Just the Maid

Chapter Fourteen- Cleaning Time!

The maids, Katrina, and I all disperse to the different parts of the mansion. I take a hallway with three other maids. We're handed ladders, buckets filled with cleaning solution, rags, and dusters, then left to do our job.

"Why do they give us ladders?" I ask. "They don't have anything hanging on the walls."

"They give us ladders so we can clean the walls and ceiling. Our masters like to have everything nice and shiny!" says a lady cleaning the floor vigorously. I frown.

"Bah," I say. But, I have to do my job until Killua comes back, so I grab a rag, a bucket, and climb a ladder so I can start cleaning the ceiling.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hours later, my arms are super sore, I'm super hungry, and I'm super done with life.

'When... will... this... END!?' I scream at myself, internally. Then, a bell rings. I look down to see Katrina ringing a bell.

"Lunch is ready!" she calls. I sigh in relief and climb down the ladder. The girls leave their supplies in a small area in the corner of the hallway and follow Katrina. I do the same. As we walk along, other maids stop what they're doing and follow us to the dining hall. There, huge platters filled with different sandwiches and fruits are waiting to be eaten. My eyes sparkle at all the food.

"If we had some meat this would be a whole lot better, but this'll do!" I say to myself. Everyone sits in their respective places and start to eat. I grab a sandwich and some grapes and set them on my plate. Then, I get a whiff of the best food on Earth.

Strawberries.

My eyes dart over to where the smell is coming from and I restrain myself from jumping over the table and grabbing the whole bowl.

"C-Can someone p-please pass the st-st-strawberries...?" I stutter with some drool coming out of the corner of my mouth.

"Sure!" says the lady next to me. She motions for them to be passed and she hands them to me.

"Not many people here like them anyway. Only you and Katrina it seems," points out the lady across from me.

"Really?" I ask while stuffing my face.

"Yeah. That's why we always have so many. It's because they always get a huge supply, but not many of us eat them," says another.

"Interethting," I reply, face full of strawberries. They all look at me with small grimaces on their faces, but continue on anyway. The rest of the break passes and it is time to go back to work. I return to the hallway to finish the ceiling. I groan, looking back up at my ladder. But, I have to do my job. I reluctantly climb back up the ladder with my rag and bucket and get to cleaning again.

'Urgh... It's too quiet! Maybe I can do something to liven this up a bit...' I grin. The maids in this hall and I were all about halfway through our cleaning. This gave me an idea.

"Hey guys!" I called. They looked at me. "How about we have a little competition?"

"But we can't do anything that would actually BE a competition," says one maid.

"Oh yes we can!" I exclaim.

"By doing what?" asks the second.

"A cleaning competition! Whoever gets done last has to do one thing the other three maids ask her to do. But it has to be just one thing, they all have to come to a consensus," I say. "And nothing too wild now, we are prime and proper ladies." I laugh and so do the others.

"Alright! Let's do it!" shouts the third maid.

"Okay! On your mark, get set... GO!" I shout, and we all get to cleaning. I clean as fast as I can, using all the energy I can muster. I don't lose any speed by looking down, but go faster instead. I make sure I'm still doing a good job, so I don't lose any points or whatever. Finally, I reach the end and slide down my ladder.

"Done!" I yell, raising my arms in victory. The other girls race over. One was behind the rest. She finally caught up and was laughing with the rest of us.

"Looks like I was laaaast," she says. "What punishment would you have me do?"

"No punishment, because you're not the one who lost," says a voice. We turn to see Katrina walking towards us.

"Whaddya mean?" I ask.

"I was watching the entire time. She finished her work. One of you didn't." She directed her eyes at me.

"What?" I blink at her.

"You didn't wash the entire ceiling. You forgot some spots. You will go back before dinner to redo it. If it goes into dinner, then oh well," she orders. Then, she walks off.

"That's a bummer," says one girl.

"We can help you out, if you want," says another.

"No, no, it's okay. I should've done a better job. You guys did great! Besides, you all have to figure out what you want me to do as a punishment!" I grin widely to show them I'm okay.

"Well, alright then. Let's talk about it over dinner! C'mon!" The three ladies run to the dining hall and chat along the way. I look back at the hallway.

"Alright, time to use my special tricks." I rub my hands together and smile mischievously. Making sure no one is looking, I set all the buckets in the middle of the floor. I close my eyes and stretch out my hands. Then I reach out in my mind's eye to the water within the buckets. I imagine it floating to the ceiling, covering it in frothy soap. I open my eyes to see the water move back and forth. I then make the water move in a circle to remove all of the grime and dust. Once I feel that it's clean, I bring the water back down into the buckets. I sigh and look up.

"Well done, Kat," I say to myself. Then, I carry the buckets to the cleaning room, dump then out, and go to the dining room just in time for dinner. I make my way to my seat to wait for the food.

"So, what kind of meat do you guys usually get?" I ask, excited.

"Oh, we get chicken, ham, beef, all sorts of meat," says the maid on my left.

"Oooh, this is gonna be great!" I squeal and rub my hands together, anxious for the food. Finally, I smell it. Then, I see it. Then, I'm eating it! The different flavors melt in my mouth and I feel like I'm in heaven.

"Mmmmm... Fo mush meaaaaat!" I say. The girls around me giggle. I giggle with them and continue eating.

As soon as everyone finishes, we all help clean up. Just as I'm starting to help wash the tables, someone calls for me. Katrina. I turn to see her walking towards me.

"Yes?"

"Did you clean the hallway ceiling?" she asks.

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't."

"How about we check on that then, hm?"

"Fine by me!" I smile and leave my rag on the table and follow her to the hallway. She looks up.

"I see..." she says. I look up with her, happily taking in my awesome work.

"You believe me now?" I ask, smugly. She sighs in response, and starts walking towards who knows where. I watch her retreating figure.

"She'll warm up to me someday," I say to myself. Then I walk back to the dining room to help finish cleaning.

When we're all done, the maids disperse into their different groups and walk off. The ladies from earlier run over to me, grinning widely.

"Hey! We thought up a punishment for yooou!" says the first one.

"Oh yeah! It's really awesome! Hee-hee!" says the second.

"Are you ready!?" asks the third.

"I guess," I reply. "So, what is my punishment?"