Less than a minute after sitting back on the couch, Molly found herself pinned down with a cat in her lap. Stella. She was such a sweet, needy little thing. Pretty much any time she was home, Stella was less than two feet away.
It was incredibly flattering. No one else in the world loved being around her that much until Calvin came along.
"Who's my good girl? Such a good kitty, Stella," she cooed as she scratched under the cat's chin. She was rewarded with some very forceful purrs.
Casper wasn't nearly as affectionate but he hopped up next to her and curled up so close to her leg that he was touching it. He had warmed up to her quite a bit since she first brought him home and that made her happy.
With the hand that wasn't currently petting Stella, she reached over to pet him too. She was in total cat heaven right now. It wasn't often she had the chance to pet two at once.
Molly enjoyed the beautiful moment while it lasted but, unfortunately, she did need to get ready for bed. She had to be at school early to set things up before class started. She did what she needed to do in about twenty minutes before climbing into bed.
Stella curled up directly next to her chest as always while Casper seemed to stand guard at the edge of the bed as if scanning for threats. She wasn't sure why that was the impression she got but it was.
She drifted off to sleep and ended up having a nightmare that picked up where it left off no matter how many times she woke up and went back to sleep. Each time Stella nosed her way into her arms and headbutted her chin to make her feel better the way she always did.
"Good girl," Molly whispered before burying her face into the cat's fur.
Casper came up on her other side and rubbed against her back comfortingly. She was sure to tell him he was a good boy too before drifting back into a slightly less uneasy sleep.
She was so tired when she woke up that she ignored her alarm like usual until her cats began pawing at her face wanting to be fed and meowing. She got up very reluctantly to open two cans of wet food.
Blearily, Molly got dressed and made herself a toasted everything bagel for breakfast. She spent a solid ten minutes scraping all of the ice off of her car before heading to work and barely managed to make it in time to set things up.
She was in charge of twenty-eight third graders by herself and it got pretty hectic. Sometimes she loved her job and sometimes she hated it. She only went into teaching because she wanted the chance to make a difference for kids who might be struggling at home the way she had but sometimes it felt hopeless.
She worked in one of the lower-income areas in Detroit and honestly felt like she wasn't making any different at all most of the time. There was so much need around here that it was hard to get through to anyone.
A lot of the time, Molly felt like more of a glorified babysitter than a teacher. When the kids wouldn't listen there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
But sometimes she had moments that made it all worth it. Like when her students called her name with eagerness in their eyes wanting to know the answer to a question about how things worked. That simple curiosity was beautiful and she loved indulging it.
When there was time, they had discussions about all sorts of things the students were interested in. Unfortunately, a lot of the time they barely managed to get the curriculum done or even didn't at all because people were being disruptive.
The area she was in was rough, which also meant her school was low on funding. All of her equipment was used and she had to buy pretty much all of her supplies herself. That really took a toll on her finances but what was she supposed to do? Not have things for her kids? That would make them want to learn even less.
Her rough start to the morning only got worse because not one kid was actively paying attention to what she was trying to teach. By the time lunch rolled around, she was ready to quit her job, as she often was.
"Ugh," Molly groaned as she sunk into a chair in the breakroom.
"You too, huh?" a fourth-grade teacher named Erica asked wearily. "I swear, all the kids are bouncing off the walls this morning."
"No kidding. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to teach them anything."
"Same. And then we're the ones who get in trouble when the standardized test scores end up low, which leads to even less resources to try and make a difference the next year. It's a vicious cycle."
It truly was. Sometimes Molly wondered if it was even worth it. Her dad had been right that teaching was a terrible career. This was the one instance where she should have listened to him.
What she really needed to do was try to find a job at a better school but even if she did manage to do that, it wouldn't fix the problems at this one. Some other starry-eyed young teacher would likely take her place and get their dreams crushed too.
She and Erica chatted on and off around eating their lunches for the rest of the break and she was slightly fortified but not nearly enough for the task at hand. The whole day was a mess and to make things worse she wouldn't even be hearing from Calvin because he worked tonight.
Molly headed home in utter defeat and was greeted enthusiastically by Stella circling around her ankles as usual. Casper sat up and looked straight at her unblinkingly from a few feet away.
She changed out of her work clothes and into some pajamas because she was going to give up on trying to 'adult' today and grabbed one of her favorite books. She needed the comfort right now. If this couldn't cheer her up, nothing could.
As soon as she was lying down on the couch, Stella came over and parked herself somewhat uncomfortably on her stomach. She absentmindedly petted her with one hand while holding her book with the other.
Molly stayed like this for a couple of hours before she got hungry and needed to make dinner. At least all the dishes were clean, which was strange because she hadn't remembered doing that yesterday.
Depression, anxiety, and sleep issues could all contribute to memory problems and she was rather forgetful by nature but it was a little strange she forgot doing her chores. She supposed all her days were blending together because of how similar they all were.
But as she rummaged through the fridge, she noticed that some of the junk she had been meaning to clear out but never got around to had been taken care of as well. That was weird.
What were the odds of forgetting doing chores two days in a row? There wasn't anyone else who could be doing them though. The only other beings living here didn't have hands and no one else had a key.
Molly noticed this pattern continuing over the next several weeks. Almost every day there was some sort of chore she was fairly certain she hadn't done taken care of as if by magic. Dishes. Laundry. Bathroom cleaning. The trash.
This didn't make any sense. Did she have a secret cleaning fairy looking out for her or was she simply losing her mind?
She had been extra stressed lately between work and paying for Casper's medical bills. She couldn't have left him to die though even though she couldn't really afford getting him treated.
The stress must have finally made her crack so she was experiencing large gaps in her memory. That had to be it. Otherwise someone was breaking into her house just to clean and that was both bizarre and creepy!
"I think I'm losing it, you guys," Molly said aloud in wonder to her cats as she looked at her empty laundry basket, which had definitely been full of clean but unfolded laundry before she came home.
Casper meowed inquisitively at her in response. She reached down to pet him and laughed. "It's like my chores are magically doing themselves. Crazy, right? I think I need to go to bed earlier. Lack of sleep must be making me more forgetful than usual."
Stella walked by in that moment and her body language indicated she was annoyed with her fellow pet. Was it because he was getting attention and she wasn't or had he done something that bothered her? It was hard to tell with her.
Molly went over to pet her instead and try to make her feel a bit better but her ire remained. What was up with that?