your pov
you had finished the dishes after a little while, it didnt take you too long since there wasnt that many. you finished up and dried your hands on a towel hanging from a hook on the wall and made your way to the living room to talk to your owner. on the way you saw a bill on the table made out to a man named todd williams. so that must be his name. you wondered briefly whether to address him by his name, but you were cut short.
"finished the dishes?" you nodded and he gave a small thumbs up. "good. head upstairs and vacuum my room. after that you're done." you nodded again and went to the stairs and began to ascend. they creaked lightly under you, and you gazed out the window you passed by and saw massive construction vehicles further across the street behind a tall fence. reaching the top of the stairs you could only guess which room was todd's, the only door that was open. you entered and smelled the strong odor of whiskey. a guitar was against one wall, and magazines were stacked on a short dresser. crates contained countless vinyl records, some of them strewn across the floor instead of being neat in their box. you picked those up and tidied them to be where they belonged. you understood some vinyls were very expensive, and youd hate to see any get ruined. after you fixed these you found the vacuum in the far corner and plugged it into a crusty outlet in the wall. you powered it on with the foot pedal and started vacuuming todds floor. you could see ashes from cigarettes getting sucked up into the vacuum. after you were done you powered it off and only then did you realize that the lights overhead got brighter when you turned the vacuum off. the power must not have been very good here. you decided to question todd about this as you headed back downstairs and stopped beside where he was on the couch. "i noticed the lights dimmed while i was using the vacuum, would you like me to take a look at the fuse box?" you asked him.
he shrugged. "its always been like that. i dont think its something the fuse box could have anything to do with. its just the shitty power around here. but you can give it a shot if you want."
you hesitated. if you want? you didnt really want anything, at least you werent supposed to. but what if you did? you pondered this concept as you went out the front door to find the fuse box. latching the door behind you, you smelled diesel fuel in the air and dirt, probably from the nearby construction. you went around the side of the house and found the fuse box next to the gutter spout. you pulled it open and observed the many different fuses. kitchen, living room, upstairs bathroom, laundry room. nothing appeared to be out of place, so you shut it and started going back inside. todd was right. there was nothing wrong with the box. todd looked at you as you came back in. "find anything?" you shook your head and locked the door. he shrugged again. "then that's all i need you to do. you can just hang out around if you want for now."
you paused. "hang out? what do you mean? isnt there any cleaning or cooking you need me to do?" he shook his head. "its just me living here so there isnt much to do. you can sit on the couch and watch tv with me if you want." you thought for a minute and went and sat on the opposite side of the couch from him. something on the couch felt stiff and crusty but just as you started to get up to clean it, he waved a hand at you. "dont worry about it for now. wouldnt wanna overwork you on your first day here. besides its an old couch. no amount of cleaning could get these stains out." you questioned this in your head as you reluctantly sat back down. this wasnt the life you expected, you had been expecting day after day of constant cleaning and other labor. but as you looked at todd from the corner of your eye you wondered if this different life wouldnt be so bad after all.
