Screw Loose

Hidden Gold

"Let me get this straight. You guys have countless Grade A certificates from the Health Inspectors, you wear tool belts with bottles of bleach and water solution like it's The Big Gold Belt from WWE, and you have the little cleanup song you sing with the kids. You also make sure that said kids know the rules for cleaning, tell them to practice good hygiene, and boast about this perfect track record to the parents every morning. And despite all of that, you two are asking me, a 10-year-old, to help you clean up this!?" Gregory rambles on as he stands on the edge of Sun and Moon's balcony. The room is a mess, broken staff bots everywhere, piñatas of the glam-rock gang, little garbage bags, straight-up trash is just thrown all over the floor.

"I thought you guys had a massive cleaning problem on my first night here." He deadpans. Standing next to each other, sun with his head down and hands clasped together in front of their person, and Moon standing with his hand on his hip. Both look guilty since they are being criticized by a small child. Unbeknownst to him; there was a massive pile of trash and clothes underneath. When Gregory tried to climb down, he slipped with a loud thud.

"My bad, my bad! I should have warned yah before you jumped down. Are you hurt? Have any scrapes? I have some bandaids. Do you need band-aids?" Sun quickly lifted Gregory out of the pile and fussed about his well-being. All the while, Moon was slowly stalking around the mess.

"This isn't just a mess made on that same day. We've been under that virus for years, four according to my memory banks." Moon speaks up as Sun's banter is halted by Gregory, stating how he is too old for a 'feel better lollipop.'

"Four years? You don't remember anything from the past four years!?" Sun stands up straight from their hunched-over position, standing five feet taller than the small boy with now wide-open eyes.

"Not necessarily, we remember bits and pieces, but the rest is hazy. But on the bright side, who knows what treasures we will find!? Now let's start; this mess is starting to bother me." Sun states as they start picking up the discarded ball pit balls. Gregory sighs as he and Moon start picking up the trash and the trash bags. Staying silent, wanting to give the two siblings some time to reflect on recent events.

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"Are we almost done yet!?" Gregory whines from the small playhouse across the room. A large garbage bag was already filled to the brim with no treasures to be counted. Moon turns around to face the boy, then looks around the room. Noticing that it had been at least three hours since they began, he came up with an idea.

"I'd say we did a good job already, but we still have the mini room off to the side. Do you think you can start on that while Sunny and I finish off here?" He says as he bends down to Gregory's height, putting his mechanical hand on the boy's head.

"Afterwards, can I also get something to eat? I'm starving; even Sun's 'get well lollipop' sounds good right about now." Gregory asks; Moon nods his head as Gregory starts making his way over to the pipe that leads to the smaller room. Moon stands up from his crouched position and makes his way to his twin.

"What have we done?" The brighter and much jovial twin says in a low voice, staring down at the pile of discarded S.T.A.F.F Bots.

"Whatever this virus was, made us do questionable things. Sunny, It wasn't you, and it wasn't me. Stop beating yourself up over this."

"How are you so calm about all of this? I threw him out and banned him from the Daycare. A child!! How could I have left a child without a guardian out alone? I would never do that, but I just got so angry. He didn't even turn the lights off, he wasn't even close to the light switch, and I blamed him!" Sun yells as they place their hands over their face in shame. Moon just stands there for a couple of seconds, slowly lifting his hand onto Sun's shoulder.