Houses Have Feelings Too By: Vinshie C. 8-13
Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru were all very good friends. Momoko lived with her parents and little sister. Miyako lived with her grandmother. Kaoru lived with her parents and older brothers. They were practically sister to each other. They had sleepovers every weekend and did almost everything together. The three girls were all very familiar with each other's family.
On day, Miyako and her grandma decided to redecorate the house. It would be a difficult task because they owned an ancient Japanese house that had been in her family for generations. Back then, many people lived together which meant big houses. Miyako's house was one of those big houses. The house was built around a tall cylindrical room that went through the main floor and second floor. Surrounding the room was six rooms one each floor. There were three rooms on one side, three on the other side. Because of this, there were no windows in the cylindrical room. In total, there were thirteen rooms in the house. It was too hard for Miyako's grandma to help with the redecoration, because of her old age, so she redesigned her room while Miyako volunteered to do the rest of the house. Although she was very creative, she soon ran out of ideas for a new decoration. On Wednesday, she came home from school and planned out how her room would be. On Thursday, she emptied out her room and started to clean her room on Friday.
Now it was Saturday and Momoko and Kaoru were on their way over to Miyako's house for a sleepover during the long weekend. They did not know about the redecorating so they were surprised when Miyako didn't show up to open the door. Her grandma opened it for them. As soon as they walked in, they saw a huge mess. Miyako came down the stairs while balancing some boxes in her hands.
"Miyako, your friends are here." her grandmas said to her. Miyako looked up to greet them when she tripped on the steps. Momoko ran to catch her and caught her just in time. Meanwhile, Kaoru managed to catch all the boxes before they hit the ground.
"Thanks Momoko." Momoko helped steady Miyako. They looked up just in time to see Kaoru catch the last of the boxes and set them down.
Kaoru turned around to see them staring at her with awed expressions. She was confused. Was something wrong?
"H-h-how did you do that?" Momoko said with a stammer.
"Huh?" Kaoru scratched her head. As you can see, she wasn't very smart.
"The boxes, how did you catch them all?" Miyako said. Her eyes drifted to look at the piled of boxes that were perfectly stacked in the corner of the room.
"Oh. Uh, I guess it's just cause of my reflexes." Kaoru said with a shrug. "Anyways, what's with all these boxes?"
"Oh, you guys didn't know?" Miyako said, surprised. "We're redecorating. Since grandma is getting old, I volunteered to help do the whole house."
Momoko and Kaoru gasped. "The whole house?!" they said in unison.
"Yep." Miyako said cheerfully as she started walking up the stairs to get more stuff
As soon as she was out of earshot, Momoko whispered to Kaoru. "Do you think she can do it?" Kaoru thought about it for a bit. Momoko continue. "I don't think so. I have faith in her but it would take forever." Momoko's voice was full of concern.
"She'll kill herself trying." Kaoru said.
"Although she's pretty tough, she is still the weaker of us three. I think we should help her whether she wants it or not." Momoko said firmly. Kaoru nodded her head in agreement. They both knew that Miyako preferred to do things herself and could be a bit stubborn in receiving help.
They walked up the stairs and spotted Miyako balancing boxes once again. Momoko and Kaoru grabbed some of the boxes and put it on the floor. "Miyako," Momoko started, "we have decided to help you whether you like it or not." Momoko crossed her arms to show she was serious.
Miyako looked them in the eye and smiled. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,"
Momoko was surprised. She hadn't expected Miyako to give in. Seeing her like this made her mind go blank for a moment. Even Kaoru was surprised. The looked at each other and smiled. They started to help Miyako clean up.
They cleaned for two hours straight. Now it is 7 o'clock and Miyako's grandma had called them down for dinner. While they were eating, Miyako shared the good news with her grandma. "Grandma, I have some fabulous news for you." Miyako's grandma looked up from her food. "Momoko and Kaoru decided to help me redecorate the house."
