Four Versions

18.

My plans of getting drunk tonight had sunken just like the Poseidon, but I didn’t mind. I’d rather keep my head straight and focused than messing with it by drinking alcohol. I didn’t have to bring Lizzy home, because she was staying over at the girl she met and I was okay with that. I knew that Lizzy was responsible and fierce; she knew how far she could go. As for Sasha, she hadn’t had one sip of alcohol, although it really looked like she did. When she stepped in the car with us she winked and told us that it was the secret of drinking; fake it until you make it. I guess I had to give her credit for it, because she had fun while not drinking herself into a coma.

After the clock already turned to 2, I finally stepped inside the house. I didn’t expect my mom to be awake by now and for once I could call myself lucky. I thought I had told her I would be home by 1.30, but luckily for me she had forgotten and fell asleep. That, or she just didn’t care enough anymore to stay awake.

Sitting down on the couch I looked around in the house I decided that it was time for a change. Everything had been exactly the same for over a year and a human can only take so much of the same. A sudden rush of excitement washed over my body and all the tiredness of the night was long forgotten. I silently rushed upstairs and changed in some old clothes, got the paint and the vacuum cleaner and got started. I knew that my mom was a heavy sleeper because of her pills, so my noise wouldn’t wake her up.

Of course, I started with cleaning everything. From the kitchen counter to the TV and the couch. The pictures and lamps got a special, more intense clean because even I couldn’t remember the last time we had actually touched those. We didn’t really use them, because more often than not no one was home. And even if we were, it was only to sleep or late at night while watching TV, so the lights were never really on. I suddenly acknowledged the dust and how filthy everything was, but then I realized that it was only logical. Dad used to clean and keep up of the chores at home, but now that he wasn’t here anymore, no one else really took over his task. I made a mental note to be more active in the household and clean more regularly, because this literally took ages.

When the clock turned to 7, I was finally done cleaning and rearranging the whole house. I had even done my own room, because that was the most filthy place of them all. I wiped the sweat of my brow and forehead and sat down on my bed, letting out a tired sigh. I hadn’t put away the cleaner yet, but my energy bar was close to hitting zero. After getting paint on my hands and spending more than half an hour on trying to get it off of my hands, I really wasn’t in the mood to walk downstairs and put it away. After all the hard work I had done, I decided to give myself a break and finish my room tomorrow.

After all, I knew that my mother would like the change almost just as much as I did. And while keeping that in mind, I fell asleep with a happy sigh, because that is all that I wanted.

Some appreciation from my mother.