Page 14 of Red's Beast

I quickly turn to the left to take off my cloak and once it hangs up on the little knob, I look at the living room floors and nearly faint. They were so clean yesterday, but they’re not now. They’re once again messed up with splotches of stuff everywhere. Then there is that smell in the room, which is worse than yesterday.

I can’t help but scrunch my nose in disgust as I try not to throw up on the floors and make it worse.

Why doesn’t he want me to clean the living room? It’s horrible.

Before I decide to run away from it all and throw myself into the woods, I turn and pick up the bucket to head to the bathroom. I reluctantly make my way toward it, down the hallway behind thestairs. When I push the door open to see the state it is in, I nearly faint from the smell alone.

I can’t believe the foul odors coming from within or the messes that are left behind. In just a week, they have completely ruined the bathroom. They have splattered unknown substances against the wall that are now caked up. The toilet lid is up with things smeared on it. I’m afraid to even pull back the shower curtain.

The bucket falls from my hand and lands on the wooden floor with a loud thud.

Corbin leans forward over my shoulder and laughs, which startles me. “Oh, have fun cleaning that, little alpha. Be thankful dad left you a mop today.”

I look down at the bucket, but the mop isn’t there. “Where is the mop?”

Corbin scoffs. “Near the door. I guess you are so used to scrubbing on your hands and knees with that little brush you have forgotten what a mop looks like.”

He continues to laugh as he walks down the hallway, tossing something in his hands. A moment later, I hear him going up the stairs and sigh in relief. Maybe he’ll stay up in his room today, away from me.

But then I look down into the bucket and realize why he was laughing. He has the gloves from the bucket that I wear when I clean if it gets too bad.

I head to the living room and find the mop where he said it is, but sadly, there aren’t any extra gloves lying around. As I head to the bathroom, nausea rolls around my stomach at the thought of scrubbing everything bare handed.

I enter the bathroom and lean the mop handle against the wall. With nothing but a rag to clean with, I snatch it out of the bucket and prepare everything. Once the bucket is full, I take the rag out and use it to clean the sink first since it’s the one thing in the bathroom that isn’t a complete mess.

I wipe down the cabinets next and try to prolong what I know is to come. When I’m finally content with how they look, my eyes dart to the side of the next project.

The toilet.

Swallowing hard, I suck up my pride and drop to my knees beside it as I scrub the outside of the bowl. It doesn’t take too long to finish the outside, but the inside and the lid is what I fear.

I scrub until I feel like my fingers might fall off. There are so many encrusted bits on the seat that I gag each time one comes off. “This is disgusting.”

Oddly, they are like clear or cream in color, so I’m not sure what it is.

We are an alpha. Why are you letting him do this to you? Why let any of them? You are the heir to the pack.

“If I challenge Nigel, then I will lose and then who would look after grandmother? Someone has to take care of her.” I stop scrubbing the bowl and look at the shower. “If I can’t shift, then I don’t stand a chance. We can’t beat them like this.”

If only I could take her away from here and leave this place behind, but it’s impossible with the monster in the woods. It still strikes me as odd that Nigel came through without any issues, because so many others have lost their lives trying to leave.

I close my eyes and suck in a breath, but as my lungs fill with air, I nearly choke. It’s so horrible that I can taste it, so I begin gagging.

Laughter echoes through the rooms and down the hallway. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that they are laughing at me.

I roll my eyes as I get it under control and continue cleaning until it’s spotless.

As I stand a half hour later to stretch my legs, I lean over toward the shower and grab the edge of the curtain. When I yank it away, my lips droop into a frown.

How can these people be so messy?

Cleaning the shower doesn’t take as long as the toilet and, honestly, it goes by quickly. When I reach the bathroom upstairs that belongs to Corbin, well, it’s in worse shape than the one downstairs, which isn’t a surprise.

Look at who it belongs to. Of course, he’d make a mess and leave it like this just to punish me.

Once I finish with his bathroom, I make my way down the stairs and set the bucket down with the mop in the same spot it once sat. Oddly, there’s a second bucket there that wasn’t before. I check through the supplies and see it’s all for the kitchen.

I pick it up and head toward the kitchen through the opening in the wall in the living room. My gaze moves to the right, where the dining room lies. It’s in pristine condition, without a trace of anything anywhere. As for the kitchen, that’s an entirely different matter.

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