Clean up Crew

       Georgie really is our MVP for coming up with this special blood removal cleaning solution. I didn’t think we’d have much luck getting the blood out of all this white furniture, but it’s worked like magic. Always good to know a chemistry major.

           “Yo, Mikey, for real though, don’t you worry about where all this blood is from? Like what kind of party is this?” Lars asked while shoving a handful of blood-soaked paper towels into a trash bag.

           I shrugged. “It’s easy money.”

           “I don’t know ‘bout easy,” Lars shook his head and dumped a half empty bowl of chips into the trash bag.

           “It’s college, bro. Some parties have all sorts of puke and sex stuff, some have blood. It is what it is,” Ivan said while mopping the kitchen floor.

           “Yeah, no. Not the same thing.” Lars said while shaking his head.

           A couple months ago, we came up with this brilliant idea to offer cheap party cleaning services to frats or really any group at school that wanted it. We’re all strapped for cash and desperately trying to make ends meet. At first, it didn’t really work out. See most college kids are strapped for cash, so although they liked the idea of not cleaning up, they didn’t really have much to offer. We almost tossed the idea, but then this guy, Donovan Price, said he’d pay. He offered us a decent chunk of cash too. His only rule was that we needed to be discreet. We said we would be assuming he was just into some run-of-the-mill freaky stuff. Like maybe they were embarrassed to be gaming party super nerds or up to something real kinky. We didn’t expect to walk into these horror movie sets. That’s for sure.

At first, I hoped it wasn’t real blood. Like maybe they were just some drama kids making home movies or something. It’s pretty clear by the smell and all that it’s real though. I just don’t really know what we do at this point. No one wants to mess with a legit killer, but we also don’t want to be getting arrested or anything. This might be some sort of aiding or withholding evidence or something. See something, say something, right? You’re not supposed to mop up blood without wondering. 

“We don’t know what they’re doing. Maybe it’s innocent.” I said.

“Innocent? Pfff. Sure. Innocent. C’mon, man.” Lars shook his head.

“We could set up a hidden camera?” Ivan suggested.

“Yeah, and what if we get caught? You want to be on this dude’s bad side? Could be our blood some sucker’s cleaning.”

Ivan shrugs.

“Naw, I say we try it.” Lars said. “I got to know.”

I’m really against this idea. Like one hundred percent against it. It’s the two of them against the one of me though, so they hook it up. Ivan gets the cameras and the next cleaning gig we get, they set them up. The night we watched the videos, I’m sweating bullets. I can’t even think straight. I kept imagining Donovan somehow just appearing behind us. I pictured him shaking his head and telling us what a disappointment we were. Then he’d slit our throats. He’d find our supply of Georgie’s blood cleaner and we’d be gone. That cleaner leaves no evidence. 

Ivan played the video. In the video, a few men and women gradually entered the party. They’d shake hands with the air when they stepped through the doorway and talk to themselves. It was odd. We never saw Donovan. We watched these fools dancing by themselves. Like they were actually slow dancing with the air at one point. WTF? They never talked to each other or addressed each other. Then at one point they all get these crazy, wide eyed looks. They start, I don’t know, convulsing? Then blood just sprayed out of their throats. The spray stopped and started like something was blocking it and then letting go, but what?

“Yo, dude, what the–” Lars yelled.

“This is messed up, man!” Ivan shook his head, but never took his eyes off the screen.

“How does this even happen? Are we missing something?”

We turned off the video and stared at each other. No one knew what to do or what to say. What did we get ourselves into? We searched online to find plausible explanations, but nothing really made sense. People don’t usually just shoot blood out of their necks for no reason.

“What if they’re supernatural? Things we can’t see on camera?” Ivan asked.

“Nope, nope, nope! I ain’t getting involved with that.” Lars shook his head.

“We’ll have to spy in person.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Lars demanded.

“Wrong with me? You’re the one who had to know!”

“Now, I have to know.” Ivan said.

