Flash Fiction Theme – Laundry
Delilah tosses a load of laundry in her washing machine, wishing it would do itself. She is almost finished, so she keeps going. While the washing machine is on, she turns on the dryer and heads for the living room.
There is a laundry basket full of fresh clothes waiting for her to fold them. Flipping on her TV, she scrolls through her streaming account until she finds a horror movie she hasn’t seen yet. Hitting play, she sets the remote down and grabs the shirt on the top of the pile.
She folds it and places it off to the side, listening to the narrator of the movie explain about an orphanage and what has made it haunted. She lifts her eyes from the pile and watches for a few moments. She grabs the pants, folds them, and puts them aside.
She continues this process until everything is folded. Delilah puts the clothes in the laundry basket and pauses the movie, heading into her room. She puts the clothes away, goes into the laundry room, gets out the dried clothes, moves the wet clothes into the dryer, and puts dirty clothes in the washer.
Groaning, she heads back into the living room and sits down, placing the basket in front of her. She repeats the folding process while watching the movie. She watches as a little girl who lived and died in the orphanage haunts the people who had bought the place and were trying to renovate it for a bed-and-breakfast.
Delilah chuckles and finishes the load of clothes, walking them back to her room, and puts them away. She grabs a glass of water and sits down, watching the movie while she waits for the next load to dry. She crosses her legs and leans back in her comfy couch.
Delilah sips on her water, enjoying the movie when there is a sound behind her. She leans forward and sets the glass down gently on the coffee table. Delilah stares ahead of her when she hears the sound again. Something is moving. She looks to her left, then her right, but she doesn’t move her head.
Not seeing anything out of the corners of her eyes, Delilah slowly turns around on the couch. There is nothing behind her. Without thinking twice, she gets off the couch and walks around her apartment, looking for whatever made the sound.
Not finding anything, Delilah returns to the couch and grabs the laundry basket to retrieve the dried clothes. She gets the dried clothes out, puts in the wet clothes and does a little dance when her last load, the sheets, are put in the washing machine. She hits wash and walks back to the couch.
She folds and continues to watch the horror movie, Haunted by You. Delilah puts the clothes off to the side and is about to stand up when, again, something moves behind her. She spins on the couch, but there is still no one behind her. Delilah’s hands shake as she pushes herself off the couch and walks around again to look for the sound.
But there is nothing she can find that is making the noise.
“Who’s there?”
No one answers her except for the voices on the TV. Delilah looks at the television just as a few ghosts burst into a room, making the couple scream and nearly falling out the open window behind them. Delilah hurries over to the couch and pauses the movie.
Silence falls over her apartment, and she scans the living room and kitchen.
“I can hear you! Who are you and what do you want?”
Again, nothing.
Growing uncomfortable, she decides to get her cell phone from her bedroom in order to call her friend. Maybe Shelia can come over and stay with her for a little while.
Before she can get her phone, the door to her laundry room flies open. Delilah jumps when two of her dripping wet bed sheets float out of the laundry room and dash towards her.
Delilah shrieks.
Creepy!