𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒

𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗬 𝗔𝗦 𝗔 𝗕𝗘𝗘

Genevieve

The exterminators came early in the morning, thankfully. They accepted the job and armoured up heading into the forest of infestation. They said a normal job usually took one to two hours, but with the mess it'd probably take three. With so much spare time, it allowed me to get so much things done. And number one on the list was shopping for the basic necessities the old van lacked.

Trevor had left me an old car of his, it seemed to be a bit banged up but still ran. Maybe with some old tlc it could work better. So I went off to the mechanics. It was pretty pricey but it included a wash, which was pretty much needed with the peculiar smell stuck on the seats.

Fortunately, the store wasn't too far. It was smaller than the ones in the city. A nice kind of small.

"You knew here?" The cashier grinned.

"Yeah," I awkwardly smiled.

"We don't get much new comers here, it's more like there's more leaving then coming in," she chuckled  whilst adding up the items.

"The area's quite quiet," I began packing the things in a bag. "It's charming compared to the city."

"I guess so," she paused. "Depending on the area, there's some right nutters around here."

"There's always a bad area in every town," I grinned.

"You aren't wrong, but you ought to be careful darling," she warned. "Now have a great day." She sweetly smiled.

"You two," I waved. From the stories I heard from Amanda, I got the nuttiest one of them all. So I don't exactly feel that intimidated.

With the car wash being about five to seven hours long, that left me  time to clear up some legal things. I pulled out my phone, sorting things out with my job and rearranged my address with the bank. Then proceeded, to pop in and out of a couple nearby stores for a few bits and bobs for the trailer.

By the time I had made it home, I was met with the pale, corpse like faces of the group of men. One was hanging of the porch rails, staring intently at the ground. Another sitting on the steps with his face in his hands.

"Is the job done?" I strolled over.

"Oh it's done," the chief nodded. "We went through every nook and cranny." He gagged in between every word.

"There shouldn't be a single pest in sight," the other said monotonously.

Peeking past the door, the place was obviously much cleaner than before. It had seemed that they also had chucked a few things out during the session.

"We hope you don't mind that we threw a few things," the chief spoke. "Some pests seem to have made nests within some of the garbage."

"It's fine ," I grinned. Thanking the group, I watched as they drove off, leaving me all alone once again. Placing the groceries on the counter, I fished through the bag and grabbed the cleaning gear out. After all pest control wasn't going to sort all the issues here.

I began with the fridge first, after all the food couldn't be left out for so long, and then worked my way around the kitchen. Back and forth, I was in and out of the house every few minutes with garbage bags in my hands. I quickly began to build a mountain range of trash by the time I had done half the kitchen. I moved on around the room, leaving the biggest hurdle last...Trevor's room.

I don't even know how they were able to uncover so many pest in this state. Sorting clothes to the side,I basically stripped the room empty cleaning it. The trailer was practical sparkling by the time I'd finished, if you ignored the pile of clothes and rubbish I pushed into the centre.

Just when I was about to sort the burdensome mountain, I came to realise something. There wasn't a washing machine in sight. Holding my hands together, I squatted down and took a deep breath.

Grabbing a blanket from the pile, I sorted the clothes into the centre made a sack. Pulling the heavy sack up, I made a "quick" trip to the laundromat. Leaving the clothes, I rushed over to the mechanics to pick up the car. The car almost looked as good as new, I couldn't even recognise it. I didn't even know the seats were black leather.

Popping back home, I decided to unpack my clothes finally. Laying out my pyjamas on top of the suitcase handle, I decided to take a quick shower while I waited for the clothes in the laundromat. The water was nice and warm.

As each drop touched my skin, I felt as if all the work I had done today was worth it. I could almost hear my sore muscles singing in glee. Running my hands around my body, I washed off the soap suds. Just relishing in the experience. Showering in freshly cleaned bathroom always felt another level of amazing.

Slipping into a robe and some slippers, I wrapped up my hair in a towel and headed in the car. The sun was just setting and the sky was violet with slithers of gold. It reminded of when I first entered this sandy desert.

After I had picked up the clothes, I headed home. I switched the tv on and played the news. Humming as I placed the freshly washed sheets in the bed, I arranged the bed neatly. All his belongings were put in the closet on the right and mine on the left. It was small, but empty due to the lack of clothes he had.

Then, I finally sat. For the first time in the whole day, I sat down. Folding the laundry, I silently sat and watched the tv. This whole day was peaceful.

No yelling from the boss or rush of emergencies. No Johnathan demanding what's for dinner or nagging about something she hadn't done right. Just silence. Pure and utter silence. It was heavenly. So heavenly, that I could fall asleep peacefully. And for the first time in a while I did.