Why I Don't Clean Houses Anymore

A Story by Xian Fowler

how hard can cleaning someones house be? Julie an employee at Maid4Hire is about to find out that cleaning house can sometimes be hell

Why I Don’t Clean Houses Anymore

Julie stared at the large house with a sigh, this is going to take forever, she thought to herself as she made her way up the steps, her bucket full of cleaning supplies held firmly in her hands. She put the bucket down on the filthy front porch, as she rang the doorbell anxiously.

She waited a few moments before she tried knocking. On the third knock Julie was about to give up as an envelope fell from where it was wedged in the doorframe.

She quickly bent down and grabbed the slightly stained envelope eagerly ripping it open and read it:

Dear Maid4Hire Girl

We are away for the weekend

The door is unlocked

Thank you in advance

-The Chances

Julie let out another sigh as she folded up the paper and placed it in the pocket on her apron. She bent down and grabbed her bucket of supplies before opening the door and quickly slipping inside, she almost gagged as she closed the door behind her. The room had a stench the reminded Julie of a dead possum she had seen on the road when she was a little girl, exploring with her friends.

Oh god, she thought as she covered her face with her hand and ventured further into the house. As she made her way deeper into the surprisingly clean house the putrid smell started to dissipate, maybe this won’t be that bad, she thought to herself with a small grin. She quickly scanned the layout of the first floor before deciding that it would be best to start in the bathroom, as that was usually the worst part of most jobs, so she quickly put her long auburn hair in a tight bun before heading to the bathroom, supplies in hand.

It was not long before Julie had forgotten all about the rotten smell that had greeted her as she found herself elbow deep in the Chance’s white porcelain toilet. The water made a pleasant trickling sound as she rung out the sponge she was using into the bucket of cleaning solution. She started to hum but after just a few seconds, she heard a sound and quickly stopped.

The sponge dropped into the bucket causing a bit of water to slosh out and splash onto the floor. Julie quickly stood up and walked to the doorway, she cautiously leaned her head out and first looked down the left of the hall, then slowly she turned her head to the right. She looked for a few seconds before the same thumping sound she had previously heard caused her to jump; she let out a small shriek before retreating into the bathroom.

She looked around the bathroom and grabbed the toothbrush that was on the counter next to the sink. She held the handle out like the blade of a knife as she walked back to the bathroom doorway. After taking a deep breath and summoning the courage, Julie quietly made her way out of the bathroom and down the hallway to where she had heard the noise.

She tiptoed down the hallway until she came to the turn. She quickly peeked her head out and saw nothing. As she was about to turn around and return to the bathroom, she heard another thump, and hurried down the hall. As she turned the corner, her heart almost stopped as she saw a shadow on the floor coming from one of the open bedrooms.

She mustered up all of the courage she could as she turned the corner, the toothbrush gripped in her hand so tight it caused her knuckles to go white. She crept towards the doorway and held her breath as she quickly swung around ready to face what ever was inside.

What met her gaze was not quite what she expected. The room, besides the furnishing, was empty. She let out the breath she had been holding and it came out in one big sigh, Julie shook her head playing the sounds off to her imagination. As she was about to leave the room and return to her cleaning job in the bathroom she heard another thump.

She jumped, dropping the toothbrush in the process. She quickly turned towards the noise and came face to face with a slightly ajar door. Every hair on her arm stood on end as she grabbed the doorknob firmly and swiftly jerked the door towards her; it swung open with a screech. Julie froze as within the darkness she saw a pair of eyes followed by a quiet hiss.

Julie backed away slowly as whatever was in the closet started to move towards her. As she backed up, Julie tripped and fell to the floor with a thump. She tried to scream but nothing came out as she crab walked backwards towards the wall whimpering. The eyes in the closet started to move faster towards her. Julie backed her way all the way to the wall before she realized she had dropped the toothbrush.

She spotted it on the floor across from her and her eyes grew wide as she started to formulate a plan in her head. She lunged forward at the toothbrush as the thing in the closet did the same; she let out a scream as from the darkness all Julie could see was a mass of hair flying towards her.

Julie missed the toothbrush so she rolled over and started to scream. She huddled her knees to her chest as she sobbed waiting for her inevitable death. When nothing happened Julie slowly gathered the courage to peak, as she looked up she quickly winced as she saw movement right near her face. She felt something rub up against her as she cautiously took another peek.

All the air rushed out of her lungs as she realized the Chance’s cat had been what was stalking her. She let out a small laugh at how frightened she was as the fluffy brown cat started to nuzzle up to her, she pet it slowly and the cat started to purr. Julie laughed again as she slowly got to her feet, still shaky from her mental breakdown.

Julie used the horribly painted wall to stabilize herself as she made her way down the hallway laughing as she went. As the shock subsided, she slowly made her way back to the bathroom to finish the job.

