Page 85 of Monster Daddies
It was a silly game, and she’d be embarrassed if anyone realized what she was doing, but it was fun. Fun in the way that going to the Ren Faire every summer was fun, only with cheaper outfits and more housework.
But when it came to laundry she was done. Just absolutely done, and more than ready to get back the modern convenience of tossing wet clothes into a big silver box that would magically make all the water go away. Unfortunately… she was broke, with a capital B, and that wasn’t going to change any time soon.
Home ownership had turned out to be pretty freaking expensive, much more than she’d ever realized. Of course, she was lucky to have a house at all, but every penny she could scrape together had been needed just to cover the moving and settling in expenses. Driving a U-Haul filled with everything she owned across five states hadn’t been cheap. And then there had been maintenance issues in the house, neglect, repairs that couldn’t be put off.
It was all worth it. She, Ellie Grace Newton, had her very own home. Fully paid off, no mortgage necessary, thanks to a relative she’d never even met. Which was lucky because her credit score was practically a negative number at this point, and no bank would have approved her. Who could afford to buy a house these days?
She was no stranger to being broke. She knew how to be thrifty and look for sales, but her meager savings could only stretch so far. She’d managed to land a part-time job down at the supermarket, but twenty hours a week wasn’t enough to pay the bills.
They’d promised her more once the college kids went back to school, but until then she was just grateful they could give her anything at all, while she worked on setting up her future in anew state. Luckily her parents had loaned her a few thousand to help her get settled, and that bridged the gap—barely.
Groceries and utilities were necessities… a new dryer just wasn’t.
It honestly wasn’t even the laundry that was the problem. Wet clothes were heavy and shaking them out and flipping them over the line was hard work, but in her skirts and apron she could lose herself in pretend. Being a medieval washerwoman was a blast when she could really let go and get into it.
The problem was the damn weather.
It seemed to rain every single day. And when it wasn’t raining, the air was so humid it was like breathing wet cotton balls. Every time she went to get her clothes, they were either not quite dry, or a sudden shower would soak them all over again before she could get them off the line.
Today it was a combination, and worse, the clothes had been hanging out overnight.
Yesterday morning the sky had been relatively clear and the humidity bearable, so she’d rushed through three large loads of wash, including her bedding. Once it was all spread out on the lines to dry, she’d left to do some errands, but less than two hours later… the clouds had rolled in.
She’d rushed home, racing the storm, to get to the laundry before the downpour started, but it was too late. By the time she’d gotten outside with her basket, everything was absolutely drenched, and she was forced to leave it out.
Luckily her aunt had a whole linen closet full of spare bedding, so it wasn’t an emergency, but she was getting so sick of chronically damp clothing. Being at the mercy of the humidity fairies—who were clearly giant twatwaffles— seriously sucked. There might have been a minor tantrum, as she’d cursed the weather, and the whole state in general, stomping around the house until it was finally out of her system.
Today, after a hot morning, most of it was finally dry-ish, but it wouldn’t be for long if she didn’t hurry. There was no time to fold as she took things off the line. All she could do was grab her clothes, and stuff them in the basket as she moved quickly down the row. But when she got to the end she frowned and did a double take.
“Wait…” She stood there, for a long few seconds, confused. “What the hell!”
As if summoned, her nosy neighbor popped her head over the fence. “Something wrong, dear?” she asked. Her chirpy inquisitive voice sounded hopeful. Mary was a big one for juicy gossip and she didn’t seem to care if she was hearing it or telling it.
Ellie, as the new girl in town, never had any gossip to share, so Mary insisted on filling her in— with excruciating detail every time they saw each other. She didn’t seem to notice, or care, that Ellie wasn’t interested.
“Uh… no. I just… I think some of my clothes are missing.” Ellie’s lips pursed as she tried to think back to yesterday. She distinctly remembered hanging her favorite pair of jeans, which were no longer there, and hadn’t that newish pair of blue satin undies been right next to them?
“Missing? Oh, dear. Maybe a possum pulled them down. Did you check the grass?”
Ellie did a quick scan around and shook her head. “No, nothing on the ground. That’s so weird.”
The neighbor laughed. “Well, maybe ol’ Mothman got them.”
“Mothman?” Ellie rolled her eyes. She’d heard the legend of course. There was a whole museum dedicated to him a couple of towns over, and she’d wasted an afternoon checking it out when she’d first arrived. “C’mon, Mary. You know he isn’t real. Besides, isn’t he supposed to be down near Point Pleasant?”
“Oh well, so they say.” She didn’t sound like she agreed, and went on to add, “That’s just the popular story though. The one that made the news. We have our own stories around here. Lot of strange things in the woods and mountains. You just never know.”
“Yeah, well, I doubt ‘Mothman’ would wantmyjeans. I’ve seen his statue and that bodacious butt of his isn’t going to fit.” Elliewishedshe had an ass that you could bounce quarters off of, but she didn’t. Whoever had made his statue definitely had a few cryptid fantasies though.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and the rain picked up. Ellie snatched up the basket and sprinted toward the back door. “Gotta go, Mary. Bye!” she called as she dashed into the house.
She hadn’t moved fast enough to rescue the clothes on top of the pile. They’d soaked up a good amount of rain, but at least everything underneath was okay. She hung the wet things over kitchen chairs and folded the rest, paying careful attention to what was there.
While she was putting the folded stuff away, she checked her drawers and closet just to be sure she hadn’t gotten confused. But no, there were definitely clothes missing. Not just what she’d noticed outside either.
She was positive a ragged old T-shirt that she liked to sleep in was gone too. A second pair of jeans, and several pairs of underwear. Ellie went through her drawers twice to be sure and even looked under her bed, just in case they hadn’t made it into the wash.
They were nowhere to be found. Her brow furrowed as she realized that some of the missing things hadn’t even been in yesterday’s laundry, but another load earlier in the week. She turned the house upside down looking, but came up with nothing.
