Last-minute Chaos

• Zuhaira Baki, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2018

There I was, by myself. Isolated from humanity. I laid on my bed, with the pleasure of knowing that I was alone. Nobody to boss me around or restrict me from gratification of my desires. I sat up and looked at my gaming TV, and back down at the PS4 controller. I was going to be alone for a long time, so why not enjoy it? I hadn’t played on it for ages… about three weeks. But now that it was the holidays, I was free from assessments… well, school assessments. Before I was left in isolation, I was given a task. A task which is harder than an almost impossible maths equation. To clean the family room. In my house, it was an impossible task. The family room brought out the beasts of my siblings. They became complete psychopaths when they were around the large flat-screen TV, the minifridge and the recliner couch. That room made them over-excited which is what made them so crazy. I was given strict orders clean it up before nine o’clock, which was when they would be home. That wasn’t for another four hours. A small game on the PS4 won’t hurt, right? Wrong! I started playing and became so determined to win. The seconds I had played turned into minutes. The minutes had turned into hours. And before I knew it, there was only half an hour till my entire family was back. I convinced myself that half an hour was a pretty long time to clean just one room. But when I came downstairs and looked at the family room, I had realised how wrong I was. It was going to need months of work to clean! I cleaned everything as best as I could, but also as quick as I could. Before I knew it, the room was spotless… except for the danger zone; the couch. That was the hardest place to clean, as it was the dirtiest. With ten minutes remaining, I remembered the strict orders which I was given that I must be complete before anyone got home. I picked up a garbage bag, and began hurling everything from under the couch into it. Just as I finished, I heard the car pulling up in the driveway. I bolted to the backdoor and dumped the bag into the general waste bin, and then quickly ran back inside. My family had walked in as soon as I sat down. “Good Job!” said my mum praising my hard work. I sighed a breath of relief.