Gentle Maids

Julia sat in her shared room. She didn’t care that this room looked like the one at her parents' hotel, that made it worse in fact. Nor did she care about her roommate's half. Plain as plain can be. A white bed, a closet, and a bookcase of chemistry. Nothing that interested her. Although nothing short of a nuke would do so, even then it was iffy.

Of course, there was the kid professor. Leaving the bathroom. Stopping and looking concerned, coming over to bother her. Why did she care? Dragging her here saying she needed to sleep so tomorrow would be better. It was not going to be.

Mica stroked her arm, “Can I help?”

She stared at the floor, “No.”

Mica bent down to look at her face, “There must be something I can do.”

She looked away, “No.”

Mica glanced above her head, “I mean at least change out of your … those clothes. You have your own stuff right?”

Julia opened her mouth to scream and yell at the munchkin. Something deep inside choked her out of doing so. She took several small breaths.

She put on her biggest smile, “Professor. I know you are trying to be helpful but no. You can not help me with my problems. I don’t think you even listen to me. Besides, what can you do? I am far more capable of hotel services, which include almost everything. I am much taller than you so I can reach things you can’t. You don’t have better stamina than me, I’ve seen you run. If we were to go out, some people would say I am babysitting you. You and I have the situation of this ‘game’, so I say again. No, I do not need you.”

Julia got up and grabbed the stung professor. She escorted her into the hallway, turned around, returned to the room, and closed the door between them. She got on the bookcase and proceeded to block the door with it.

She stared at the room, “So, that's it? I can’t express anger. I can’t be in a rage. Can’t shove, yell, or slam doors. But I can say all sorts of nasty things. Can be deliberate in making it so no one can intrude on me. Somehow mean is not anger or I guess a temper. Just have to deal with a burning rage that doesn’t have an outlet.”

She took off her clothes and stood still for a moment. Then she moved to the wardrobe, opened it, and placed them on the floor of the wardrobe. She shut the wardrobe and sat on the bed.

Her hands were trembling, “Can’t even throw these stupid clothes into the fire. That be a rage or temper too impolite for guests, huh.”

Julia got up and looked at the window on her roommate's side. She got up and charged the window. Two feet in front of it her pace screeched to a halt. She didn’t even fall when that happened.

She flung her hands up, “Oh, I guess I can’t even attempt anything dramatic as it would upset the guests, huh? Well, Papa, you win. This is all you wanted. A sweet little girl to help with your business.”

Her clenched hand softly tapping a pillow, “Never considering that she might have her own dreams.”

Gently opening the wardrobe, “Never thinking that she would want to see places.”

Gathering her red PJs and putting them on the bed, “Never going anywhere interesting.”

Organizing the books on the bookcase, “Only letting her go to college because she worked her ass off to get a scholarship to somewhere far away. Even then only because you rigged it so I had to come to you for money anytime you wanted.”

Going to the bathroom to brush her teeth, “Fate it seems wants me to be a **** to your idea, Papa.”

Dressing in her PJs with shaking hands, “But see Papa I will have the last laugh. I am going to break this stupid curse and get back at you. I find my own way. You hear me House. I will find a way, nothing going to stop me.”

She lay gently in her bed. She screamed internally. Tears flowed freely now that she was lying down. She tossed and saw the one thing in her room that calmed her down.

A worn old stuffed seal beneath a pillow. A present from her mother when she went to Taiwan. She gently pulled the seal toward her and hugged it. She traced the patches of missing fur. This was hers. Everything else looked like her room, why not this? What dreams she did have when this was her whole world. Princess, explorer, doctor. Her companion through all of it. A knight, first mate, and the nurse.

She gently kissed the seal's forehead. She had been in a hotel all her life. Working with her parents all the time. Never been twenty minutes out of the range of the hotel till college and her companion had seen the other side of the world.

She used to have lots of items from everywhere her mother traveled. This was the only thing left of that time. Escaped from the flames by being hidden under her bed in a shoebox. A game of hide and seek that saved it. When mother turned to haha. When father turned to papa.

A small miracle that her beloved lasted this long. Escaped the multiple feuds and frustrations of her teens. Sadness came and she hugged the small seal gently. Maybe the one thing she could do in this stupid competition was to fix him. Refluff him to her memory. It would be one little thing that hopefully was overlooked. Would not be covered in the changes. The smallest of dreams living in this seal.

She whispered to the dark room and the seal, “It’s just not fair.”