Gone

17

I woke up to the sound of a polite knock at the room's door. Lukas' head appeared in the doorway.

"Girls, get up. You're cleaning the house today." Forcing myself to stand up, and pull the rope over my head I heard a couple of groans come from Kelsey, who was still half awake. Lukas left the doorway just as Chloe kicked her in the side to wake her up faster.

"Ouch, Chlo-"

"Lukas told us to get up, c'mon," Chloe whispered, pulling the rope over Kelsey.

"Come out to the living room girls!" Lukas demanded from down the hall. Surprisingly, we could all walk- more like limp, down the hallway to the living room. I noticed at the kitchen table, there were half-eaten eggs and a brown-looking cup of some type of juice that was half empty, and one of the guy's cell phones which I assumed was Kevin's. Taylor and Chloe were standing in front of Kelsey and me so all I could see was a bottle of Windex, a bucket of rags, a Swiffer mop, and a broom.

"You're cleaning the house, today servants!" Kevin announced while starting to laugh. No one else was. Lukas, Kevin, and Bryson were standing in a line by the couch in the living room.

"Kevin and I have to leave for a few hours so Bryson is going to be vigilant with you while we're out," Lukas explained.

"Where are you guys going again?" Bryson questioned them while Lukas grabbed his jacket and keys off the coffee table.

"Tamara has a doctor's appointment," Lukas said with a wink.

"Oh! That kind?! She-"

"Ahuh. We gotta go or we'll be late," Lukas said, trying to rush Kevin out the door. But before Lukas could take a step out the door, Kevin opened his mouth.

"Lukas wait!"

"What? Bryson makes them start cleaning now," said Lukas, directing focus to Bryson and us. I grabbed a rag out of the bucket, as well as Taylor, while Chloe grabbed the broom and Kelsey grabbed the Swiffer.

"Lukas, are you sure you trust this bozo with them?" Kevin stated while Bryson rolled his eyes.

"He won't do that Kev, I practically own him too," Lukas assured Kevin while laughing and shutting the door. Bryson walked back to the kitchen to realize Kevin left his phone.

"Dumbass.." Bryson scoffed, shaking his head, then snatched it off the table and sprinted out the door.

"Just, a few more steps, and I could run away..." Kelsey stated while seeming to be fixated on the open door Bryson had mistakenly left open. To break her concentration, I vigorously grabbed Kelsey's shoulder and attempted to turn her around, and sternly told her "Don't do it." Providentially, Bryson entered back inside the house and secured the door. He got on his phone for a couple of minutes while we worked quietly in silence and boredom until I heard him stand up from the chair in the kitchen. I turned my head to watch him softly get our attention.

"I won't punish you, girls, for talking, okay?"

"Cool..." Chloe muttered aloud, trying to stay focused on her cleaning, as instructed. I couldn't exactly tell where Bryson was going with this, but I was eager to find out.

"Would you girls want to work with music? I mean, I don't think either of you has listened to any since-" Bryson had to have seen all of our faces light up just a little at that moment as all four of our heads spun around with elation.

"Alright, I'll play some," he stated as he hooked up his speaker to his iPhone and played "Hallelujah". It was an odd choice of music for Bryson in my perspective. With the music going, I actually kind of had fun. The song was a bit sad, but the four of us each pretended to have our own solos while cleaning. Chloe started, followed by Kelsey, me, and finally Taylor. The day just got worse from then on.