"That's wonderful." Miyako's grandma said. Looking back down at her food, she said, "by the way, I have to go out of town for a bit. I'll be leaving really early tomorrow morning."
"Why?" Miyako asked.
"I have to go take care of my sister who is ill at the moment. I will be back soon. I'm not sure when but I will call you to tell you when I'm coming home." Miyako's grandma said as she continued to eat her food.
"Okay." Miyako said. "We'll just continue to clean and redecorate."
"Okay, but make sure you do it properly. I hope you understand how to." This got the attention of the three girls. They thought that they already knew how. "Although it may seem easy," Miyako's grandma started again as if she was reading their minds, "You have to first clean every room in the house. You also have to be very nice to the house and redecorate it as nicely as possible. If you don't, then the house will feel sad." The girls looked confused. "Houses have feelings too you know," she continued. "If you leave a room unattended, it will feel left out and become mad." The girls looked at each other and knew what each other was thinking. She must be crazy, but they nodded anyways. "Good." Miyako's grandma said. After dinner, they went upstairs, got ready for bed, and slept.
The next day, Momoko and Kaoru awoke to see Miyako already preparing breakfast. Momoko got up to help Miyako. Kaoru, being the lazy person she is, slept in some more but the smell of bacon and pancakes woke her up. After breakfast, they grabbed the cleaning supplied and started preparing for a big day ahead of them. Since there were thirteen rooms, it was hard to split them evenly. That's when Momoko suggested that the first person done would do the thirteenth room. Everybody thought it would be Kaoru because her athletic background would help her. She wouldn't get as tired as easily and she would be able to move faster.
By the end of the day, all the rooms were cleaned and cleared. Kaoru, as expected, finished her four rooms first yet, she was too lazy to do the thirteenth room and decided to go watch the soccer game on T.V.
Momoko was second to finish and spotted Kaoru cheering for the Newtownsville Titans and has assumed that Kaoru had finished the thirteenth room. She decided to go read her comics.
Miyako worked very slowly and paid attention to every single detail. She ended up finishing last. Momoko had already started making supper so Miyako decided to help her. Kaoru still sat in front of the T.V.
After dinner, as they were getting ready for bed, they discussed what they would do the next day. "I guess we should start redecorating then." Miyako suggested.
"It seems good to me." Momoko said. Kaoru nodded her head in agreement.
"Good. Since Kaoru finished first, she must have also finished the thirteenth room right?" Miyako looked at Kaoru.
Kaoru gulped. She didn't want to admit that she had been too lazy to so she nodded her head. "Yep." she said with a smile.
"Great." Miyako smiled. "You can redecorate it too then. Since it hasn't been used since my grandma was a little girl, you'll be the only person who knows enough about the room to be able to redecorate it."
"Uh, yeah." Kaoru said with a weak smile.
"Okay," Momoko looked at them, "Now that that's dealt with, let's go to bed." The girls nodded and slowly drifted off to sleep. That is, all except Kaoru who had trouble falling asleep for she felt that someone, or something, was watching her. Soon, the sandman sent her into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, the girls woke up full of energy. Even Kaoru did. They were eating ham and sausages when Miyako told them some great news. "Wince you guys were nice enough to volunteer to help, I decided to let you guys each decorate the two rooms on either side of my room. Those rooms can be your own personal rooms." Miyako smiled and continued, "All you guys have to do is choose a room that you already are cleaning and trade with me. Then I can redecorate those two rooms and you guys can redecorate your own personal rooms. How does that sound to you?"
"That's so nice of you Miyako," Momoko said, "Thanks you."
"That would be awesome." Kaoru said. She stood up. "Thanks." Then she did her happy dance.
"Great." Miyako said with a laugh. Kaoru just couldn't dance. Momoko also started to laughing. "There's only one thing," Kaoru stopped dancing and looked at her. Momoko looked at her too. "Kaoru can't trade the thirteenth room. I don't know anything about it.
