Today was a great day. Who would have thought you'd make it through high school? And now, after the celebrations, you find yourself sitting in the back of your parents' car with your sister.
Samantha turns to look at you from the passenger seat. "How's my graduating girl feeling?"
"Really good... Mom, really good." Things had gone well at school, even afterward. Your parents had taken you to a restaurant to celebrate your graduation.
"Not as good as your speech, haha. You could barely say it." Eleanor was right. You had practiced your speech several times, but even so, when the time came, you were a little nervous about being in front of so many people.
"Honey, she did her best. Sure, her grades weren't the best, but she'll improve in college." And there was your mother, further embarrassing you.
"Pls, just stop." This was embarrassing.
“Hey, I didn’t get the best grades either, and look at me now.” At least your father was your only ally. Your mother just gave him a look, and you knew what was going to happen.
“Maybe, but that was because you were so distracted by the cheerleaders.” Your mother always knows just where to attack. It’s no wonder everyone in the house considers her the smartest in the family. “You always had potential honey, but they just blocked you.” You didn’t know if what she was saying was true or just a fit of jealousy, or maybe both.
“Oooh, that hurt, well, at least you always had faith in me.” Your mother pats your father shoulder as a sign of comfort.
The car parks in front of the house, and when you get out, you see your mom’s only focus is on one thing.
“I can’t believe the garbage truck didn’t come. If it doesn’t come tomorrow, I’ll have to make a call.” The trash can has been filling up for several days due to a problem with the garbage truck that passes through your neighborhood. You didn’t know exactly what it was, but you honestly didn’t pay attention to it.
“They’ll come tomorrow, for now let’s relax a bit before going to sleep” your father enters the house while your mother remains thinking until she sighs and begins to walk towards the entrance, you and Eleanor follow behind her until suddenly.
Crack
Your mother stops and looks down at her left shoe, she lifts it in a way you and Eleanor can see what it is. It's a full-grown cockroach. The creature had stuck to your mother's shoe and still appeared to be alive.
"Is that a cockroach? Urgh, fucking pest of shit, and it's still alive. That bastard wishes he'd died with that footprint." Your mother doesn't usually swear, but when it comes to bugs, she doesn't hold back. Poor those who cross her path.
Stomp!!
The cockroach receives a heavy stomp from your mother, and then she goes to the front steps and starts scraping her shoe on the first step.
"And there it goes again. How long did it last this time?" Eleanor asks,
“4 days.” You and your sister are used to this by now, and you even tend to bet on how many days Samantha will last without encountering another bug. “I bet you $5 she’ll find another one tomorrow.” You saw it coming. You both know Samantha will empty the small trash cans around the house, so the odds were high. With no other option, you had to choose another day.
“Little cheater, mmmmmh, then I bet it’ll be 2 days.” Your mother continued scraping her shoe, and by then there shouldn’t be any trace of the little creature left.
Your mother finally stops scraping her shoe on the step as she breathes slowly to calm herself. “I…I’ll go take a shower.”
“Don’t forget, I have a game tomorrow!” Eleanor runs into the house while you just stand there. Tomorrow will be a quiet day. Dad will go to work, Mom will stay and watch Eleanor’s game. You enter the house and go to your room. You watch some videos on Facebook and some series, and when it’s really late, you finally decide to go to sleep.
*****
“PLAF!!”
You wake up instantly when you feel your body hit something soft, but what you didn't expect was the horrible smell entering your nose. What's happening?! And what's that horrible smell?!
“THANKS FOR HELPING ME WITH THE BAGS, PETRA, YOU SAVE ME TIME,” that was your mom, but her voice sounds like a huge horn. Who is she talking to if you're here?
“NO PROBLEM, MOM, AND HEY, I WANTED TO KNOW IF I COULD GO TO THE GYM WITH YOU?” Was that your voice? That... that wasn't possible. You want to believe this is a dream, but the atmosphere was too real to be just a dream.
“DO YOU REALLY WANT TO JOIN?! HEY, I'M GLAD YOU'RE FINALLY CONSIDERING IT, AND OF COURSE YOU CAN JOIN WITH ME!!” Suddenly the ceiling of your area rises and a light blinds you for a few seconds until suddenly something eclipses the sky again and falls in front of you, causing you to sink into this strange place.
“I CAN’T CLOSE THE LID, I’LL LEAVE THE OTHER ONE ON THE FLOOR” and there was your voice again, it was something that would take a while to process but now that there was some light you could notice that what was around you were some huge black bags and right now you were lying on, a banana? and then you finally understood, you were inside a garbage dumpster and not just any garbage dumpster, it was your family’s, but the craziest thing about this is that everything is gigantic, how did you end up like this?
“THAT’S FINE, BUT WHAT MADE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?” It was incredible that your mom didn’t notice anything strange. In the past, you refused to go with her because it was too much effort, and her routines weren’t easy at all.
“WELL, l THOUGHT MAYBE IT WAS TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE. LET ME TAKE THE LAST BAG.”
You couldn't stand the smell anymore and you started to climb which was somewhat difficult since some pieces of garbage were slippery, staining you even more as you climbed, the good thing was that it wasn't much what you had to climb since the trash can was already full so when you reached the top you could contemplate the outside, your house now looked like a huge fortress or something much bigger, you could feel the breeze of the wind and hear the birds singing, it was early but you could notice that dad's car was no longer there and mom's must still be in the garage, and there you were "you" in front of the door talking to your mom, her appearance was incredibly identical to you, this imposter is going to steal your life and no one will know, just thinking about that makes you angry, they go back in and you walk to get to the shore.
You reach the shore and you only see the garbage bag that "you" left on the ground, you think too much about whether to jump or not, but not wanting to stay for too long you jump and fall directly into the bag, just as you imagined the bag had softened your fall although it was better not to risk it like that, you get off the garbage bag and think about what to do now, you could walk until you get to the house but the problem is that you won't be able to climb those steps, the other would be to go with a neighbor and ask for help, but then something crossed your mind, the imposter is going to return to leave the last bag and she will look down, that would be the opportunity to confront this imposter and find out why she is doing all this.
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