Spring Cleaning

Chapter 2
A Sea of Memories

Chapter Description: Baby dolls sat among framed photographs; coloring books neighbored exotic perfume; lingerie cuddled up with gymnastics trophies, and pairs of shoes too small to fit were resting next to literature too hard to read. Much like her mother, she "didn't even know where to start".

She opened her eyes and breathed. She had expected the air from her room to be stale, as nobody had been using it since she left for the university; instead, the little breeze that had passed her by when the door opened had borne a fresh, nostalgic scent, which was a bit of a surprise.

What Angela found even more surprising, however, was the condition the room was in. Every inch of floor was covered with something; some spots were buried two feet deep in Angela’s old stuff. Even back in the most unkempt periods of her early life, the astonished college girl couldn’t remember her room being anywhere near this messy.

She began to wonder if, perhaps, her mother had scattered even more old junk around the room just to teach her a lesson or something. Of course, she realized this train of thought would get her nowhere, and she desperately wanted to hang out with Christie and the gang before the day was over. So she walked in, closed the door behind her, and surveyed the room again for about a minute, assessing the damages.

Angela couldn’t help but marvel at the incongruous heaps of paraphernalia that had taken over her room. Everything from every stage of her life -- late teens, early teens, and even the single digits -- was here, but in no particular order. Baby dolls sat among framed photographs; coloring books neighbored exotic perfume; lingerie cuddled up with gymnastics trophies, and pairs of shoes too small to fit were resting next to literature too hard to read. Much like her mother, she "didn’t even know where to start".

Damn, there’s no way I can finish this by tonight...

Nonetheless, she made up her mind to try. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. And maybe there were a scant few gems hidden amongst this sea of memories.

As Angela was about to start, the faint sound of a music box chimed in from somewhere under the chaos. The tune was familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it for some reason. Regardless, she thought it lightened the mood a little.

Alright, she decided, no sense putting it off any longer. I’m getting this done before dinner. Now...what to tackle first?