I muttered angrily to myself as I shoved the key into the door of the condo.

 

This wasn't my responsibility. My brother was the one who decided to buy a condo and rent it out as an AirBnB. What did any of that have to do with me?

 

But of course, he calls me up, telling me that his plane is delayed because of snow and he wouldn't have time to clean the unit before the next guests, so could I please just this once do it for him?

 

Just this once.

 

This was at least the third time I'd cleaned this place. And when I opened the door, I saw, to my horror, that the previous guests had clearly had some kind of Halloween party. The place was a disaster.

 

I stomped, annoyed, towards the kitchen, where there were garbage bags and gloves under the sink, but stepped on some party favour and fell, shoving my arms in front of me to catch myself.

 

As I got my bearings and started getting up, I noticed a wet, slimy feeling on my right hand. Blood? Had I cut myself?

 

No, it definitely wasn't blood.

 

It was some kind of... blue goo. Ugh. Today was November 14th. Halloween was two weeks ago. What the hell would still be wet after two weeks?

 

There was a small puddle of the stuff, whatever it was, on the floor. I quickly got up and washed it off my hand, put on the gloves, and returned to the puddle to figure out what it was and how best to clean it.

 

I gingerly scooped up a... I suppose the best word for it would be a glob of the stuff onto my gloved fingers. It seemed almost like Jello, though Jello obviously wouldn't maintain the same texture two weeks later. I gave the sample on my glove a brief sniff. It smelled vaguely floral, and I still had no idea what it was, but it was overall a rather nice smell. Maybe from one of those gel candles? As I went to sniff it again to try to figure it out, I sneezed somewhat violently. When I looked back to my hand, there was no trace of the goo on my glove anymore. I guess I flung it off accidentally when I sneezed.

 

 

I had no idea where I might find tissues, so I went to the bathroom and grabbed some toilet paper (the partiers had mercifully left some) to blow my nose.

 

When I finished with the toilet paper, there were blue streaks on it, the same shade as the goo.

 

Had it gone... up my nose? I grabbed more tissue paper and started blowing my nose repeatedly, but nowhere near the amount that had been on my glove came out.

 

Okay, I thought. It's probably no big deal. I'll just clean the place up, take some pictures of the goo, and ask around online later what it is.

 

I went about getting the condo cleaned, and suddenly heard... something. It wasn't exactly a voice, but it was different from my own thoughts, too. But it echoed through my mind.

 

 

 

 

The not-voice repeated over and over again. I did my best to ignore it, even through my panic. What was happening?

 

 

 

 

I tried my hardest to focus on the cleaning, but I couldn't stop the not-voice from echoing through my mind. I started muttering again, cursing my brother for sticking me with the cleaning and the party and the guests and this fucking mystery goo.

 

Only... I wasn't. I wasn't cursing my brother. I was muttering, though...

 

"I serve the Queen. I must obey."

 

"I serve the Queen. I must obey."

 

"I serve the Queen. I must obey."