was before she turned around, it still sent a shiver of fear through Maria to turn and see the maid standing there.

"Hello, Maria. Congratulations. It is your turn." The maid punctuated this with a few seconds of clapping as Maria chuckled nervously.

"H-haha, um, thanks but no thanks," she stammered as she fumbled with the door. It was locked, of course.

"I'm afraid you don't have a say in the matter. Hold out your hand, please."

Maria held out her hand. The maid almost made a move of exasperation.

"The one with the ring, please."

Maria shakily held out her other hand. She watched in trepidation and also a little fascination as the maid's thumb began to glow. She slowly rubbed her thumb across the ring, leaving a trail of small glowing gems embedded in it as she did. Joining the first one, there were now 3 gemstones set into her ring.

As soon as the maid let go of her hand, Maria snatched it back to her chest as if she had been stabbed.

"What did you do? Are there 3 of them now?!"

"What? No," the maid said incredulously. "How would that be any different?"

"Um, well... I don't know."

A few seconds of awkward silence passed.

"...Anyways, I decided that your poltergeist should be allowed to speak. Unfortunately, as you may have realized, it does not have a mouth. So, up to 3 times a day, I have allowed it to use your mouth. As it is restricted to only 3 times a day, it would be extremely rude to say or do anything to contradict the words it speaks."

"That's ridiculous! 3 times a day?!"

"Perhaps you may be right, Maria. That does sound like a rather small amount. 5 it is," the maid said, punctuating her words with a snap. Two more gemstones appeared on the ring.

Maria gasped in outrage. The maid waited for Maria to snap back at her, more than ready to add more to that number.

Their standoff was interrupted as the maid's skirt twitched. Maria hadn't even noticed the barrier around her ring had completely faded, but it popped back into existence instantly.

"I suppose I should inform you that the poltergeist is only allowed to target yourself, Samantha, Kyleigh, and my Lady. Perhaps that will prevent it from locking itself away over and over until it starves to ****."

"This is bullshit! How can I- I can't live my life like this!"

The maid arched a brow.

"I don't believe that to be my problem. But you do have a solution, do you not? Do not feed it any shame or embarassment, and it will starve. Once you get used to it, it will disappear."

She's right. I just need to suffer for a while and get used to it. And then I can rebuild.

So why is the maid trying to hide a smile?