She entered the bathroom, still shaking as she sat down in front of the toilet. She grabbed the still moist sponge from the blue tiled floor and started scrubbing the toilet.

It was not long before Julie was finished scrubbing the bathroom and was moving on to the bedrooms down the hall where she had received the fright. She paused standing in the middle of the elegant hallway, just a damn cat, she thought as she started walking again bucket in hand.

She started with the child’s bedroom because in her experience they where usually the second hardest duty at a job. She stood at the door of what she believed was the child’s bedroom; the door was plain and white with a sign hanging on it. The sign was made of lined paper, and crudely drawn on it in crayon was the name “Christopher” followed by a face that may have resembled a clown.

Julie smiled as she grabbed the cold metal doorknob and gave it a turn, the door opened smoothly as Julie peered into the empty room. To her surprise, the room was actually quite clean and she knew that she would be done quickly if the rest of the rooms in the house were anything like the child’s bedroom.

The clock in the hall chimed and Julie jumped before letting out a small giggle at how childish and frightened she was being. She shook her head and entered Christopher’s bedroom, she continued humming the song she had been humming in the bathroom as she picked up the few toys on the floor and folded the blankets. After all this was done, Julie made the bed and decided it was time for a break.

She scurried to the front room while fishing through her apron pocket; she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and slyly retrieved a smoke from the pack. She stuck it in her mouth as she tossed the pack back in her apron pocket and grabbed a pack of matches in exchange.

Birds chirped as Julie made her way onto the large house’s front deck, she dragged the matchstick along the striker as the sulphur coated end burst into fire and Julie’s nostrils where greeted with the familiar stinging that came with a freshly struck match. She sighed as she raised the flame to her cigarette, she took a deep inhale as she shook the match out and threw it onto the dirt road.

The ember at the tip of the cigarette let off a glow, despite the midday sun, as Julie took a deep drag. The world started to spin a bit and she quickly steadied herself on a nearby rock.

It was not long before Julie was throwing her cigarette butt on the dirt road and heading back towards the house. As she stood in front of the house a great sense of déjà vu overwhelmed her, she shook her head clear and opened the large front door.

As she walked over the threshold, her nose was once again assaulted by the putrid odour. Julie gagged as she again found herself trying to stay steady, as her head reeled. Julie had forgotten all about the smell as she was cleaning the house, and now that the home had been baking in the sun all day she found the smell to be ten times worse.

Julie retched again as she turned around and swung the front door open. She ran out into the sun as she took deep breaths savouring the clean air. After a few cleansing breathes, Julie decided that she was going to investigate the source of the horrid smell. She quickly ran to her car and frantically searched for a few supplies.

Within minutes, Julie was ready to enter the house for what she hopped was the final time. Julie held her breath as she opened the door slowly, and entered the house. She tried to follow the smell by only taking in small breaths through her nose but after the first few she found herself facing the inevitable gag reflex that she had recently become so acquainted with.

She tried to grin, as she had heard somewhere that doing so could prevent vomiting but she had heard wrong as after a few seconds of smiling like a lunatic, Julie had finally lost the war and threw up all over the front entryway floor. She spent the following five minutes cleaning up her vomit before collecting herself and trying to follow the smell.

The smell led her into the kitchen where she fought back another bout of gagging. She placed her hand on the solid wooden kitchen table and stood still a few seconds waiting for her head to stop spinning. After a few moments Julie’s head cleared and she scanned the room, she stopped when she noticed a small door that she hadn’t seen her first time through.

Julie walked up to the door that, although very similar to the others in the house, seemed different. She quickly found herself walking towards the large door and putting her ear against it. At first, she heard nothing but she continued to listen, after a few more seconds, she swung the door open and was blasted with putrid musty air.

Julie reeled over clutching her stomach, no more, she thought to her self as she tried standing. She was sure now that the smell had been coming from the cellar; she plugged her nose and turned on her flashlight before bravely heading into the darkness.

Cobwebs adorned the handrails the lead down the stairs, Julie cringed as she touched them in an attempt to guide herself through the pitch-black stairway. It was not long before she found herself submerged within the darkness, her dim dollar store flashlight the only thing guiding her.

Julie started to make her way deeper into the cellar when her foot kicked something squishy, she cringed as she shook her foot hoping to get what ever she stepped in off her shoe. She let out a quick sigh as she shined the flashlight on the ground at her feet, what she saw almost made her scream as in a small pool on the floor in front of her Julie saw a small pool of liquid that looked like blood.

She quickly knelt down next to the liquid and stuck just the tip of her finger in, she squished the substance between her fingers a few times before realizing that the liquid was not blood but was in fact red paint. Julie shook her head as she stood up and looked around the room, her eyes now somewhat adjusted to the darkness.

