𝑼𝑵𝑬𝑿𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑫 | 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡

𝐺𝑅𝐴𝑁𝐷𝑀𝐴 𝑅𝑂𝑆𝐸

─────⊰ ✦.*🥀*.✦ ⊱─────

　　 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋 spring afternoon that I went on a little walk with my grandfather. He seemed very happy as we watched the birds zoom through the trees with its earliest buds. A bit of sunlight is always good for him and he was more than content when I left him on the patio with his sudokus.

Chase invited me over for today and I'm excited to spend my Saturday afternoon with him.

The high-pitched ringing of the doorbell disappeared into the house after I rang it.

It takes a lot longer than normally before the door is finally opened. However, I stare up at an older lady, her skin despite her age still beautifully glowing in brown tones.

'Who are you?' she asks with such an attitude, I'm a little taken aback.

'Who are you?' I reply, placing my hands on my hips as I mimic her movements.

Tasha comes rumbling down the stairs, her heels clicking harshly against the floor. 'Mom, you're not supposed to open the door. You're a gue-' She stops abruptly when she sees me as her eyes widen further than I've ever seen anyone's eyes open.

'Who is she, Tasha?' the woman asks again.

Tasha slowly stumbles backwards, unable to form any sentence as she sort of stares at me. 'She's the-,' Tasha begins to mumble. 'Cleaning lady.'

'I'm the what now?' I ask indignantly, unsure whether I heard her correctly.

'The cleaning lady?' Tasha's mother says in a questioning tone. She glances around the house shortly and walks towards the kitchen. 'It sure is needed here. This place is a mess.'

'She had a few days off.' Tasha says through gritted teeth. 'You can start with laundry first and then the rooms.'

Am I being pranked right now? Because it sure feels like it. Since I've been so busy lately with schoolwork, taking care of my grandfather and work, Chase promised me a whole afternoon with no work and no worries. Yet, I'm getting pushed into the washing room by Tasha.

I'm left alone in the room, so I decide to text Chase asking what is going on, but there's no response. After a good half an hour, I begin on the laundry since I feel like it's the only thing I can do. I'm not going to lie, I'm too nervous to leave the room before it's done.

When the door finally opens, I assume that I would be released from this weird situation, but no. Tasha's mother walks into the room with a ton of laundry. 'Chop chop. You have to hurry. There's so much more work to do.' Her eyes shoot at the laundry I've already done and nods contently.

I give her the kindest smile I can manage to muster up, before she leaves me. If I find Chase, he's dead.

─────⊰ ✦.*🥀*.✦ ⊱─────

　　 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 to set when I'm finally done with all of the laundry I was given. I was in luck, Tasha's mother gave me three more loads to work through. I walk out of the washing room, the exhaustion of standing all day burning in my legs, and into the living room to see Adam cook and Bree doing exercises with the older woman, while Tasha watches the scene.

'Laundry is done,' I mumble, feeling furious on the inside, but too tired to show it.

'Great,' the woman muttered as she stretched all the way forward to touch her toes. Bree helps her stand back up and the woman thanks her. 'You can start on the dishes.'