"Sure." Kaoru said. She thought it was worth it if she was going to be allowed to decorate her own room. She lived in a house with four older brothers. It was hard to get any privacy. Momoko was thinking the same thing. It was hard to live with an annoying little sister who wanted to know everything. They decided to get to work.
They worked for the whole day and managed to redecorate the whole house. All except the thirteenth room which Kaoru decided to not do again. She assumed that it wouldn't matter if she didn't. The room hadn't been used in years. It wasn't as if someone would decide to check the room. She finished her three rooms and went to tell Miyako which room had been left for her. Since she was first done, she was allowed to choose which room she wanted, the left or the right one. She chose the right one because it faced north which meant it would be cold almost all year round. For some reason, she preferred cold to hot. She even preferred cold showers.
Momoko was second to finish again. She went to look for Miyako, who was working on the room Kaoru had left for her, to tell her which room she had left for her. Then she went to design the room on the left.
When she arrived, Kaoru had already finished painting her room. Her whole room was green. All of it was green. Kaoru had also finished moving everything in. she had even finished putting up posters of the Newtownsville soccer team. They were her favourite.
Momoko decided to do something different. The top half of her room would be red and the bottom half would be pink. She would have poster of her favourite comic book characters and a giant shelf for all her comic books. It would be similar to Miyako's.
Miyako's room was very simple. Her walls were painted light blue and white and had poster of her favourite fashion designers on them. She also had a shelf to hold the sketchbooks that she drew her outfit design ideas in. she wanted to grow up to become a fashion designer.
Right before dinner, Miyako received a call from her grandma. Her grandma would be back the next day. Her sister was feeling much better and didn't need to be cared for anymore.
For dinner, they had some instant noodles. Then they had some homemade cookies for dessert. Sadly, Kaoru still felt as if she was being watched. After dinner, they decided to stay up later than usual since they didn't have to wake up early the next morning to clean.
It was a good thing they were awake because Kaoru almost got hit in the head by a flying bucket. Good thing she had great reflexes because she manage to dodge the bucket. But then it flew at her again and she had to catch it. She looked into the bucket. It was full of cleaning supplies.
"What in the world?" Kaoru looked around. Nothing seemed wrong. She put down the bucket.
"That was weird," Momoko agreed.
Suddenly a broom flew at her out of nowhere. It was aimed straight at Kaoru's face. She put her hand up and caught it with ease. Momoko was scared. So was Miyako. Were they going to be the next ones to get attacked? Suddenly, more supplies flew at her from random direction. Momoko thought that they would hit her and Miyako but instead, they flew right past them and right at Kaoru. This time, Kaoru was ready. She held the broom like a baseball bat and started hitting the supplies that flew at her. As soon as she hit them, they fell to the floor at her feet. After about ten continuous minutes of flying cleaning supplies, they stopped. Kaoru looked around to make sure she was safe before she lowered the broom.
"T-that was scary," Miyako said with a shudder, "what happened?"
"I actually don't know." Kaoru said slowly. They decided to go to bed and figure it out in the morning.
Suddenly, they heard a strange tapping noise that stopped them in their tracks. What scared them was the fact that the tapping sounded a lot like a weird cough. They turned to look at each other. Then, the lights went out. The tapping noise also stopped, but then it started again.
"What was that?" Miyako asked, slightly scared. She pulled out a small flashlight from her pocket. Miyako was always prepared for any emergency.
"Maybe it was a tree branch blowing against the window." Momoko suggested.
"I guess so." Miyako said. Her nerves slowly started to calm down. Kaoru, who was the bravest of the three, didn't seem scared at all but she still looked around in case cleaning supplies came flying again. She didn't say it out loud but she still felt that someone was watching her.
Suddenly, they heard a weird creaking noise. Momoko and Miyako started to get really freaked out. Just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, cleaning supplies started to fly at them again. However, it seemed that this time, they were coming from the same direction.
"Doesn't it seem to be a little suspicious that the cleaning supplies are all coming from the same direction because the first time they came from random directions?" Momoko asked. "Maybe we should follow it."
