Cleaning Up a Mess

Short Story

   My breath came heavy as Grace, and I stepped off the spongey swaying dock, and back onto the frozen dirt of Vancouver. Dark storm clouds rolled around the sky above us, and rain drizzled down, pitter-pattering on the cracked concrete that leads to a vast sea of dank warehouses, all of them had taken a thorough beating from the harsh weather. A fresh wave of biting air hit me, reckoning my cheeks rosy and numb. Most of the warehouses had shabby Roomba advertisements from the 2000's when they first came out, dripping with silty water while they hung from various steel roofs.

    "Stef I'm starting to freeze out here, let's go," Grace uttered, "Plus I don't like it out here," As she said that her walnut hair swept across her face, and twirled out of her Raiders ball cap. Her pale fingers pulled the bill back down to cover her forehead. I shook my head in agreement and muttered out a yes. We trudged down the pathway, following the flickering neon signs to what we hoped would be a taxi service. Minutes passed as we struggled to stay upright in the tormenting weather. When we finally got to the taxi service, our boots had turned brown with all the mud that had streamed onto the pathways, creating inches of sludge.

   The taxi drivers' lips parted in a dry smile, and a half-smoked cigarette hung loosely from his broad lips, slowly puffing out small bouts of smoke.

   "Where to?" He grumbled, beckoning to the highway ahead. My boots clung to the worn shag carpet of the taxicab as I looked at Grace. Her expression mirrored my own; we both didn't want to go back to the boat, the long months spent on the sea had changed us both. The wind howled through the cracks in the taxi cab door, creating an eerie whistle that just jostled my brain until I couldn't think straight anymore.

   "Uhm..." I could barely manage to force out any sounds as I racked my tired brain for where we were headed.

   "Take us to Bernie's grocery store please," I croaked, the words sticking in my throat. Grace was looking out the window at the mystical scene of dew-covered asphalt, oblivious to my sudden decision. The taxi lurched forward, and the engine gurgled to life, slowly huffing until it ran smoothly. The tires caught the rough asphalt, and we were soon skidding off in the direction of town. Smoke clouded my vision as the driver absentmindedly fiddled with his cigarette, and the faint lights of the city sparkled through the veil that choked my senses. Tires halting, money jingling, and the reassuring beep of the automatic sliding doors jolted me awake.

   "Why are we here?" Grace asked, perturbed. I pulled her inside the weary store and the fluorescent shine of the lights in the store made it hard to hear her. I squeaked my drenched tennis shoes against the waxed tiles that basked in the store.

   "I wanted to get some chips for my pet, Ruby," I admitted, making a bee line for the snack aisle. I ran my fingers through the humongous selection of snack items, settling for some airily packaged cheddar flavored chips. I brought them to the cashier, and with a swift swipe and a bland, "How are you this fine evening?", We were back on the road. After another transaction with a tired, overworked driver, we half-stepped-half-stumbled into the small green house my family has called home for decades. I pushed open the faded red door, it had already been unlocked. The house was waiting for us.

   "Stef, I don't see any dogs, or any pets for that matter," Grace asked quizzically as she surveyed the dim room, and even with the creaking doors on either side of us she held most of her attention on the dusty oak table that had a cluster of stools thrown around it, "Your family isn't even here?", I anxiously shuffled my feet as I gestured behind the table that sat between us.

   "That's Ruby," I explained, pointing at the humming black disc near the stool at the head of the table. Ruby beeped faintly and rolled towards me. I quickly pulled the chips out of my humid pocket and set the crackling chip bag before Ruby. She rocked for a split second then charged towards the cheddar bag, obliterating it. She vacuumed the mess up and sat still, for a second. Loud whirring emanated from deep inside the Roomba, and she spoke.

    "THESE CHIPS DISPLEASE ME," The Roomba proceeded to run over Grace, swallowing her whole. Innards dripped from the Roomba's intake port as she charged again.

   "DUST BAG ALMOST FULL, PLEASE EMPTY SOON," Ruby stated in a screeching robotic voice. I screamed and recoiled from Ruby, I knew what was going to happen. I accepted my fate. The last thing I saw before I was gone was the screeching fan blades of my precious pet Ruby and a scrap of Grace's baseball cap.

   When I finally woke up pain racked through my entire body, I could hear the medical beep of a heart monitor in the background. I heard clog-clad feed steadily walk up to where I was laying, then start to speak softly to me.

   "I'm going to inject some pain-killers now dearie," I could barely differentiate the pinch of the needle from the rest of my aching body, but I could hear ringing in my ears as the feet walked away. I drifted back into a fitful slumber. When I next woke up, I forced my heavy eyelids open and recoiled at the bright, sterile, light. I twisted my body into an upright position, and my mouth hung in shock. A Raiders baseball cap sat at the foot of the crisp white bed I was in, patched up from what seemed to be a trip through a violent shredder. My entire body was numb and bandaged. Then it hit me.

   "Grace," I screamed, over and over. Hot tears streamed down my face. Suddenly I was in a straight jacket, in a mattress covered room. A single door mocked me. I swiveled around and knocked my limbs into a standing position, I helplessly floundered towards the only exit from this prison, I could no longer smell the sweet scent of rain, the dank stench of mud, the bitter whiff of a cigar, or hear the familiar crackling of cheddar chips. Nothing existed in this box. I fell against what seemed like a wall, brushing my teeth on the stark white quilt. I needed Grace. She was my life, we were made to be together, we had to be. As I slid to the floor all I could bear to do was curl up and sob my eyes out, clutching the reconstructed baseball cap to my chest with my bound wrists.

   "Quiet it down in there!" a sharp buzz pierced my ears after a familiar gruff voice transferred over into my soft prison from an unreachable box on the ceiling. Fresh waves of pain racked through me. A grumble came from behind the door, and bolts shuffled from inside of the walls. As the door swung open, I buried my face into the bland sleeves of my jacket.

   "Get up," the same voice commanded me. I slowly unfurled myself and stumbled to my feet. He grabbed my arm and led me out. Our footsteps echoed in the dim hallway, faded Roomba posters appeared on the walls every few paces. I fell into another room, and a bag was slipped onto my head. My breath unsteadily gasped for air as I was shoved into a hard plastic chair, my elbows hit the elbow rests hard, and I screeched.

   "Welcome aboard matey," A chortling voice said "You've lasted pretty long eh, what is it, round forty-seven? Anyways, have fun on this adventure dearie, pick a better bag of chips next time," I felt another tweak, and everything swayed then went black again. 

  Side note: If anyone wants more of this story, let me know and i'd be happy to continue writing it.