Get to it:

You go straight to the closet and get the mop and bucket, and multiple rolls of paper towels. It’s not exactly a small mess. You start with the bottom of the stairs, figuring if it’s within sight of where your mom is likely to walk, then that is where you want it to be the cleanest.

Luckily there wasn’t terribly much where you think she’ll see immediately. But with how life has been lately you know she wont leave it at a glance. Most of the paper towels go down immediately, and to your dismay, they leave a trail between the table and the trash bin the first time, more for you to clean up.

The mop did help, it worked wonders in fact, though the whole floor was wet because of it, you could at least hope your mom would understand that it was from the cleaning and not the piss.

You were so caught up in trying to clean everything up that you didn’t notice your mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs until she made a small sound to get your attention.

“So Everly, can’t even follow my instructions?”

“Sorry mom, I just wanted to make sure to make it as clean as possible.”

“Sure you were,” she walked over to the door, setting her bag on the bench as she put her shoes on, “Because you couldn’t manage such a simple task a cleaning, I am going to have to punish you.”

You’re about to argue that it wasn’t enough time, but bite your tongue, figuring that arguing would make it worse anyways.

“I want you to go over to the sister’s house, dressed as you are, and ask if they need anything cleaned. No matter who answers the door. And I will ask them, so don’t think you can lie your way out of this. Say yes if you understand.”

“Yes, mom,” you say, already thinking of how you can get around this.

“Good. Now grab my purse and bring it out to the car.” She said, standing and opening the door, leaving you standing inside.

You take a few deep breaths, doing your best not to call her a bitch. Then grab her purse, take another deep breath, and walk outside, hurrying to her car.

As you get there she makes a point of going through the notifications on her phone, taking time to click on each one, read whatever junk mail she received, before moving onto the next, all while you stood there staring at her, hoping that there wasn’t anyone watching. Until she finally rolled down her window.

“Thank you beautiful,” she said, taking the bag, “Now, I want you to wave as I leave, and you will walk to the end of the driveway, and wave to me until I have turned off the street, do you understand?”

You nod, “Yes mom.”

“Good girl, and remember. I will ask the sisters if you completed your task. So you had better do it. And in case you had any ideas, I do mean their front door.”

You tried to argue, but her window zipped up and close, and she was already pulling out of the drive way.

Taking another deep breath you walked to the end of the drive way, and began waving to her as she slowly drove down the street, honking twice for good measure. Your face was burning as you caught glimpse of your neighbor across the street pull their blinds open to see who was honking. When they locked their eyes on you your face got even warmer, so you tried to just focus on your mom’s car. When she finally turned off the street you ran back to the door. Slamming it shut behind you.