“What… what’s this?!” Althea asks
“Your job” Keith answers as if it’s the only answer out there
“Are you saying that this MOUNTAIN OF JUNK is MY job?!” She irritatingly said as she pointed to a room covered in all sorts of trash
“I told you it’ll require your mind, body and soul. Why don’t you start cleaning up already so I could have some space to sleep in my own apartment tomorrow?” Keith calmly reminds as Althea continues to complain
As they were busy arguing, a lone cockroach flew on top of Althea’s head which made both parties halt. Althea pauses for a second as she recalls what just landed on her head and soon after
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF! AHHHH!!!!!!” she shouts in terror and crouches on the ground
Keith, unsure of what to do, took off his jacket and slammed in on Althea’s head, undoing her perfect bun resulting to a dead corpse of a cockroach falling from Althea’s back length black hair.
Seeing the grotesque scene, the lady who is horrified of cockroaches fainted without even lifting a finger for work.
Keith bit his lip as he is faced with another what-to-do situation. He sat by a nearby chair and thought with a stance as if he was a great mathematician of the old times. After what seemed like an hour for Keith, the lady in front of him started waking up.
“uggghh…” a sound comes out from her
“Oh, looks like I won’t need to worry” Keith then said to himself. He stood up from his sitting position and went out the door. Just then, powerful rays of the sun greeted him as he realized that he spent an entire night thinking of what to do for a lady who just fainted from a cockroach. Frustrated of what he had unknowingly done, he went inside his car and drove off without saying a word.
Meanwhile, still half asleep and hair messed up, Althea sits in the middle of a trash pile. She spots the dead cockroach and then, as if a bodily reflex, panics at the sight of it. After she got a grasp of her situation, she took Keith’s jacket and slaps the cockroach out to an open door, making it fly as if it was still alive.
Now conscious of the open door, Althea realized that Keith had already fled the room. Nevertheless, she was still reminded of her task, to clean the cockroach-breeding-garbage-house.
Althea started cleaning the house while being fueled by the motivation to finish up her responsibility as a payment for losing the roulettes. Hours have past and the sun was now gradually being replaced by the moon. Satisfied by her work, Althea looked at a room that was rid of all the trashes that needed to be thrown.
“The room still needs cleaning but I’m almost there!” She said to herself
Now having a clearer view of her surroundings, Althea noticed a fridge on a corner of the room. As she opened it, she saw food that will, if not cooked today, spoil a few hours or days after. Having those in there, she decided to cook it instead of it going to waste.
Just as she was frying the food from a stove coming from nowhere, the door burst open. Althea was surprised from the sudden interruption that she jumped from her current position to the wall which was meters behind her. As she noticed Keith standing tall at the entrance, she quickly recovered her noble stance and said “Welcome back, thanks for leaving me behind without saying a word” ironically
Keith, unfortunately, just stood at the entrance and did nothing. He continued this for a few seconds, making Althea wait and finally said
“Something’s burning…”
Althea widens her eyes as she hurriedly turned off the source of the smell
“What have you done?!” She blamed Keith
“What?” He answers in confusion as Althea desperately tries to save the now burnt food by constantly adding salt and pepper to it
“The room looks… different” Keith said as he entered
“You can thank me for that!” Althea replied still caught up in what she’s doing
Silence filled the room which the lady did not expect, so she looked at her back only to see Keith standing beside her
“Thank you…” he whispers near her ear ensuring that she would hear it properly
Althea’s cheeks turned red, luckily, Keith didn’t notice it since he was busy changing. Silence continued to fill the room while Althea cooks the second batch of food composed of nothing but carrots. It was then when Keith broke the silence again
“I didn’t know you could cook” he said with a blank face
“Well sorry to break it to you but, I actually can” Althea proudly said. She divided the food into two parts and put them separately on a plate, the other one perfect and the other burnt. After that, she placed it on the table giving Keith the other burnt half of the food
YOU ARE READING
Miss*Fortune
Short StoryAlthea Louise is left alone by her family who promised to work for her sake. Now swimming in debt, there's no one to help her but herself! She climbed the stairs of the casino and made gambling her way working but things suddenly turned way out of h...
