We Stitch These Wounds

Spring Cleaning -8-

I woke up to my phone blaring "Shout At The Devil" by Motley Crüe. I tapped the dismiss button and stretched my long body out. Satisfied when I heard my back crack, I sighed and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I looked around the bedroom to see everyone else still sleeping. What day is it? I turned on my phone to see what day of the week it was. Saturday? Was yesterday Friday? No wonder the other guys were out. There must've been a party or something in one of the dorm buildings.

It was around six AM, so I got up and walked towards the kitchenette. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and looked out of one of the windows in the living room. The sun was beginning to rise and I was set on getting to watch the beauty unfold. I took a cigarette out of my back pocket and lit it. Smoking was a bad habit I had picked up from Oliver, but when he stopped, I didn't. I blew smoke out of the open window and sighed. I remembered how I always used to watch the sunrises when I was a little kid before beginning my chores.

I looked back at the filthy living room and kitchen and decided that today would be a cleaning day. I threw my cigarette out the window after putting it out and closed the window. I picked up various dirty clothes and pieces of trash, throwing the clothing in the laundry basket and the random shit in the trash bin. I closed the bedroom door and vacuumed the living room and entry way. After I put the vacuum away, I wiped down the counters with cleaning wipes and threw away any bad fruit from a little basket we had on the counter. I washed, dried, and put away the dishes before going through the fridge and throwing away anything that had gone bad. I scavenged through the pantry with the same goal.

We had spices that expired five years ago. One, who even cooks around here? Two, why do we still have it?

I opened the creaky bedroom door slowly and picked up any old soda cans, pieces of paper, and other crap lying around. I washed the windows, loving how the newly born sun was shining through the now-clean glass. I searched through the other cleaning supplies we had in the random closet and found a duster that I could extend. With the help of the extension (and my height) I dusted any cobwebs or dust bunnies from the ceiling. I threw away the duster and stuck the stick back in the box. I looked over at the kitchen and saw the microwave, stove, and oven. I cleaned the trio of heating machines and looked around. I looked quietly through the bedroom; the guys were still snoring away with no signs of waking up anytime soon. Feeling the craving of cleaning, I organised the clothes in any of the drawers. I made my bed and looked around some more. I grabbed the two trash bags I managed to fill up and threw them away in the trash chute down the hall. I put a new trash bag in the bin and sat down on the couch. I looked around some more. The kitchen was clean. The living room was clean. I could vacuum the bedroom later on... I never dusted the bedroom, did I? I grabbed the duster once more and dusted the nooks and crannies of the bunk beds and ceiling. After I threw away the duster, I took the stick back to the closet.

"This closet could be cleaned." I thought to myself. I organised the cleansers in the boxes in the closet and shut the door. I organised the random books lying around and put them on top of the dressers. I organised the many DVDs in/on the TV stand. Once I had finished the cleaning I could do without waking my friends up, I wrote a note for the guys when they would wake up.

"Hey I cleaned the place b/c I was bored I'm going back to sleep so wake me up when you guys wake up so I can finish cleaning -Andy"

I taped the paper to the screen of the TV before settling into (and messing up) my made-up bed. I smiled to myself thinking, "I actually accomplished something." as I drifted off into slumber.

-~-

Let's just say that waking up to being the bottom of a dog pile isn't as fun as you think. The guys were laying on top of me and it felt like I was being burying in concrete. "You guys are so skinny! Why do you feel like stone?!" I wheezed out.