Chapter Thirty-Six - Athena's Trashy Morning

Athena woke up because Emily was getting out of bed. She mumbled at her bigger sister to stay in place, but Emily didn't listen. She was always the earliest to wake up, though she wasn't always the first out of bed.

Mostly because Athena and her sisters liked sleeping on top of Emily, and that made it hard for her to squeeze her way out of bed sometimes. That wasn't the case this morning though. Emily slipped out, let out a loud yawn, then stumbled out of the room.

Athena snuggled back in. The spot Emily had left was warm. Something felt... off, though.

Athena blinked her eyes open and looked around. The lights were off, but that wasn't a problem for her. Athena didn't make a big fuss about it, but she was actually really good at seeing things in the dark. Better than her other sisters, at least. It's why she was able to tell that most of someone was missing.

Teddy had grabbed the prime spot at the top of the bed where she was drooling on Emily's pillow, and Maple was pressed up against Athena's back, her face shoved into the space between Athena and the bed. Trinity was curled up at the base of the bed.

Just one of her, though.

Athena worked her jaw, then crawled her way off the bed. She squinted her eyes shut as she left the bedroom. The lights were on in the rest of the house.

There was water running in the washroom, so Big Sister was taking her shower, probably.

Athena checked on her own bedroom. Her bed was undone, so she went over and fixed it up.

Every night, Big Sister Emily would tuck them all in to sleep. It was nice, and warm, and none of her sisters complained about it.

It was annoying having to untuck themselves from bed and sneak over to Emily's room to make a cuddlepile there, but that's just how things worked.

She went over to the kitchen, grabbed the stool, then set it in front of the fridge before tugging the freezer at the top open. It was Sunday morning, which meant that it was eggs and bacon day. Athena--and somehow Trinity--were the only ones other than Big Sister that were allowed to do any cooking.

Maple could manage it, but she'd often get distracted, and Emily put her foot down when she discovered Maple turning the oven into a flamethrower.

Teddy just couldn't cook.

Athena hummed to herself as she pulled out a couple of cartons of eggs and set them on the table, then she found a stick of butter and the milk.

Eggs usually meant omelettes, because that was easiest to make and no one complained much. She put things on the counter next to the stove.

She got a couple of plates, the little trash can (for the eggshells), a spatula and butter knife. Soon Athena was watching the eggs start to sizzle. That's when Emily came in, hair still a bit damp from her shower. "Oh, you started already," she said.

"Uh-huh," Athena said.

Her big sister came over and patted Athena's head. "Good work. Thanks. I'll start on the toast."

Athena smiled and allowed herself to feel particularly smug. She'd gotten headpats and it was still super early in the morning. Big Sister opened the fridge, then sniffed. She bent down, sniffing at the cool air coming from the refrigerator, then she straightened and sniffed at the air some more.

"What's that smell?"

Athena smelled the air, but her nose wasn't the best. She could smell the eggs, and maybe a hint of shampoo from Emily. There was something else. She sniffed a bit more. Rotting meat? "It's stinky," she said.

"Yeah. I thought that it might be some of the leftovers, but I don't think it's coming from the fridge." Emily came over and checked the trash bin, but it was mostly empty and didn't smell strong. "This is going to bother me," she said.

Athena clicked the stove off and set the pan on another burner as Emily left the kitchen. She hopped off the stool and followed her.

Emily stopped by Teddy's room, opened the door a crack, and sniffed. "Not here," she said.

She moved on to Trinity's room and popped the door open.

A cascade of stuff came pouring out into the room. Bottles, cans, a few electronic things, and several smaller bags. There were stained clothes and some very squished boxes.

"What?" Emily said. Then the smell hit and both Athena and her big sister recoiled. It was a thousand times stronger with the door opened.

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A very dirty Trinity stumbled out of her room, trash clattering out ahead of her. "Hi!" she said.

"Trinity, what is all of this?" Emily said.

Trinity looked down. "Uh. Trash?"

"I know that! Where did you get it?" Emily asked.

Trinity's face blossomed into a huge smile. "The landfill!" she said. "It's awesome!"

"What do you mean the landfill?" Emily asked. "How did you get stuff from there to here?"

"One of me is there now," Trinity said.

"You've been going back and forth all night?" Athena asked.

Trinity shook her head. "I've done nothing but teleport trash all night," she said. She stuffed a hand into her pocket, then tugged out what looked like half of a rubik's cube. "See?"

Emily rubbed at her face. "Trinity, no," she said. "You can't just... you can't just teleport trash into your room from the landfill."

"No one wants it," Trinity defended.

"That's not the problem, you doofus," Athena said. "It's stinky, and gross."

"But Big Sister said I could decorate my room how I wanted," Trinity said.

"Not with trash!" Athena said.

Emily opened the door some more while pinching her nose shut. "Oh, there's so much," she said as she took in the mess in Trinity's room. "Trinity, we... we need to have a talk."

"Uh-oh," Trinity said.

Athena almost patted Trinity on the shoulder in sympathy, but she really did stink.

"But first, I think we need to get rid of all of this," Emily said.

"All of it?" Trinity asked.

"I... yes?" Emily said. Trinity looked like she was on the verge of tears and Athena could tell at a glance that her big sister was on the edge of taking it back, but she couldn't do that, because then Trinity would discover that Emily was weak to her little sisters looking sad.

That was a powerful weapon to have in her back pocket, so Athena didn't say anything. "I'll help you," Athena said. "Maybe there's something you can keep?"

Trinity sighed. "Okay. I guess it'll all just get back to the landfill, so it's not like it's lost forever."

"Right," Emily said. "Where are your other bodies?"

"One's in bed," Trinity said, then she stifled a yawn. "Only a third of me slept. This me was here so that I could get the trash, and my other me is at the landfill."

"Can you have that you come back?" Emily asked.

"Okay!" Trinity said. She smiled, then a moment later another Trinity popped into being next to her. She was covered in bits of junk and stank so much that Athena took a step back and away from her.

"Did you die?" Athena asked.

"I jumped off mount trash," Trinity said.

Emily sighed. "I'm going to go finish with breakfast. Athena, if you could help, that would be really nice. I'll come to help too in a bit. Just... put everything in bags and then we'll handle them from there, I think."

Athena nodded, she could manage that. Maybe she'd borrow a pair of gloves from Maple's room first.

After Emily left, the last of Trinity's bodies joined them from Big Sister's bedroom, so she had all of Trinity to boss around. "Did you think that the Boss would be okay with all of this?" Athena asked.

"I hoped?" Trinity said. "I probably should have guessed that she wouldn't like it. She's the best, but she doesn't get it."

And by 'it,' Trinity meant her personal appreciation for discarded stuff. Athena was afraid that nobody appreciated trash the way Trinity did. "Well, whatever. Let's get started. Can you go get the bags?"

One of Trinity ran off to do that while Athena went to get the dustpan and broom. There was a lot of trash. She paused on the way over, then changed directions and headed for Emily's room.

Maple might want some of the trash for her stuff. Besides, she could have Maple help in exchange, which would reduce the total work that Athena had to do.

She knocked on the door, then pulled it open. "Hey, Maple," she said.

"Mm?" Maple said. She was hugging Teddy, face buried into Teddy's tummy.

"Do you want some free stuff for your projects? Trinity just brought in a heap of trinkets. I bet there's stuff you could use!"

Maple rolled around, then she reached up and moved her messy hair out of her face. "She what?" she asked.

Athena grinned. It was so easy to read her sisters. At this rate, she'd be the best of the little sisters in no time.

***