I’m not sure how long I was out, but my cheek was already forming a healthy bruise. Feeling weak and like a coward I go sit in the room that I designated as mine.

I pull my knees to my chest and plop my head down onto them. I let out a sigh that became something between a scream and a growl. It escaped from between my clenched teeth.

Why was I just sitting in my room, hiding? I did that too often in the past and what did it get me? No one caring that I had disappeared. No one at all. "Fuck that!" I shout and hop back onto my feet. I can chase my dreams if I want to. Just… Maybe not today.

With new energy coursing through me I decided that I was going to keep cleaning and exploring. I was the caretaker of this place for the next year so I should slowly become familiar with it.

Having finished with the second floor, as I was not tackling the library today, I moved on to the third floor. I started grabbing the cleaning supplies I had left in the hallway. Then I take trips up and down the stairs until I have collected all the cleaning implements, as I was uncertain as to what I would need.

Before I begin cleaning, I take a walk down the hall and get a good layout of the place. There were four bedrooms, two one each side, a full bathroom past the four rooms and a small common room with chairs, tv and board games on a shelf. Seemed like a fun place for people to spend time together.

I decided to start by opening all of the doors and vacuuming the rooms that had carpets, then sweeping. I would leave the mopping until after the rest of the cleaning was finished. The vacuuming didn't end up taking too long .

I returned to the first room on the right. It was fully furnished and even had some decorations and belongings in it. There was a small bookshelf and shelves up high on the walls.

On the upper shelves were fantasy books and some manga. It was clear that they had been read, some more than once. In the bookcase were some games, and handheld gaming devices.

On the top of the bookcase were a few stuffed animals: a stuffed dog, a stuffed rabbit and some stuffed creatures that looked to be from some anime that I haven't seen. There was also an ocarina along with music books.

“Cinnamon Roll I’m guessing this is your room, right? It’s similar to the nook in the library, I like it! I play video games too, and I have even read some manga.” I walk over to the manga. I was excited to see “this is one of my favorites! Though I never had the chance to finish the series. Do you have all of them, leave me a note if you do.”

I sprayed and wiped down the surfaces and pulled all the bedding off and put it by the door. I was uncertain if the bedding was being used at all, but I found it important to truly keep up my caretaker duties.

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As I haven't found the washer and dryer yet I planned to strip all the beds of their bedding, keep it by the door, and collect them when I was done.

After that, I walked into the bedroom across the hall and looked around it. This room had a more chaotic feeling to it, although I could not understand why. It wasn't as though the room itself was messy, but I guess each room had a feeling to it?

I wondered what sort of person or entity the room belonged to. This room also had a bookshelf but no shelves on the wall like in the previous room. On the bookshelf in this room sat some journals and loose paper.

When I picked up the papers I saw that there was writing on them. I skimmed them and it looked as though they were either poetry or song lyrics. I wonder who wrote these? I gather them into a nice pile so it would be easier to move them when it came time to clean beneath them.

After that I looked around the rest of the room. There was a boom box sitting plugged in next to the bed with cassette tapes sitting around it, 3 vinyl disks were hanging on the wall, there was a constellation map on the adjoining wall, and a star projector sitting in the corner of the room.

I enjoyed the personality of the room but shook my head at the mess of it all. With things spread out like this it would make it a little more difficult to clean the floor. “Oh well” I say to myself.

I feel as though I have been talking out loud to myself a bit more recently. Maybe I was just so used to hearing human voices around me that I needed to speak out loud? I shrug off the thought and look back around the room.

I enjoy a good challenge, so I made sure to clean the room and return things to their former chaos. I also stripped the bed and once more put the bedding by the door. I then walked into the next room beside this one.

This room had a quieter, almost gentle feel to it. It also had a different sort of energy, but I could not put my finger on this one either. It would all make sense if I was able to meet the residents of these rooms.

I wonder if I will be meeting them in the future. At the very least I would like to meet the note writing cinnamon roll as I think that we could be good friends. Ah well, I am sure this time alone would be good.

The room had very few decorations. It had the same characteristic bookshelf next to the bed, although this one appeared to be made from hand, as did the bed itself. It even looked to be polished, but the polish seemed a bit.. older?

I knew nothing about woodwork, but I assumed maybe it was just the feeling of it. Haunted house I had to remind myself and somehow had the thought that these rooms must be for the ghosts. Of course.

That should have been more obvious to me when I was in the first room and thought that it was the room of the cinnamon-roll ghost that left notes for me here and there. Thinking about those notes made me smile.

On the handmade bookshelf sat a few things. The middle and bottom shelves held several pairs of shoes, they were of an older style that would have been handcrafted for a particular person.

You could tell by the unique arches and places for the toes... and I have no idea about non dance shoes to be honest. That was just what I think when I look at them.

On the top shelf were some old timey looking toys. The paint looks worn out in a few places, and there were some scuff marks. It was clear that these toys were well loved and had been played with often.

Next to them was a box with a key. I gently turned it a few times then opened the box. As I had thought, music spilled out from it. It was a beautiful and well-maintained music box.

Who knows how old it was, but it was well cared for as it still worked beautifully. The music flowed out so crisply. I take a seat on the bed, close my eyes and listen to the music until it finishes playing.

I couldn't think immediately of what type of dance would go well with it, but it was better that way. I thought of young kids listening to this before they sleep or sitting in a garden and dancing together… carefree.

I was almost melancholy when the music ended. I sighed, got up, finished cleaning the room, making sure to polish everything very gently, pulling the bedding off, putting it by the door and moving on to the last bedroom.