It Happened So Fast

Chores

What's the best part in a person's morning routine? Answers maybe of varieties : the well brewed coffee alongside with a little bit of cream not forgetting the strong aura which works magic on one's soul with a light touch--- plastering a 'good vibes only' sticker for the day or it could be the morning exercises, breakfast consisting of bacon & eggs- sunny side up, morning shows on the radio et al.  Then there's me who finds no 'the best part' in first light because mornings tend to be usually ruined by this artificial gadgets known as the alarm. The feelings mutual over here as well. Unlike the alarms of others mine is quite - scratch that- unquestionably unique. Well I wonder how I tolerate it so well because if an average person simply gets annoyed to the point of throwing the alarm across their room until it stops its 'veni, vidi, vici' state I'm doing a great job at handling my best friends mouth. You got it right. What are the chances of your best friend being the worst thing on earth? For me, its just a swish from a wand sort of luck since childhood.

"Alright you lazy buttocks, on the count of three if you don't find yourself to the bathroom- I'm going to throw you out of the window so that I could tell Mrs. A  you died instead of seeing you  get fired. See I can make your life way easier that way." Instead of seeing the sunlight hovering the bed in different forms when I first c***k my eyes, I see the fuming face of my best friend and instead of hearing the tweets and little hums of morning birds, I hear different strings of threats from her, my best friend-Alex. Human alarms are rather abusive than the tiny gadgets.

"Where's the snooze button in my life?" I groaned pulling the warm covers tightly against me.

"Let me demonstrate you what a snooze button feels like," the click of Alex's heels against the wooden floorboard in my room told me she's not coming in peace. Hell how can even a pair of pumps sound so threatening? Before I knew it, the covers were ripped off---away from my body. I cried inwardly at the loss of contact. 

"You've got three second, young lady. Three-" I took Alex's previous threat into serious consideration.

"Two." My heart picked its pace once I threw myself off the bed and dashed towards the bathroom.  It's the fear of history repeating itself that got my legs all worked up. My mind roamed hastily back at the time when I took one of Alex's threats for joke and she proved me otherwise. It almost left a scar in my arm.

"And that's how ladies and gentlemen, I keep my best friend's body in shape every morning," I scowled at Alex's crackling self.

"Ever wondered how on the other hand your threats could leave me dead from a heart attack every morning?" I called out, stepping inside the shower allowing the hot water to run all over my body.

"Well I could grant that for you if you take any longer than thirty minutes. We are late already for work," Alex's replied in an amused tone.

"Jeez! woman," I rolled my eyes and paid attention to the water.

* * *

"At least you save our asses from getting fired," I groaned from inside of Alex's Volkswagen GTI when the old building came into our view. It was a stroke of good luck when we actually received the job opportunity. Take me and Alex as two loners who basically had no goals to attain after graduating from high-school. We were only drawing invisible lines from after graduation to what next. It was Alex's aunt, Lisa who came up with the news of staff requirements for a library. And so we took our chances.

"You mean your lazy ass?" Alex chuckled.

"Good Morning Mrs. Aubrey," me and Alex chorused, plastering the usual morning smile though it appeared fake every time we tried.

"Good Morning girls,"she greeted us back with her warming smile which was genuine unlike ours.

Mrs.Aubrey is the owner of the library who gave us the golden hello like a genie in a lamp. Some say when people are at their late 60s they turn all robotic and rude but with Mrs.A considering me and Alex as her own children, I think otherwise.

"Girls, I have an announcement to make,"Mrs. Aubrey informed making me and Alex to gather around her table instantly.

"What is it, Mrs. Aubrey?"I questioned, imagining that the reason for Mrs.Aubrey's announcement is the closure of the library. But it cannot be that we are broke, can it, since we've got a handful of loyal customers along with an enhancement of revenue?

"To start off..."She trailed off with her eyes searching for a hint of prediction from mine and Alex's faces like she was sure what the outcome would be if she speaks up precisely,"I'll be going out of town for some business purpose- which would take a week or two. Therefore I'm quite not sure whether the two of you would be able to handle it without me."

I let out a sigh of relief and was surprised to see Alex doing the same from the other side. So we weren't going to close the library nor are we broke.

"Of Course, Mrs. Aubrey," Alex answered but I saw her struggle to come up with the next statement therefore I took my turn.

 "But taking care of it might be quite risky for most of our cameras fixed at the front are jammed." I added softly not trying to make my reluctance sound and look obvious.

As if coming to realization about my statement, Mrs. Aubrey flicked her wrist,"Oh my! I totally forgot about that. I  should probably ask my husband to lend his hand--man's a good technician."

"Thank you for understanding us Mrs. Aubrey," I thanked her.

"And if there's anything else that we could do, please do tell us,"Alex offered with a polite smile to which Mrs. Aubrey responded with delight in her eyes,"There's just one favor I want from both of you." She paused but continued seeing our encouraging faces," Once your duties are done for the day, could you handover these keys to my husband?"

Taking the keys from her outstretched arm, Alex responded,"Sure thing."

"Great,I'll write you down the address then." And after that, Mrs. A took us both into a warm hug making sure to thank us.

"Alright, Alright I shall take my leave now. Take care of yourselves and the library while I'm gone, girls," She shouted heading towards the exit.

"We will! Good bye," We shouted after her, watching the fragile figure disappearing. The library felt unusually quiet after Mrs.A left.

"We sure will have a lovely time without her," Alex stated with sarcasm to which I silently agreed. It wasn't just helping the readers pick up their genres in request or do the usual record keeping, there's more to do--- especially the work of Mrs. A.

"Let's manage somehow," Alex said snaking her arms around my shoulders, "Come on, we've got work to do."

****

"It's time to go!" I shouted

"Jeez Ellie be quiet! This is a library and you know it," She shushed me, checking off some written piece from her book. The image of her sitting behind the tall, table only made me think of the goblins in Gringotts, from the movie Harry Potter. 

Stifling a laugh, I glanced around noticing our last customer too took off 10 minutes earlier,"Just to inform you, all our customers are gone."

"Oh, have they? I didn't even sense them exiting" Alex peeked her head out, roaming her baby blue eyes around each and every boring corner of the library. I rolled my eyes and retorted," How will you? When you are acting like Rapunzel--all high and trapped."

"Hey!" She threw a newspaper at me while I took the shot, giving priority to let the laughter out before my defense.