Chapter six -- Experiment Experience

"Anyone here?" Efad called as she and Aaron entered the Big House, but silence was the only reply they recieved.

Aaron grunted. "Guess not. How 'bout a game of pool while we're waiting?"

She shrugged and led the way upstairs, glancing at the wall as she went. "...okay, how did THAT get there?" She pointed rather disgustedly at stains splattered on the white-painted wood panneling. "Looks like someone threw the last half of their coke on the wall... man, this house is a wreck!"

"Hey, as far as I know, I didn't do it." They reached the top of the stairs and, with unbelievably quick reflexes, Aaron managed to catch Efad as she tripped over pool cues that had been carelessly thrown to the ground. "...and I know I didn't do THAT. Who in the world...?"

Efad grimaced and straightened her shirt. "The Jr. Highs were up here on Wednesday; I bet they left 'em here." She cleared her throat nervously. "Oh, and thanks, by the way."

"No worries." He picked up two of the cues and tossed one to his friend. "You rack, I'll break."

"Yeah, right. You stink at breaking."

"Ah, do I hear symptoms of break jealousy?"

"You wish!"

Their playful banter was interrupted by the sound of the security system and the opening of the front door. "Hello?" Christien's voice called.

Kevin's voice sighed. "Well, Efad said they'd be here early, so where are they?"

"We're upstairs!" Efad called, leaning over the railing at the landing. She saw Justin and Brian standing behind Kevin and Christien, who looked up as she spoke. "Hey, watch out for the wall on the way up -- fall into it, and you might be stuck for a while."

"Ugh, this place is a dump," Christien muttered as the four climbed the stairs. "We should probably make a stab at cleaning it up before people start getting upset..."

A collective lightbulb was shared by the six, who exchanged glances. "...do you think we could without getting in trouble?" Brian asked.

Kevin leveled a stare at him. "How could we be in trouble for cleaning up someone else's mess?"

"No," Aaron snorted, "but maybe for digging through cabenets, accidenally using the wrong cleaner on the walls, breaking a window, unleashing mass chaos on the entire planet..."

"Wait, we did that last one earlier this week," Justin commented, more to himself than the others.

Efad sighed and set her pool cue against the wall. "Well... it might be a good thing to do. I mean, the church DID pretty much give us this house, and we're expected to take care of it... I say we go for it. No one else has to know that we cleaned it up by ourselves, right?"

"The 'Secret Santa' philosophy?" Christien grinned. "Sounds good to me."

There was a brief silence, in which everyone exchanged glances before they chorused "you get the bathrooms!" to one another.

~*~

"How did we get stuck doing the bathrooms?" Kevin muttered drearily, peering cautiously into the hair-clogged sink. "UGH. You'd think that people could wait to brush their hair until they get HOME..."

Efad shrugged. "I don't understand half of the girls in the youth group."

"Which is why you hang out with us, right?"

"Nah, sometimes I don't understand y'all, either." She crouched on her feet as she carefully opened the toilet seat, then gagged and managed to stumble back before the intoxicating smell caused her to vomit. "Okay, that's just... EWW," she rasped, covering her mouth and nose with the front of her shirt. "Someone evidentally didn't tell anyone that they had a bad reaction following the Chili Supper."

Kevin coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, moaning, "what are you doing, ANALYZING IT? Close the lid already...!"

Efad did as told and hurriedly flushed the toilet, then made a running dash for some air freshener, hoping that the smell wouldn't spread as quickly as she thought it would. As she came to a screeching halt in the kitchen, she noticed that the back door was open, and curiously peeked outside.

Brian, Aaron, Justin, and Christien were all crowded around something that sat on the railing, and though she could not see what, a sense of impending doom came over her. Any time two or more guys were gathered together by something that manages to keep their attention span, it was almost never a good thing. "Hey, what are y'all doing?" She asked.

"Efad, come look at this," Christien beckoned, waving her forward with his hand. She hesitantly approached their group, making sure to have a quick getaway if needed.

Brian frowned at the ground. "I'm not opening it."

"Neither am I," Aaron muttered.

"Opening what?" Efad peered over Christien's shoulder, only to see a travel coffee mug sitting in the center of their semi-circle with the lid tightly on top. "...um, I hate to ask, but how long has that been in there?"

Justin shrugged. "I remember seeing it a few months ago, but I didn't know it was still here... And I want to see what's inside."

"So YOU open it," Brian countered, crossing his arms. "I'm not trusting anything that's been outside for that long."

"And I'm not planning on being in the state when it's opened," Aaron added grimly.

Christien raised an eyebrow at Efad, who immediately took a step back. "Could we get you to do it?"

"No way, guys, you're on your own." She backed herself to the doorway and shrugged. "I was looking for air freshener, anyway, so I'll leave y'all to your own devices."

As she started to leave, however, she heard Justin say, "I'll open it, then!" and reach for the cup. Efad turned on her heel just in time to see the lid come off, and much to her entertainment, the entire group reeled in disgust and horror.

"What IS that?" Christien said through a gag.

"Holy crap, throw it out!" Aaron shouted, staggering back as far as he could go.

Justin was in too much shock to respond, so Brian haphazardly reached for the cup in an effort to deliver them from the stench; unfortunately, just as his hand grasped for the bottom, his cousin stumbled and tipped the contents backwards onto himself. Efad suppressed a series of gags as the rancid smell came towards her, mainly because it reminded her of sour milk.

The other three had long backed as far away as possible, and Justin was left with a brown semi-liquid stain on his white shirt. "Never seen milk turn that color before," Efad marvelled from her moderately safe distance. "You okay, Justin?"

He tried to reply, but all that came forth was a round of vomit that splattered as it hit the porch. Everyone flinched, waiting until he had finished to try and move.

"I knew this was all a bad idea," Brian moaned. "Now look at what we have to clean up!"

"What's all the commotion out here?" Kevin came up behind Efad and surveyed the scene in a glance, until his gaze rested upon Justin. "What the..."

"Someone's science experiment went horribly wrong, so they left it on the porch for us to find," Christien explained, keeping his shirt collar over his mouth and nose.

Aaron snorted. "Yeah, then Brian spilled it all over Justin."

Efad merely sighed and shook her head. "Next time I suggest something like an impromtu Big House cleaning day, somebody hit me..."