House of Mouse
Minnie leads us to a cozy-looking, two-story home, with a well-kept front lawn and a pristine outward appearance.
As we walk up the pavement towards her house, She looks back at us and says, “My mom’s a little bit… uh… weird about being clean. Please take your shoes off at the door.”
She tries to open the door, finds it locked, then knocks. After a few moments, A short, mousy woman opens the door a tiny bit and peers through. For a moment, I think I’m staring at a clone of Minnie before a few differences make themselves apparent. Her hair has a few gray streaks running through it, and her face shows ever so slightly more age. The most notable difference, however, is her glasses. She’s wearing thick, round glasses, while Minnie wears none.
Instead of letting us inside, she stands in the narrow crack protectively.
Minnie seems used to this, letting out a casual, “Hey, mom.”
Minnie's doppelganger, evidently her mother, gives both Jess and me a long glance before saying, “Minnie. Who are, uh, these?”
“Just some friends from school, we’re working on a project.”
“Hmm. Well, come on in.”
She swings the door open, Minnie takes off her shoes before she walks in, and puts them in a cubby by the door. Jess and I follow suit.
We’re in an entryway, with a clean, quaint-looking front room to the left of us. Just ahead of that is a stairway perpendicular to the entryway. The stairs lead up to a small second floor which overlooks the main living area.
Minnie’s mom steps in front of us defensively, separating us from most of the main floor. She points up the stairs and says, “Minnie’s room is the first door on the left. Why don’t you go wait for her there? We need to have a chat.”
Minnie looks like she wants to say something, but her mom gives her a hard look, and she stays silent. I give Jess a confused glance, but we follow her directions, and end up in a small, clean room, with a window overlooking the front yard.
I don’t have very long to get comfortable before I hear heavily muffled, echoey voices. I look at Jess, and it would appear that she hears them as well. We search for a moment before finding the source. There’s a vent beside one of the dressers, and Minnie’s conversation with her mother can be heard from it. It’s pretty muffled, but if I put my ear almost up to the grate I can mostly understand what they’re saying
The first voice is Minnie, who appears to be on the defensive, “What?”
The second is her mother, who is speaking quickly, and with an obvious bite to her voice. “What is our rule about friends, Minnie?”
“uh… which one?”
Minnie’s mom almost shouts the first and last words, “TELL me when you are having them OVER!”
Minnie quietly responds, “I forgot. It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“I need to prepare the house!”
“I know. I just thought…”
“What? Do you think I want to live in a pigsty?”
“No! I just… wanted to have friends over.”
“Then tell me beforehand!”
Minnie pauses, then lets out a sheepish “...Okay.”
“Not good enough. Say ‘I’ll make sure to tell you next time.’”
“... I promise to tell you next time.”
“Good. I love you Minnie, but you need to be more considerate.”
“... Love you too, mom.”
“Go play with your friends. I’ll be down here if you need anything.”
Minnie walks away, and I can hear her taking steps up the stairs. It’s at that moment I realize that Jess and I are both crowded around a vent in the corner of the room. There’s no way that Minnie doesn’t know that this vent echoes.
I scramble away from the vent and sit on the floor, leaning against the opposite wall. I whip out my phone just to look busy.
Jess realizes just a moment after I do, but rather inelegantly kicks the side of the dresser while getting up and trips over herself onto the floor, letting out a little yelp and landing with a thud. Her head lands rather comfortably into my lap, face down.
We both pause for a second when we realize what this looks like. She looks up at me from her compromising position, and I return her gaze.
I say something to break the awkward tension. “Uh, hey?”
She opens her mouth to respond but is stopped by the door swinging open.
Minnie looks at me with wide, scared eyes while my mind goes into overdrive trying to find a way to explain things. Instead of anything reasonable, only one word seems to come to mind.
“'Sup?”
Minnie slams the door shut as Jess yells, “Wait! I’m not… we weren’t doing anything!”
As if to add to the chaos, Minnie's mom echoes loudly from downstairs, "Who the hell is slamming doors in my house!?"
Jess sits up and looks like she’s going to chase after Minnie, but takes a second to slap me across the face, “What was that?!”
“What?”
“You said literally the worst thing you could have!”
“I panicked!”
She gets up to go after Minnie, and I stand up after her, but she turns around and says, “Stay here! You’ll just make things worse!” Then leaves the room.
Well, I fucked things up pretty bad this time. I guess I can add “fucking up my relationship with Minnie” to my list of talents, considering the incredible skill I’ve displayed at doing it.
I look down at the floor, just a little ashamed. This brings a small glowing brick into vision, My phone is on the floor next to me, it must have fallen out of my hand at some point in the events that just transpired. I pick it up and notice something on the screen.
When I whipped out my phone I opened something random to make it seem like I was doing anything other than eavesdropping on Minnie’s conversation with her mom. By pure happenstance, Sofia’s social media is currently open, and a new picture has been posted.
I don’t even bother reading the caption; Instead, my eyes are glued to the contents of the picture. Sofia’s wearing a proud smirk as she gives an unhappy-looking Octavia a noogie of epic proportions while someone else holds the camera. Behind them, cleaning something on a table is a familiar, beautiful woman. One who, quite frankly, should have no reason to be there.
“Anna?”