"That's fine by me, Kaoru said. She stood in front of the others protectively. "Stay behind me. I can whack all the cleaning supplies out of the way." Momoko and Miyako nodded and stood in a line behind her. They walked around the house, following the direction the cleaning supplies were coming from. They were also being very careful when the cleaning supplies flew at them from around the corner. Soon, they found a pile of cleaning supplies lying in front of a door. They had no idea where they had ended up because it was too dark. They knew that the cleaning supplies had stopped flying but they also knew that the strange tapping noise and creaking noise had gotten louder. The looked at the door, the sounds seemed to be coming from behind the door.
Kaoru cautiously opened the door. It creaked open. The noises got louder. They peaked into the room. Everything seemed normal. Everything seemed normal except for the fact that the room was very dusty. Suddenly the room started to move. The walls moved in and out. The floors moved like waves. Suddenly the noise stopped and so did the room. The room went back to normal. They looked around the room and suddenly noticed something that caused them to gasp. They were looking into the room with no windows.
"What in the world?" Kaoru asked for the second time that night.
"I don't know," Momoko said, "I don't think our problem even comes from this world." Momoko turned to look at her friends.
The girls wanted to run away but they were also curious to see what was happening. They stepped into the room for a closer look. The cleaning supplies flew into the room. Kaoru raised the broom that was still in her hand, prepared to attack. She tightened her gip as they flew closer. Just as they were about to reach her, they dropped to the grounds at her feet. They stared at the cleaning supplies. When they didn't show any signs of movement, Kaoru lowered the broom.
They looked around the room. "Wow, this place looks like it hasn't been cleaned in ages." Miyako said. Then she thought for a moment, "But didn't we just clean the house yesterday?" Momoko nodded her head. They were both confused.
"You're right." Momoko said. That when Miyako noticed something.
"Hey, this is the thirteenth room." Miyako suddenly exclaimed.
"How do you know?" Momoko asked.
"Isn't It obvious. The thirteenth room is the only room in the house the goes all the way though both floors of the house, and look," she pointed up, "this room is twice as tall as the other rooms." Momoko and Kaoru looked up. Miyako was right. This was the thirteenth room.
"That's right," Momoko said as she looked around the dusty room, "but then why is it all dusty?" at this point Kaoru had slowly started to back up.
Suddenly, the noise started again and the room moved. Then, it stopped. The girls looked around, confused.
"Anyways, back to our original conversation. Why is the place so dusty?" Momoko asked, continuing the conversation from before.
"Yeah," Miyako said. "Kaoru, weren't you supposed to clean this room?"
Kaoru stopped walking backwards. "Uh, yes, yes I was."
"They why is it all dusty?" Miyako looked at her.
"Uh, I might have gotten a little bit lazy and decided not to do the thirteenth room. I thought it wouldn't matter, it hasn't been used in years anyways." Kaoru said.
"Tsk, tsk. Kaoru, you are such lazy bum." Miyako said, "But it still doesn't make any sense. Why did the cleaning supplies lead us here?" the room started to move again as the noise continued. Then it stopped again like it did before. Miyako and Kaoru turned to look at Momoko. She was sort of like the leader of the three. She was also the smartest of the three and usually had solutions to their problems.
Meanwhile, Momoko was deep in thought, trying to recall any memory that could help them. She thought back to when they first arrived. That didn't help much because her thought were mainly about cleaning supplies, boxes and paint. That's when she remembered something the Miyako's grandma had told them at dinner the other night.
"Hey guys, do you remember what Miyako's grandma said at dinner the night we arrived?" Momoko asked as she looked at them.
"Nope," Kaoru said without thinking. Miyako was still in thought though.
"Well," Momoko continued, "She told us that houses have feelings too, remember?" she looked at her friends. Miyako's eyes widened as she was starting to understand. Kaoru still had a goofy look on her face which showed she was completely lost. Momoko face palmed. "Geez Kaoru, do you see what I'm getting at?"