The next day, we looked for clues while we cleaned the party scene. Nothing made sense. Spying would be hard since there was only one window and they never kept the blinds open. Ivan pulled the living room blinds down in a way that left a small crack of visibility. We hoped they wouldn’t notice. We also left the window unlocked hoping we could open it a little and lift the blinds a little more. Luckily, they had another party planned for the following night.

I’m not sure why I thought I could survive this when I could barely watch that video. I threw up about three times before I even left my apartment. The bundle of razors in my stomach was killing me. I thought I might get to that window and pass out. I felt dizzy. I felt sick. I felt scared out of my mind. We shouldn’t be messing with this. We should just keep cleaning and taking our money. It was really good money.

We let Ivan look through the window first. Lars looked as jittery as I felt. I knew he didn’t want to be there either. Why were we there?

“I see Donovan,” Ivan whispered. “There’s a bunch of weird looking people. They’re all so pale and kind of gothic looking.”

I couldn’t just stand there anymore, so I peered in with him. New people entered. The dancing began. It looked the same as the other party, but people weren’t dancing alone at this one. There was a full crowd. A deeply unsettling feeling crawled like maggots through my skin. I shivered and felt very cold. This time instead of random blood squirting, we saw sharp fangs protruding from mouths and piercing into soft, neck flesh.

“Vampires!” Lars gasped. I didn’t even know he had been watching.

My eyes widened, even though I wanted to look away. I wanted to run, but my feet locked into the ground like someone had bolted them down. A young vampire woman turned and looked at the window. We exchanged panic looks with each other. Lars sprinted off so fast it barely registered he left. Ivan grabbed my arms and pulled me. I couldn’t move. I fell over. He dragged me for several feet.

“Get up, man! You gotta run or I gotta leave you!” Ivan screamed. Then he dropped me and bolted.

“Hey!” I looked up to see the same vampire woman standing outside. “Want to join the party?”

Blood lined the corners of her lips. I saw red between her vibrant white teeth as she grinned.

“No... I…. uh...I don’t party,” I stammered and scrambled backwards.

“Aw, that’s too bad,” she said with a pout. She stepped closer. I jumped to my feet. My heart was throbbing out of my chest. I felt like it was going to explode. My vision went all blurry. Somehow, I got my feet moving and ran.

None of us talked to each other. I wasn’t sure if they made it. I just locked the door and curled up in the corner of my room shivering all night. The next day, I showed up on time for cleaning. What else could I do? I didn’t want Donovan to know what I knew, but maybe he did. Maybe that woman told him. I thought about saying I was sick or running, but it seemed stupid. Eventually things would come to light, and I didn’t want to mess with vampires. I guess Lars and Ivan had the same idea. We all showed up. We all mopped and scrubbed and threw away trash.

As we were leaving, Donovan showed up. This seemed bad. No one was ever there while we were there. He stood in a dark shadow in the hallway. Come to think of it, he was always in shadows and darkness. I had never really noticed until now.

“I hope I can trust you boys will keep a secret.”

We all nodded.

“You know if you tell anyone they’ll never believe you. They’ll send you to a psychiatrist or something.”

We all nodded.

“If you keep showing up and you keep your mouths shut, I’m more than happy to increase your wages.”

We all nodded.

“Good help is too hard to find. And boys, I’m not a bad person. None of us are. We’re only hungry.”

We all nodded. Donovan smirked. He reached out a pale hand and clamped it on my shoulder. He squeezed tight. “I’m glad we all understand each other.”

He stepped into the shadow and disappeared. We walked out of the building wide eyed and shaking internally.

“Well, you know, this could look good on a resume,” Ivan said as he lit a cigarette. “Maybe we could be crime scene cleaners or something.”

“Yeah make up some of that money wasted on college. It’s not like you’re getting far with an English degree, Lars.”

“Whatever man. It’s gonna get me farther than philosophy.”

We laughed. What else could we do? I mean, really. What would you do? You don’t want to mess with vampires, man.