My jaw drops as my vision locks to the first thing I see, my heart skipping a beat as I stare at a waitressing uniform with an accompanying dirty apron. At first glance, it was hard to tell that the thing was in fact a uniform, the tight plain white top and black pencil skirt doing little to give anything away. However, the ensemble all came together with the addition of sheer pantyhose and a little apron designed to wrap around the waist, a white little number dotted with roses and containing a small notepad for taking orders.
"What the..." I grumble, heaving myself up from the bed as the mattress flexes and buckles beneath me. I begin to stand up on unsteady legs, rocking a little as I stand up at my full height. It feels off somehow, like I shouldn't be this far off the ground or that this room was meant to feel bigger than it currently did.
My stomach churns with this sense of vertigo and spatial disorientation, making each pained step all the more uncomfortable as I shuffle over to the small desk and chair where the uniform lay. I feel my heavy boots sink into the plush carpeting beneath me, the room smelling faintly of perfume. As I approach the outfit I'm hit with a new scent, a mixture of coffee grounds and baked goods, the light brown and red staining on the apron finally making sense as a blend of coffee and jelly.
Snatching up the apron I begin to inspect it further, grabbing the notepad from the front pocket as I begin to rifle through the pages.
T-6: Two spec (No bacon on one)
Mr. Jones: Usual, Let Dad know can golf next week
T-1: Large coffee no sug or M
T-2: G-Cheese, small coffee two sug no M
Simon and Rach: Sharing milkshake <3 <3 <3 Get discount from Mike
Mrs. Banks: Blueberry muffins 1/B, deliver them on way home
My heart sinks as I read order after order, my blood running cold as I see the cutesy comments and reminders to myself about errands I needed to run or messages to deliver. I drop the notepad on the table, my hand shaking slightly as it dawns on me that I was once again back in the service industry after having spent years to get out of it.
Despite all this I feel myself fiddling with the apron in my hand, rubbing the fabric together between my fingers. "Needs a wash" I grumble, eying up the stains. As the words leave my lips I feel something click, the truth and need behind that statement feeling all the more pressing. I begin to look around anxiously, shuffling awkwardly in place as I try to find the right outlet for the strange impulse in my head.
"I...I think I saw a laundry room downstairs" I mutter, wincing as the desperate words leave my lips. "I'll just...go put it on and..." I begin to muse, planning my next move before suddenly being cut off by a noise elsewhere in the house.
Turning in place I look at the large startlingly white door leading from this violet room out into the hallway. Painting a mental map I try to determine where the noise had come from, my eyes lighting up as I finally pinpoint it.
"That was from the Master Suite...I think" I whisper under my breath, creeping towards the door and opening it a crack to see outside.
The upstairs hallway continues with the same almost beige carpet that coated the floor of the room I had found myself in, the violet walls I had been stuck with being replaced with a deep dark green with the skirting board being painted sharp off-putting and mismatched white. The hallway leads down to the left of my room, the whole space acting almost mirrored on either side of the dark varnished stairwell in the center of it all.
Opposite me, though with its door a little further down and closer to the stairs, is the master bedroom. The whole room appeared to be far larger than any of the other bedrooms, complete with its own bathroom and en suite.
To my left was another bedroom, the one filled with toys and the rather small bed I had pegged as Paul's. The memory of which sends chills down my spine as I wrestle with the image of my older cousin now potentially being that much younger than myself.
Further down still was yet another bedroom, the inside of which I had hardly found a chance to see before I was thrown into my own ill-fitting bed.
And lastly, across from that last mystery bedroom sits two smaller rooms. The one closest to the stairs being a bathroom and the other a small storage space, the size of each room being fairly uneven due to the needs of a large family bathroom.
Suddenly there is another noise from the Master Bedroom which catches my attention, the shuffling of feet and the jostling of the shiny brass door handle from the other side. My heart leaps into my throat as I nervously peek my head out from behind my door, eager to see what was going on but desperate not to be seen like this.
Staring out of the bedroom door I look towards the Master Bedroom, watching anxiously as the door swings open. I swallow hard as I waiting for someone to emerge, only to finally see...
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