Kaoru shook her head. "Nope," She said with a goofy smile. She didn't mind being the dumbest of the group.
"Ugh," Momoko groaned, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain."
"Sorry." Kaoru said. The others weren't sure if she was actually sorry.
Momoko sighed. "Anyways, maybe Miyako's grandma was right and houses do have feelings." As if on cue, the room started to move again as the tapping noise continued, then stopped. Momoko continued, "Maybe this room was feeling rejected because the rest of the house got cleaned and redecorated." Kaoru was starting to understand. "And since you," Momoko pointed a finger at Kaoru, "were too lazy to clean this room, the house got mad at you and started throwing cleaning supplies at you. Maybe it was to get revenge or it was to hint to her to clean and redecorate the room. I don't actually know why but I think that the strange tapping is the house coughing. And the creaking is the house wheezing. The dusty room is making the house cough and wheeze."
"Oh." Kaoru said, finally understanding it. That's also when she figured out that the strange feeling that someone was watching her was because the house was watching her. Suddenly, the room started to move again as the tapping noise got louder. She looked up at the ceiling and shouted, "I'm sorry room thirteen. I'm sorry I was too lazy to clean you." The room stopped moving, along with the tapping noise. The house seemed to be listening to her. Momoko and Miyako just stared at her. Kaoru stopped shouting and turned to face them. "I have an idea." They looked at her. "I want to clean and redecorate this room so that the house is happy. Maybe the tapping and creaking noise will stop too."
"That," Momoko started, "is the first smart idea you have ever had." Miyako nodded.
"Do you want some help?" Miyako asked.
"Sure, but only if you want to." Kaoru said.
"I want to." Momoko said cheerfully.
"Me too," Miyako added.
"Good." Kaoru smiled. She thrust her broom into the air. "Let's start right now."
Miyako yawned, "Why don't we do it tomorrow? Right now, we need to sleep." Kaoru looked at her skeptically.
"I wasn't to finish this before your grandma get home. That way, she can see what a great job we have done." Kaoru crossed her arms and pouted like a little kid.
Momoko also yawned. "We'll be able to do that. One person was able to get four rooms done in two days. With three of us, we'll be able to clean and redecorate this room in no time."
Kaoru thought about it. "Fine, let's go to sleep right now and wake up early tomorrow so we can finish this before Miyako's grandma arrives." The others nodded. They decided to all camp out in the living room for the night.
When Momoko and Miyako awoke the next morning, they were surprised to see Kaoru already up and starting to clean the room.
"Did you already eat breakfast?" Miyako asked.
"Nope, I just woke up and got started." Kaoru said. She had managed to finish sweeping the floor and was busy dusting the furniture. Miyako sighed. She made some waffles for breakfast. Kaoru took a quick break to gobble down the waffles before going back to cleaning. By lunch, they had finished all the painting.
During lunch, Miyako decided to tell them about an idea she had earlier. Thanks for helping he with the house guys."
"No problem." The others said together.
"I know I already gave you guys your own room in thanks," she continued, "but I also have decided to name the thirteenth room our playroom."
"That's awesome." Momoko said.
"Sweet," Kaoru stood up and did her happy dance.
After lunch, they painted their names on the wall and drew other decorations. Then they spent the rest of the day chilling in their new playroom.
Soon, Miyako's grandma came home and started preparing supper. "Should we tell her about the 'ghost'?" Momoko asked, using her fingers to put quotation marks around the word ghost.
"Nah," Miyako said. "Let's just keep it to ourselves. It can be our own little secret."
"Sure. That fine with me." Kaoru smiled. "I'm never going to forget to clean a room ever again."
"Me too," Momoko agree.
"Me three," Miyako said with a laugh.
Apparently laughter was contagious because they were soon on the floor laughing their heads off. After dinner, Momoko and Kaoru had to go home. They said their good byes and were soon off.
"See you tomorrow." Miyako shouted as she waved good bye.
Words: 4100
Pages: 15