Taken Too Far

            “Shit! Shit! Oh, this is bad, this is very bad! Why? Why?!!” A scream of anguish was heard from behind a closed door, three doors down from where Alice was exiting her room, in fact. That’s his room, she thought to herself. Oh my god, what has he done?! She rushed back into her room, grabbing a mop. She had a feeling she might need it, afraid it would be like last time. I was going to have such a nice day, too. Goodbye, plans. She mused as she ran to her friend’s door.

            “Oh, God, what have I done? Why?” she heard as she reached the door, accompanied by a stifled sob. Not bothering to knock, she practically broke the door down as she let herself in, terrified of what he might have done, again. As she crossed the threshold into his room, she looked around to find him, and take stock of what damage had been done. Other than him crouched and staring agonizingly at the floor, she couldn’t find anything wrong. The place was clean, organized, even nicer than they had left it yesterday. That wasn’t like him, but it was a nice change in his behavior, to be sure.

            “Hey, what’s going on? I heard you screaming. I think the whole house heard you, too. The others should be here soon, if they aren’t busy flirting with the camera crew. I guess it wouldn’t be too bad this time if the cameras saw you. There’s nothing we have to hide or clean up.” Alice said to her friend, who had up until this point ignored her, still staring, though now dejectedly, at the floor. When she was finished with her statement, he turned slowly to look at her. How long has it been since you’ve slept, you poor thing? She thought when she got a look at his eyes. They were more haunted than they had been in months. She thought he was over this, that the therapy had helped.

            “Why did you bring that THING in here?! Don’t you see what the problem is? Open your eyes, Alice! Fucking take a LOOK! Look at what I’ve done. Why did I do this? What’s wrong with me? This room… This ROOM!” and he started mumbling to himself for a few seconds as he glared at the entire room with an intense hatred that wasn’t normal for him. Not the new him, no, she thought to herself. She had started doing that a lot recently, keeping her thoughts to herself. She used to just voice her opinions without filtering them. She found she got a lot less camera time, and a lot less yelling at, when she just thought to herself now. Easier to win the money that way.

            “What are you talking about? You remember last time? I thought you did it again, but it doesn’t look like you did. What’s wrong? Why are you screaming? And what thing are you talking about? You mean this?” She brandished the mop, making sure he saw it, and not something else.

            “Yes, that! What did you think I meant? Never mind, you obviously aren’t paying attention. You should have noticed as soon as you walked in the door.  I tried cleaning my own room today. I took it too far. This place is so clean… too clean. I hate it. I can’t touch any of it. This part my feet are touching is the one place I didn’t mop, sweep, wipe, and disinfect. Not in that order, though. No, not in that order at all. I did too much, it’s too clean, it isn’t right. I hate it, I HATE IT!! Why did you bring the mop?!”

            “Because of last time! Don’t you remember?” Alice said, slightly annoyed.

            “I know that, I say these thing. I know why you brought the mop, but it’s the worst thing you could have brought this time! I don’t need a mop, I even mopped the ceiling, for Christ’s sake! Who the fuck mops a ceiling? It wasn’t easy, but I did it. Thought it needed it at the time, it was so dirty, and I need to take care of my own problems now. Cleaning is a problem. It’s a problem when I don’t do it, it’s a problem when y’all do it, and now it’s a problem when I do it. Everything is so white. So clean, so awfully CLEAN! Look, Alice! Look at the floor. You can see your own damned reflection in it! That’s not a sign of a good floor, a good floor is supposed to have feet on it! Not faces, not reflections. You aren’t supposed to see ceilings when you look at a floor. The walls, I’ve violated the walls with cleaning products. They will keep me up again tonight. All I hear now is “409, 409, 40-motherfucking-9!” Then, he broke into sobs, but his feet stayed in place. He never touched any other place in his room.

            Alice was dumbfounded. How does someone fix this? Should she even bother with trying? Was a room that was too clean even a problem? It obviously was to him, but was it a problem in reality? As she contemplated this possible predicament, she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She looked to see who it was, and wasn’t surprised to see the 5 other roommates coming with camera crews in tow. They all wanted to see the circus, or what they thought was a circus. “Here they come. Try to get a grip, or at least pretend.” She whispered to him, hoping he heard her. He immediately stopped crying, coughed twice, and stood up. He nodded at her, but never left his spot.

            “They’ll never see what I’ve done. I planned for that.” He said with a knowing smile and an alien spark in his eyes as he took a remote out of his pocket. Alice had never seen that remote before. What kind of remote has three buttons? She asked herself. Before she could ask anything, he pressed the green button, and all the lights when out in the house at once. A disco ball dropped somewhere in the living room.

            “Oh yeah, I forgot that would happen.” He murmured, probably to himself. No one else would have heard him, but everyone had gone silent as soon as the lights had gone out, so his voice carried much farther than he expected.

            Alice saw an opportunity, and seized it immediately. “Dance party in the living room, everyone! Let’s get naked!” she screamed as she ran towards the disco ball. The key word in that was ‘naked’. The other roommates hated having to wear clothes, and would use any excuse to take them off, even if that excuse was “Let’s get naked.” Especially if that excuse was “Let’s get naked!” They all rushed into the living room, and a dance party ensued. Alice managed to slip away to a less inhabited part of the house, and still kept her clothes on, without their noticing. Crisis averted, what a nice feeling.