[After school]
Grace was walking home when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She screamed.
"Yo relax, it's just me." Jeremiah said with a slight grin on his face.
"Well next time speak before making contact idiot. You scared me."
Jeremiah laughed.
"Yeah I know" He said, still chuckling a bit.
Grace scoffed and walked away.
Jeremiah grabbed her shoulder again.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop. I just wanted to take you to my aunts Laundromat.... You know... You're walking the opposite direction..." Jeremiah said, trying to keep himself from laughing.
"I need to change idiot, I'm not going to go apply for a Job and look like I dont care about what I-" Jeremiah grabbed Grace's hand and starting Running the opposite direction with her, cutting her off.
"W-Wait! I've got to-"
"No you don't, my Aunt doesn't care about clothing. Also you've got me to vouch for you! Also she has no employees so she won't deny you."
They continued to run until the reached the Laundromat.
It was a small baby blue building, cracked, and with an bad vibe.
Grace was out of breath but Jeremiah seemed completely fine.
"This is it! Oh look I see her!" Jeremiah said happily.
He grabbed Grace's hand and took her inside.
"Oh hey Jeremiah. What are you doing here? Oh and who's that?" Jeremiah's aunt said, closing a dryer.
"This is my friend from school. She's looking for a part-time job. So I wanted to see if she could work here with you." Jeremiah said.
"Yeah that's completely fine. I need the help anyways. You can call me aunt Shannon." She said happily.
"Oh ok. Well excuse me Aunt Shannon but this place is a mess. It's supposed to be somewhere you can clean things but how are you going to clean things if the place itself isn't clean?" Grace said, letting go of Jeremiah's hand and looking around.
Aunt Shannon just laughed awkwardly.
"If I clean this place up and the outside will you raise my pay?" Grace said.
Jeremiah chuckled. "I didn't know you had negotiation skills Grace."
Grace blushed. "Y-Yeah! So what?!.."
"Yeah I don't mind raising the pay a bit." Aunt Shannon said with a smile.
Grace eyes lit up happily. She looked over and saw a mop and a bucket.
Jeremiah left the Laundromat and aunt Shannon sat down on a bench and fell asleep.
Grace got to cleaning. She first mopped the floors. Then cleaned the walls, taking off lint and spider webs. She picked up hidden trash too. Then Grace went outside and cleaned up....
After a while she was finally done, it was like the place was shining now.
Grace didn't want to wake up Aunt Shannon so she sat on another bench in the Laundromat.
She sat there quietly, the silence started to get unbearable but suddenly Grace hear a noise from a room. She got up and went to the room door and it brought a chill down Grace's spine. Staring at the door made Grace uneasy. It was like everything around her started to go dark.
Grace reached for the door handle slowly when suddenly someone grabbed her hand.
Grace was startled. It was only Aunt Shannon though.
"That room is off limits.... Why were you about to go in there? Did you feel something... Off?" Aunt Shannon said.
"N-No.... I-I didn't clean in there so that was what I was about to do...." Grace said nervously.
"Really? Without anything to clean with?" Aunt Shannon said with a suspicious tone in her voice.
Grace took her hand away from Aunt Shannon's and backed up a bit.
"Okay, Okay. I just heard that there was something was wrong with the room. I-I just wanted to take a peak in there." Grace said nervously, not wanting Aunt Shannon to know that the room gave off a vibe to her.
"Okay that's good.... Tomorrow I'm meeting up with someone so could you lock up tomorrow for me?" Aunt Shannon said.
Grace's eyes lit up.
"Y-yeah! Of course! I'll lock up!" Grace said excitedly.
Aunt Shannon Chuckled.
"You're adorable. And thanks. It's time to go now though. Sorry for sleeping... I didn't get any sleep last night. When I'm near someone then I can. So I took the opportunity." Aunt Shannon said with a sigh.
"Why?..." Grace said curiously.
"I've been seeing-..... Nothing... Lets go." Aunt Shannon said, walking towards the door for the Laundromat.
The door was already open but suddenly the door slammed shut.
Aunt Shannon looked terrified, as pale as a ghost.
"N-No! Not again. No! Leave me alone! I'm sick of you! Sick! Sick you hear me! Leave me alone!" Aunt Shannon yelled.
Who was she talking to....?
Grace was scared but she ran up to the panicking aunt and placed her hand on her.
Aunt Shannon was startled.
"I-its ok, calm down." Grace said.
Suddenly the door opened again. Aunt Shannon ran out quickly. Grace followed after her.
"T-that's why I actually wanted to lock up tomorrow. I'm sorry for lying to you..... Sometimes when I have to lock up, the door does that and I hear voices and scratches and sometimes things touch me. It's horrifying. But I can't abandon this place. It... Belonged to my late mother.... This place was her pride and joy. I know she would be mad if I abandoned it so I let it get as bad as possible so that i would have no choice but to close it down." Aunt Shannon said frantically.
"I-Its ok. Calm down. Just take a break... How about this. Tomorrow me and my friends will look around and see what's happening. Just give me the keys. You don't have to work tomorrow." Grace said worryingly, using the situation as an advantage.
"Are you sure?" Aunt Shannon said.
Grace nodded.
Aunt Shannon gave Grace the keys to the Laundromat and sighed. Grace went to the Laundromat and locked the door and gave a thumbs up to Aunt Shannon.
Later at night, Grace was laying down on her back with one of her arms covering her eyes.
Then Grace heard something in her closet. It startled her. She sat up in bed and stared at the closet for a moment. Then she heard something again.
Grace got out of bed and walked over to the closet door. She breathed heavily. She reached for the door slowly. She grabbed it and opened it and there was a crow in her closet. It flew at her and started attacking her.
She screamed and fell onto the ground, guarding ber head. The crow continued to attack Grace and all she could do was guard her face.
It was bitting at her arms, leaving deep wounds. This Crow was strong. Suddenly a cat attacked the bird.
The can but off it's head, leaving Grace shocked and horrified.
With blood all over her arm and tears running down her face, Grace Ran out her apartment only to so see a whole flock of crows waiting for her, grinning.
Grace was horrified, she backed up but tripped and then she woke up in her bed, her arm bleeding and with tears running down hee face.
"I-it was a dream but.... I'm bleeding." Grace said shockingly.
Then she heard something in her closet. Her eyes shrunk out of fear. Her body shook. She was paralyzed. She couldn't move. That's when she heard music coming from the closet.
Reluctant, she walked over to the closet door and peaked in. There wasn't a crow. It was a remote control car moving on its on.
Grace sighed from relief. She picked the toy up out of anger and walked over to her window and threw it out.
She stood there for a moment, staring out the window, breathing heavily.
She then collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion. She stared at the roof for a while until she eventually fell asleep.