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Chapter 6

When I get back home, I slowly walk up to the door. I dread opening it.  I linger over it for a moment. Chloe gets tired of waiting and opens it for me. What I see shocks me. The house is clean. The kitchen did not have a single drop of blood on it. The kitchen counters are spotless. Chili is cooking in the crock pot. The dishes are washed and put away. The floor including the carpet have been swept clean. The living room was scrubbed cleaned. The coffee table had even been scrubbed of ash, cigarette butts, and trash. The only thing out of place are a couple of dishes in the sink.

Momma comes up to me fully dressed in what I call her work clothes. She smiles at me. "Hay sweetie. We're having Carlton and Leah over tonight. Will you wash those little bit of dishes in the sink?"

 It all begins to make sense. The house has to be perfect when we have company over. I honestly didn't care why the house was clean just as long as it was nice even for a day. I was happy that I was going to have some peace tonight.

"I just need to get ready. They are gonna be here in about an hour and I look a mess!" Momma continued.

"Sure," I smile back. Momma's smile spreads.

"I've been on my feet all day cleaning. I am so tired. Thank you so much for helping." She bends down and wraps her arms around me.

This catches me by surprise. I thought I was going to spend my afternoon hiding in my room with my stomach trying to eat my ribs. With everything that happened this morning, this should have been a rough afternoon and weekend.

My eyes focus on the chili. Just in case things change, I will get some and set it aside in the fridge for tomorrow. I want to be able to at least have the option to eat something in the morning.

With my plan in mind, I let Momma go. She looks back at me. Her eyes full of expectation. What does she want me to say? Panic begins to set in. My mind races to come up with something, anything would be good at this point.

"I'll take care of everything," I blurt out the first thing that popped into my head.

"Thank you. Don't forget to clean your room when you're done with the dishes," Momma smiles turning to her bedroom.

I feel a wave of relief wash over me. I said the right thing. I quickly go to work on the dishes. When I get done with those, I rush to my room to clean it. Within the hour, I am done with it.

When I get done, I sit down on my bed and wait. I am not real sure what to expect when people come over to the house. A knock on my door pulls my attention back down to earth. Chloe comes in and tells me to clean the bathroom. She looks nice. She's changed clothes and redone her hair and makeup.

"You haven't changed," she says giving me a weird look. I look down at my clothes. I am wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and a black t-shirt. I look like I always do. I don't know why she is so surprised.

"Don't you have anything nice to wear," she asks walking to my closet and rummaging through my clothes. She lets out a disappointing sigh. She leaves the room and returns with a shiny golden V-neck shirt with a tie strap under the bust that ties in the back.

"Put this on with some dark wash jeans," she says throwing the shirt at me. "You have dark wash jeans right?"

I nod. "Good, put that on," she says leaving the room. I change clothes. Realizing that I have terrible taste in fashion.