Smoke and Mirrors

Vanessa

The foul smell of sex and urine lingered in the air, burning the inside of Vanessa's nostrils the moment she walked into the two bedroom apartment; she forced down the vomit that was building in the back of her throat and searched the apartment for her mother.
"Ma," she called out, throwing her backpack on the table next to the three-day old pizza box surrounded by flies.
It was a crime shame how filthy their apartment was; she couldn't remember the last time it'd been cleaned. The sink was filled with moldy dishes, and the countertop was filled with left over food containers that had been there for at least a week. The trash was overflowing, and a puddle of her mother's urine soaked the living room carpet. The apartment complex itself needed to be condemned and burned to the ground, seeing that outside of the apartment wasn't any better.
She picked up the three day old pizza box and was about to throw it in the trash when roaches began to scatter from it. She got chills, and the hairs on her back stood up; there was something about the brown critters that made her flesh crawl; she absolutely despised them. She hated bugs PERIOD, but especially roaches.
Her brother Amire' was rarely home, so she guessed it didn't pose a problem for him as much as it did for her, but she was tired of living in filth; she hated her current circumstances and wanted nothing more but for it to change. This wasn't the type of conditions she was used to, and up to a few months ago neither was her mother.
Out of nowhere. She began drinking heavily; she stopped cleaning; quit her job and fell into a deep depression. Vanessa and her brother suspected she was on drugs but didn't have hardcore evidence. Realizing she had yet to receive a response she called out her mother's name again.
"Ma," Still not getting a response, Vanessa headed down the hall to see if she was home alone.
She figured one of two things: her mother was around the corner at the bootlegger or the usual, in her room passed out drunk. Noticing her room door was closed, she knocked on the door twice, "Ma you home?" Vanessa reached for her mother's door knob and twisted it; it was unlocked, so she peeped inside. No sign of her mother; only an envelope on her bed and an old folded newspaper article on the floor. She picked it up and read the headline: DIAMOND'S CASINO ROYALE SEIZED AFTER GOVERNOR'S SON ARRESTED FOR MURDER.
She looked at the black and white mugshot of the man who was supposed to be Kareem Jarell Diamond. "Oh my god," she gasped.
"Daddy," she muttered. Vanessa had never seen her father before; her mother told her he died before she could give birth to her, and she didn't have any pictures of him around the house. Vanessa was sure by the resemblance between her, Amire', and the man in the photo that it had to be her father. She slid the article in her back pocket, with the intentions of asking her mother about it later; she left out the room, making sure she closed the door back behind her.
Feeling sympathy for her burning nostrils, she decided to do what her mother nor brother would ever consider doing. She headed down the hall to the closet to grab some yellow rubber gloves, bleach, and multi-purpose cleaner from the top shelf. She couldn't remember the last time the apartment had been thoroughly cleaned, seeing that the supplies were practically brand new.
She searched through the pile of dishes for a pot to boil some of the cleaner on the stove, a neat trick she had learned from her mother as a child. Unaware of how long the dishes had been in the sink, she filled the side farthest from the dish rack with hot water, detergent, and bleach, another cleaning tip she learned from her mother. She would always add bleach to her dish water and whenever Vanessa asked her why her mother would tell her "it kills the germs."
Looking back, Vanessa realized her life was rather decent until her mother started spiraling. Vanessa thought, maybe whatever her mother had going on was because of her boyfriend, Vegas, he had become her mother's obsession. He was like a drug, a bad habit, an addiction. She had practically abandoned her children and neglected her job and motherly duties to cater to him. She worshipped the ground he walked on, and like a slave she did any and everything he told her to do. Vanessa hated him and blamed him for everything that had happened to her mother.
The way he looked at her made her uncomfortable and afraid to be left alone with him, so rarely would she be left alone with him. Although he had never tried anything, she still didn't trust him, which was why she never let her guard down when she was around him.
The blue liquid she left burning on the stove fumed the house with a mountain breeze aroma, her nose immediately appreciated the scent. She scoped out the apartment and prayed silently to herself. She decided to start with the dishes; there were so many dishes on the counter; there was barely any space left.
Vanessa began to wash the dishes, and the more she wash the clearer the counter got for her. Just a clear view of the sink calmed her OCD, and the soothing scent of the mountains cleared the fog that was blocking her train of thought.
Music, she thought. She knew she would accomplish way more if she could get in her groove. She headed down the hall to her bedroom to grab her iPad and the beat pill Amire' bought her for Christmas the year before.
She scrolled though her apps until she found Pandora, turned the volume up, and set out to finish what she started. Gospel began to play, she could fill the holy ghost rising inside of her.
She wiped the counters down with disinfecting wipes and gathered the trash. Realizing they were out of trash bags, she made a list of household supplies and groceries. She figured since the house would no longer be under quarantine, she would cook dinner too. They hadn't had a homemade dinner in months, and she was tired of fast food and take out.
She made sure she put a star by carpet cleaner. The stain her mother left in the middle of the floor was disturbing. She was so drunk the night before; she had passed out in the living room; her piss leaked through her clothes, and not only soaked into the carpet but left a dingy stain in the light-colored carpet. Vanessa found her sprawled out on the floor after school. She assisted her mother with a bath and tried her best to clean the carpet, but the residue on the carpet and her mother's clothes still fumed through the house.
Vanessa finally finished cleaning the house after what felt like hours. The kitchen was clean and swept; she straightened the living room and vacuumed the carpet. Cleaned the ring out of the tub, as well as washed and folded everyone's clothes except for Vegas. She figured that was her mother's job, since he was supposed to be her man. The last thing she had to do was mop. Her spring cleaning drained her causing her to become hesitant, but she knew there was no point in cleaning the house if she still wouldn't be able to recognize the tile on the floor.
She was about to proceed to mopping when she noticed a mop was on her list of things to get at the store; deciding to postpone it until after she came back from the store and cooked dinner. She looked at the time on her phone. 5:09. She still had time to make it to the store. She went to the stash Amire' left for her in the shoebox under the bed in their room and took out two twenty dollar bills before heading to the store. Realizing she needed to go by the store and the market, Vanessa pulled out a ten dollar bill as well just to be on the safe side.