Spring Cleaning: A Short Story

What a way to spend my day off; cleaning. It’s not like I get a lot of free time in the first place. Between working 60 hours a week and trying to keep some semblance of a social life, I don’t exactly have time to be ‘Suzy Homemaker’. Still, I didn’t think our little kitchen problem was quite that serious. I’m a tad systematic so I always clean from top to bottom. It’s been a few months since the kitchen has been heavy duty cleaned and the last few days I’ve started to notice moths appearing in the cupboards. Looks like today is the day to clean all the overlooked details. It’s hot. Sweaty hot. Humid hot. The air conditioner has been blowing nothing but hot air for the past month which is not exactly ideal in the middle of August. It’s bright enough with natural lighting, so I decide I’d rather just clean with the kitchen lights off. As I start cleaning the pantries I notice a few more moths fluttering about. God, it’s hot. As I get further into these pantries, sweat starts to form on the back of my neck. I can feel that familiar tickle of sweat beads starting to roll down my bare skin. I never realized how far back these pantries stretch; it’s actually impressive, the amount of food I’ve bought that ended up disappearing into those dark corners of the cupboard. The longer my head is stuck in this wooden cave, the more closterphobic I become. All I can smell is dust and an overwhelming amount of bug spray. The air is thick. And although I am lightheaded, I would really love nothing more than to get this over with. There is a small, dark mass in the upper corner of the pantry that I can’t quite reach. The many boxes of cereal all just in the way at this point. I push them out onto the kitchen floor, many of then spilling as I knock them out of the way. I can finally reach that corner! Jackpot. As far as I can tell it is entirely made of moth larvae. More sweat is forming behind my ear and it is starting to make me itch. God it’s hot in here. How do you even get rid of moths? As I lean further into the pantry I scrape away at the mass. The wood is giving way much easier than it should. Shit. It’s a small hole, maybe the size of a dime, but I can see something fluttering behind the splintered opening. This is starting to seem like an issue for the landlord but I am stuck trying to make out a sound. It’s so familiar that I know I have heard it before. It’s like fluttering except louder. Similar to scratching, just not so harsh. It almost reminds me of the bug that gets caught indoors. You’re trying to sleep and it’s so quiet. But the only thing keeping you awake is the buzzing and smacking of that stupid fly that continues to crash into the screen on your window. This was too big to be a moth, it sounded as if it were closer to the size of a bird. It was trying to escape, but from where? Behind the wall? No way. I was in way too deep in more ways than one. I pushed myself backwards, rushing to free myself from the wooden cage I found myself wedged into. I thrust myself too hard. The far wall of the pantry gave way as I fell onto my back, hitting the base of my skull on the corner of the kitchen countertop. I lay there unable to move. A lifetime of decay came to life as it emerged, fluttering from the pantry. I felt that familiar warm tickle under my head; as it spread I could see crimson rolling onto the tile floor. I soon realized that it was not sweat that had tickled and itched me behind my ear earlier.