Short Story #60: Free

Before my parents went to visit my grandmother's house, they had instructed my brother and I to obediently do all the house chores and those included: vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing the toilets, hanging the wet clothes and ironing the clothes. Admittedly, that was a lot of workload and when my parents left the house, my brother and I traded mischievous looks.

My brother and I were most probably like all siblings. We had our common interests and also issues or things that we disagreed on. We had our fights, some of them ended up physical but nothing bloody and some of them just led to us giving each other the silent treatment for a week. But for that day, we had a plan and we were both 100% on board with it. 

While I switched on the faucet to fill the large pail, my brother grabbed as many packets as he could from the kitchen drawer. We did not need so many because our intention was to have fun while minimizing the amount of mess. It was inevitable that it would end up messy - we both had added that in our calculations. So when the pail was almost full, we quickly added water into the plastic packets before tying them up. We felt a rush coming through us, out of enthusiasm and maybe slight fear that our parents would suddenly change their minds and return back home. So we had no time to waste!

After counting off 20 water bombs, I took 10 while my brother took the remaining ones. At the count of five, we would head to our hiding places and then find each other to throw water bombs at each other. There was no point system - the point was to have the time of your life while seizing the perfect opportunity! So in one hour, almost the entire house was drenched, except for the our parents' bedroom of course. Theirs had a lot of books left in the open so it would take quite a long time before each of them dried and this would raise a lot of eyebrows from our parents. 

During the entire game, we were both laughing freely and just enjoying ourselves. It was an amazing and liberating feeling. Also therapeutic. It was as if all the weight on our shoulders were lifted and it made us feel so...free. 

Of course, we do not know if we are ever going to risk this stunt ever again without raising suspicion. It was a relief that they did not question further when they asked about our incredibly drenched clothes. Maybe they knew. Maybe it was because we had completed all the house chores dutifully and adequately.