golden [2] | TAYLOR SWIFT

22

ok ok ok ok i got super super excited cuz this is my fav chapter so far i think!!!! PLS enjoy :)

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November, 2018

As she stepped off the elevator and into the foyer of her apartment on Franklin Street, Taylor blinked several times at the large plant in the corner as the sense of familiarity slowly started to settle in. For the first time in months, she felt like she could actually breathe. Like she could finally relax. She could actually unpack her bags now instead of just replace her dirty clothes.

When did they get a plant in the foyer?

She took in a deep breath, expecting to smell the fresh linen scented candles Kaia liked to keep in every corner of the house and light almost every evening, but instead she found herself wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of shit. She could still smell hints of soft musk and lavender but it barely even masked the smell of cat faeces.

"What the fuck, guys," Taylor groaned as she kicked off her shoes in the entryway and bent down to pick up Olivia who had started rubbing her back against her leg. "Which one of you has explosive diarrhoea, huh? Where's Kaia?"

It was just past six o'clock in the evening now and when she texted Kaia right before taking her nap on the plane ride from Tokyo, it didn't seem like she had any plans. Taylor checked her phone quickly, but the last message she had sent to Kaia, letting her know that she had landed safely was still the last one in their chat. She hadn't read it yet.

Olivia let out a loud meow and Taylor let her down and went in search of the litter boxes in the extra utility closet downstairs that she had converted for the cats' leisure. It was large enough to hold their three litter boxes but they always left the doors open to let the cats in at any time which meant that if you didn't immediately clean the litter, the smell tended to travel to the foyer and stink it up.

"Holy shit, what's going on, you guys?" Taylor exclaimed as the three cats just watched her with their innocent owl faces. They stood back like royalty, waiting for the peasant human to get her hands dirty and clean up their shit. They weren't her cats, no, she was their human. "For fuck's sake, I might just stop feeding y'all so much if you're going to keep dropping these foul turds. Three of them, twice a day... that's six too many turds, guys."

Taylor shook her head furiously, going to grab the pooper scooper and a plastic bag from one of the shelves but she couldn't find the scooper anywhere. Fucking hell. She put on two layers of gloves and wrapped a plastic bag around each hand before crouching down in front of Meredith's litter box first but as soon as she did, she was hit by an even stronger whiff of the smell of poop and Taylor had to stick her face inside her sweater to avoid puking everywhere. She still couldn't help the gag that made her convulse in horror.

"Oh, god..."

Taylor got up and ran to the linen closet in the hallway upstairs. She rummaged through the neatly placed beige storage boxes at the bottom of the closet but she couldn't find any pegs she was hoping to use to block her nose. Well, she's never had to use them considering she had a dryer. With a defeated sigh, she went to her room and rummaged through Kaia's hair accessories. She found a red paisley bandana which she thought would have to do just fine for now. She stuffed each nostril with a tissue and wrapped the bandana tightly around her face until she could just barely breathe through her mouth. It would have to do.

She steeled herself and walked back downstairs to the cat shitters. She could barely smell anything, but then again she could barely even breathe, which was fine for the next few minutes at least. But even as she looked at the pieces of turd in those litter boxes mixed with some pebbles thanks to her cats' poor attempt at covering up after themselves, she still felt like puking. She shuddered in disgust and went to grab a bigger garbage bag. She fit it around the entire litter box and emptied all of its contents into the bag. She did the same thing for the other two boxes and replaced the soil in them with the brand new, unopened bags. Finally, she pulled the makeshift mask down and took a deep breath. She could still smell some shit coming from the garbage bags but it was considerably better.