Leticia P and the sponges

Welcome back! It’s time for a new installment in my serial: Leticia P. This one’s a little shorter, (it’s been a busy week), but hopefully we’ll be able to keep continuing the series! So, without further ado…

“Wrong way.” 

I veered around the stack of crates. “You’ve been saying ‘wrong way’ for five minutes.” I was utterly and thoroughly lost, and getting perilously close to “hangry”.  

Asher shrugged. “You get used to it.” 

“To being lost?” I snorted. 

The initial intimidation had worn off, and I could see now that these dishwashers enjoyed disgruntled newbies.  I, however, did not enjoy being the newbie. My arms were starting to hurt; both Asher and I had been tasked with finding old sponges somewhere in the back of the warehouse. Because of course, the plumbers were too busy to come help us with our overloaded pipes. 

Which meant Asher and I were appointed plumbers for the day. 

“So, what grade you in?” 

“10th.” I admitted, watching him out of the corner of my eye. A plumber should at least have a diploma, they shouldn’t be fifteen and in 10th grade. 

He nodded absent-mindedly, and I realized he was slowing down, appearing to look for something. “Ah!” he turned down another hall, to which I rolled my eyes and followed. For goodness sakes, the man couldn’t navigate even if they’d given him a map. 

He stopped in front of a door. “Oh.” 

“What?” I glanced over his shoulder, squinting at the door. 

He tried the handle. “It’s locked.” 

“Why would gross old sponges be behind a locked door?” Why would they save old sponges?! This place was beginning to weird me out. 

“I dunno.” Asher tried the handle again. 

“It’s not going to magically unlock.” 

He turned, glaring down at me. “You could be a little more optimistic.” 

“I fainted my first day of dishwashing, optimism hasn’t exactly been my specialty for the past three hours.” 

Asher tried the door again, and I couldn’t resist snickering when it didn’t unlock. Finally, he began to look around for a key. He screamed when he felt above the door frame and a spider crawled down his arm. And I screamed when he threw it at me in the process of trying to kill it. 

Once both of us had regained composure, Asher enlisted me in his search. 

No key was found. 

I suggested Asher go back and find Nicole while I waited (I was too stubborn to admit I was sore and very very unhappy with my first day), but he told me if we didn’t find sponges within the next ten minutes the plumbing would burst. 

I rolled my eyes. Sponges couldn’t save us at this point. 

Asher tried picking the lock, which didn’t work. He tried sliding something between the door and the frame. That didn’t work. 

He tried peering under the door. 

I sat on a old wooden chair, staring glumly at the floor while he continued doing absolutely nothing. 

Finally, I heard a crack, and glanced up. 

Asher looked at me, wide-eyed. He pushed the door open, the rusted doorknob completely detached from the door. 

“YOU BROKE IT?!” 

“In my defense, it was already coming off.” 

I rolled my eyes, but trudged through the door behind him, choking on dust and wishing Nicole had chosen Simon to help Asher instead. 

Racks and racks of dusty junk filled the room, old towels, cracked buckets, slimy trash cans, broken dishes, bent silverware. “They keep everything?” I gaped. 

Asher stood beside me, jaw slack. “Whoa.” 

“Is that… A sink?” 

Asher stepped over a pile of sponges, which I immediately began piling into the cardboard box we’d brought to collect them. 

Asher poked around the sink, glancing at the piping, and the then the sink itself, which was an old crusty yellow. 

“This place is gross.” I turned leave, with or without Asher, the sponges piled high in my box.

There was a man standing in the doorway, grinning at me with crooked yellow teeth.

I shrieked, most undignified… And fainted again.

So far our heroine has proven herself slightly fragile when it come to creepy people who appear from thin air, and furry things with claws that climb up your leg. Stay tuned!

(Oh, and we have a very very special post tomorrow, an interview with a lovely gal who began a small community dedicated to helping young writers and up and coming authors! 😉

And with that, I wish you the best!

-Louise