Mirrored

Chores

Katelyn and I quickly finished the last of our junk-food as we reach Aunt Candace's house. We walked into the kitchen with a warm welcome from aunt Candace, then we loaded all of the groceries into there proper locations, walking into the garage afterwards and looking for things to clean with. Which aunt Candace claimed would be in the garage.

Inside the garage- which was no surprise to us, there's was piles and piles of dusty old boxes everywhere in stacks, towering over us like skyscrapers and blocking us from getting inside.

"Are you serious" I mumble, staring at the mess. Katelyn pulls up her sleeves, smiling confidently. "come on, we can do this! Besides, it's good for the muscles in your arms." she points out.

"I can't believe this." I mutter, hesitantly following Katelyn into the cardboard city.

After 20 minutes of climbing, moving, and repositioning, we manage to find a broom, duster, and the mower.

We carefully pushed the mower out onto the lawn for Katelyn, then I grab the broom and duster, walking back into the house.

"Great! Your back! Now to explain to you your job!" Aunt Candace says cheerfully as I walk in.

"I've already fixed up most of the house up for your arrival-"

Yeah, "fixed".

"-so there's not much you need to do downstairs except dusting and mopping the floors. And the same goes for the upstairs, but the main problem is the attic! So I need you to-"

I sigh an exasperated sigh, zoning out as aunt Candace babbles about chores. Gently I start brushing my hair out with my fingers, the tangles cutting me off from reaching the bottom.

My hair is knotted and ratty from sleeping, which is strange since it was braided last night, but still the normal waviness of Them is now ruined and poofy from tossing and turning all night.

I had tried brushing it, but brushing long, thick hair with no real mirror proved to be a challenge, not even tying it up helped.

When I remember that aunt Candace is trying to teach me how to use a duster the proper way, I snap back into the conversation, making myself smile.

"Thank you for the help aunt Candace, I promise I'll do great." I say with as much enthusiasm as one can manage when they are cleaning a stinky old mansion that hasn't been cleaned since the dinosaurs went extinct.

"Why don't you start with the attic, then! You can get the hard job out of the way, by the time your finished lunch will be made." she smiles happily.

"Okay, I will, thank you again." I nod, but her face turns somewhat grim, "be careful up there. The attic can be a mysterious place, yes?" She asks, tilting her head.

"Uh... Yeah" I mumble, watching the smile collect on her face "see you at lunch!" She says cheerfully, walking out of the room.

I uneasily grab the duster and yank the vacuum behind me, struggling to get up the first set of stairs with the heavy vacuum behind me.

When I reach the top, I walk to the back of the hall, opening the small closet like door, which creaks open, a cold breeze coming through.

The stairs look just as old and weak as the ones leading to the second floor, but tiredly I climb up.

A horrible smell alerts me when I reach the top, like a wet dog, but stronger. The room is covered in moss and vines, and light shines through holes in the ceiling, lighting up most of the room. It's a very tight space, but aunt Candace managed to fill it with what is now wet and mossy boxes.