In the distance, Julie saw a friendly sight, from the ceiling she could just barely make out a light bulb and hanging from it a long string. Thank god, she thought as she started to make her way towards what she thought was a miracle, but after taking only three steps Julie stepped on something hard. She heard a snapping noise as whatever was under her foot gave way. She did not seem to notice as she hurried towards the light bulb.

Julie grabbed the cord firmly in her hand before giving it a quick tug and found herself blinded as light flooded into the dark musty room. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times until the dots and splotches that took up her vision where gone. Finally able to see again, Julie scanned the room. Her jaw dropped as her eyes landed on something horrible, the flashlight fell from her limp hand as she started to back away from the wall she had been standing near

Written on the wall in red paint where the words, “should have taken a sick day.” Julie backed away in a panic, but she had not taken even four steps backwards before she found herself falling. She let out a small yelp as she found herself falling on something soft and squishy. She looked down to her left and started to scream, staring back at her was the half decomposed face of what looked to be a man.

Julie shot up and looked at where she had fallen. On the floor was a rotten corpse with a perfect Julie shaped imprint in its chest cavity. She covered her mouth as she started for the stairs when she came across another body and gasped. This one Julie believed to be a woman due to the small pile of female clothes on the ground next to the body, the corpse was tied to a chair and its face seemed to be frozen in an eternal scream.

Julie started sobbing as she turned away from the horrible sight only to have her eyes grace another body on the floor near the foot of the stairs. Her sobs grew into incoherent wailing as she realized the body at the foot of the stairs was a child, and then it all became clear, these corpses where the bodies of the chance family.

Suddenly Julie’s wails where cut off by the slamming of the cellar door. Julie jumped as her hands instinctively flew up to her face to stifle any noise. The room fell silent as Julie attempted to slow her breathing. Just as she was about to calm down and pass off the door closing to wind Julie heard a footstep on the top step of the stairs. She froze in panic quickly searching the room for anywhere to hide. As the footsteps neared her, Julie’s gaze fell on a small window that had been painted black.

She quickly turned and ran towards the tiny window and started stacking nearby things on top of each other in a desperate attempt to escape the footsteps that where now both louder and closer. Julie quickly scrambled to climb the small mountain of junk she had made as she reached out towards the window’s latch.

The latch unhooked a Julie let out a small gasp as out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow descending the cellar stairs. Her breathing started to speed up as she fumbled with the window before finally getting it to open, she quickly jumped and grabbed onto the very small ledge as the small pile of clutter fell apart.

The footsteps stopped for a split second before resuming as whatever was coming down the stairs started to move faster. Julie started to crawl out the window when from behind her she heard a guttural roar. She started to squirm her way out of the window as something grabbed her leg and started to pull her back

Julie screamed while she kicked as hard as she could with her free leg hitting her pursuer causing it to scream in pain and loosen its grip. Julie took the opportunity and ripped her leg from her assailant’s grasp before struggling as hard as she could to get free of the window. She heard her attacker grunt as she assumed it was coming too and extremely pissed off.

She pushed one last time and found herself tumbling out the window onto the Chance’s back lawn. Without a second of hesitation, Julie was on her feet and sprinting headlong towards her car.

Once safely inside her vehicle, Julie locked the doors and slammed the key into the ignition. Just as the engine was turning over Julie gave the house a quick glance and saw the front door open. She screamed as she slammed her foot on the gas and peeled out of the chance’s driveway. Julie drove fast, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel in fear. She blew past a stop sign as she attempted to put distance between her and the house.

After a half hour of driving and several miles between her and the house, Julie pulled over and quickly fished her cell phone out of her car’s glove compartment before calling the police.

An hour later Julie stood by a police cruiser telling the officers what happened, the man that stood before was writing down everything she said, “so you say the there where three deceased in the cellar of the house?” he said in what Julie assumed was his “I’ve got it handled” tone. She nodded spastically as her whole body trembled.

The officer grabbed his radio and spoke into it; “is unit two twenty one at the residence?” the line was silent for a few seconds before another voice responded, “yes sir, found the three bodies and the paint on the wall just like the lady said, but no sign of anyone.” The man on the other end of the radio paused for a second before continuing, “wait a minute, it looks like someone’s been living down here judging by this sleeping bag and half eaten food.” The man on the other end of the radio said.

The officer in front of Julie gave her a concerned look and then smiled, that is when Julie smelt it, the same disgusting smell that had hit her at the Chance house. The officer in front of her smiled, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth covered in blood. Julie turned to run but the stench was over powering and all she could do was keel over and vomit. As Julie knelt over on the dirt road at the side of the highway puking, she heard footsteps behind her, followed by a guttural growl. She did not even turn around before she felt a sharp pain and everything went black.