The Great Cog Scare

Drippy Roof

Thunk...thunk...thunk. I sighed and sat up from the velvet armchair and made my way to the dining room. The wood in the doorway creaked, and Matilda, a stout, magenta crocodile, looked up from her place above the table. 

"Hello, Spook!" She smiled.

"Hi," I yawned, dragging my feet over to the cupboard. It creaked open, a moth fluttering out. I sighed, walking around the table to another cupboard and retrieving a mixing bowl from it. When I closed it Matilda appeared from behind the small wooden door, frowning at me.

"Not another one?" She asked. 

"Yup." I nodded, rubbing at my eyes with my free gloved hand and turning for the den.

"When was the last time you slept?" She asked, floating after me. We entered the dim room. Lanterns flickered softly as the rain continued to patter at the windows. Large beams of wood arched up to the ceiling, where a sparkling chandelier swayed as Bob, a blue rabbit, and Ross, a pink mouse, swung from it. Each wall was painted a bright, vibrant color. Books soared off shelves in the hands of colored apparations and spiders spun beautiful cobwebs. 

"Just a few minutes ago." I placed the large bowl on the floor next to the going on forty containers tasked with keeping the drippy roof from ruining the paint-spattered hardwood floors. 

"I meant in your bed." She replied. I could hear her glare. 

"Oh," I winced, turning towards the window. The blue glow of daylight was smeared out by the rain. Was it morning or the afternoon? I turned towards the grandfather clock, but it spun wildly out of control, as usual. 

Matilda floated in front of me, arms still crossed. "You've been at this for days." 

"I know," I replied, picking up two water filled-sauce pans and moving towards the kitchen. 

"You need more than a catnap." She replied. I shook my head, stifling a yawn and making my eyes water. I moved to the sink and poured the water down the drain and it swirled out of view.

"If I stop, the floor will get messed up," I replied. 

"So you're just going to keep going until you pass out?" 

"No, until the storm ends," I replied, yawning and turning for the den again.

"What if I took care of the water?" She asked, "then would you sleep?"

"I can't ask you to do that," I replied, doing my best to look as woke as possible without having slept properly for the past few days. 

"You're not, I'm volunteering," she replied, picking up a pot filled to the brim with murky water. My eyes narrowed as I picked up two pans and turned once more for the kitchen. 

"Why are you so stubborn?" She sighed, dumping out the water.

"I got it from my great-grandfather!" I replied, puffing out my chest in pride in an admittedly poor attempt to hide a yawn.

"Ah yes. Count Stub Paws." She replied with a chuckle. "He is quite the character."

"Mhm," I nodded. Taking the containers back and forth had become autonomous, and I found myself at the sink without even thinking about it. I poured out the water, letting my eyes glaze over. 

"Ooh, Spook!" Matilda singsonged. I jumped with a start. "You'd better go to bed!"

"Or what?" I turned to see her smirking, waving at me with the feather duster. 

I went ridged. My only weakness. "Where did you get that?!" 

"It's funny how you think you can hide things from us," she cooed "we are ghosts, dear." 

I felt my face get warm. I knew plenty well they could float through walls, but keeping items out of their sight tends to keep them out of their minds. It worked on most of them too, but Matilda was too smart. 

I narrowed my eyes, "you wouldn't." 

"Oh, I most certainly will," she smiled, twirling it between her fingers. "I'm going to count to three." My eyes widened. 

"But the water!" I cried.

"I already said, I'd take care of it." She sang, floating closer. I circled around her and backpedaled into the den. I saw a pot that was near overflowing and turned towards it, but she floated between it and me, the tickly feathers inches from my nose. "One..." 

"Okay, okay, okay!" I replied, putting my hands out and backing away from her towards the spiraling staircase.  "Just, wake me in the morning?" 

"Two..." She replied, sporting a toothy grin. Matilda was not among those nice enough to include two and a half. 

I took off running up the stairs. They squeaked and groaned in protest until I got to my room and closed my door behind me. Rain pattered at the roof and I moved towards my bed, Grandpa Stub Paws' faint green apparition dozing in my rocking chair. My body slumped into the covers and I rolled over to look up through my skylight. Murky water smeared my window. Now that I was still, every part of me ached. 

The Whimsical Woods had strange weather. It could snow in summer, rain confetti, flowers, whipped cream, chocolate milk and so on. I couldn't remember the last time it rained this normally for this long. The last time it rained actual water, the sun had been out the entire time, decorating the sky with rainbows. This new, boring, weather was exhausting, not to mention glum. I know the ghosts had everything they needed inside the Manor, but I quite enjoyed going outdoors.