Eva begins her day in the usual way—by sacrificing a small animal. A hamster. Back in the islands it would most likely be a chicken. Or a goat.
Still; she has adapted well. The small apartment suits her. Reciting each name on her prayer list, she spills the blood and says her devotions. The she dresses in her hotel's maid uniform and begins her duties.
***
Sitting on the commode, the tinkling of her urine stream tapering off, listening to Roy’s snoring; Maggie still believes one day he would be hers. Wiping herself, she glimpses something on the paper. Maybe spent and dying sperm. Maybe a yeast infection. Pitching the tissue into the yellow water, rising and flushing simultaneously, she doesn’t see the tiny, doughy cheese balls uncurl and twitch spasmodically, drowning maggots in a whirlpool. She walks into the hotel bedroom to wake Roy and send him back to his wife.
Maggie leaves to go buy Monistat, not acknowledging Eva in the hallway. Making an annoyed sound as she walks around the maid cart; Eva’s smile and nod ignored. Eva enters Maggie’s room and scrapes dried sex leavings from the bed sheet into a plastic pill bottle. Then cleans the room.
In another room, a businessman hurries out, his teary wife watching through blackened eyes. The businessman also pointedly ignores Eva in the doorway. His wife nods at her from the open doorway. Eva enters, gathering the businessman’s fingernail clippings from the bathroom trashcan and placing them in a plastic bottle before cleaning.
Two drug users dwell in the dark recess of a small room. Boy and girl, early twenties. Skin gray, emaciated, missing teeth and hair. Eva cleans their room as they huddle in a corner, smiling like Jack-o-lanterns, offering to perform all sorts of sexual acts if she’ll just give them some money. Eva remains stoic, carefully placing blood-stained cotton swabs and needles into a baggie.
And so her day goes. Many more rooms to clean. Many more interesting guests.
***
Back in her apartment, her day’s work done, Eva begins her nightly devotionals. The phone rings, she lets the answering machine get it.
“Hello. Miss Eva? I wanted to let you know it appears my husband Roy is developing some type of bad infection in his groin area. Could make him impotent.”
Silence.
“Guess it’s something he caught from his girlfriend Maggie.”
Silence.
“Thank you.”
Eva smiles, spreading hamster entrails, chanting softly. The phone rings again.
“Hello? Yes... I... I wanted you to know I will be able to pay you in full tomorrow after all. My husband suffered a very bad accident today—he, he lost both his hands in a freak elevator accident. Insurance will pay an impressive sum.”
Silence.
“He’ll never hit anyone with his fists again.”
Silence.
“Thank you.”
***
After her prayers, Eva takes the unfaithful man’s leavings and the abuser’s clippings and burns them to ash. Retiring them.
She takes out the active collections of the day. Begins by performing an incantation over the junkies’ castoffs. Something to ease pain and suffering.
Later, Eva blows out her black candle, retiring for the night.
She sleeps well.
The End
"Housekeeping" was brought to you in part by Nikki Noir. If you like erotic thrillers, extreme horror, and bizarre plotlines, be sure to check out RedRum Reviews!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kenneth Whitfield’s comic stories have appeared in Red Stylo Media’s anthologies Unfashioned Creatures and Killer Queen. (My Brother, Myself and Best Friends respectively.) He’s also had scripts in anthologies from Kitchen Sink Press (Death Rattle 7 and 8), Imperium Comics (Trailer Park of Terror 7 and 8), and Tin Star Press’ When Drive-Ins Attack! His words without pictures have appeared in horror anthologies from Grey Matter Press (Dark Visions 2), Song Story Press (Dark Side of the Moon) and Blood Bound Books (Steamy Screams) among others.Online he’s been seen in Dark Moon Books’ Dark Eclipse ezine, Horror Garage, and Deadman’s Tome.
A bit of a Luddite regarding social media, he does have a LinkedIn page that is occasionally updated. He, wife and basset hound currently live in a cabin in the woods – not far from The Buckner Family place and the Deadite developments.
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