The day started off terrible and got worse.
She woke up with a laggy feeling, as though some invisible weight was pulling her down. When she ate food, it left her with a vaguely nauseated feeling that didn’t get better as the day progressed.
Am I getting sick? she wondered. Not realizing that it wasn’t that she was coming down with an illness but that some part of the universe was trying to warn her.
She filled the washing machine and started the water running as she measured out the detergent and poured it in, wondering that the usually translucent white detergent was cloudy and maybe a bit thick. She just thought that it might be a new brand until the last bit dripped out of the cup and her eyes focused on the bottle where it said "Fabric softener."
"Oh no," she muttered, staring into the machine.
The fabric softener was already in there, there was nothing she could do about that. She sighed. She would have to let the machine finish running then wash the clothes again with actual laundry detergent.
She wondered where the fabric softener had come from. Finally decided that it was probably a mistake the last time they ordered groceries. It was nearly the same label as the laundry detergent they usually got.
She closed the washing machine lid and went to wash her hands. It looked like it was going to be twice as long as she’d planned for the laundry to be done.
Heading into the kitchen to make some lunch, she turned on the TV in passing. It was a surprise to find that rather than her usual show it was some kind of news program playing, a bright red "BREAKING NEWS!" ribbon covering the top of the screen.
She walked close to the TV, staring in horrified fascination.
Fires. Screams. The urgent tone of the reporters’ voices. Everything blended together into a sense of unreality.
Santa’s sleigh had fallen off the top of the Hinckle building during the Happy Holidays Parade, and it turned out that it had been built more solidly than anyone could have expected.
A ten-meter long heavy metal frame attached by thick ropes decorated to look like reins to nine cast iron reindeer with sharp yet brittle metal antlers dropped from a height of more than 152 meters onto a crowd of people.
It was a bloodbath.
She stared in shock, her hands hanging limp at her sides.
Her family had gone to the parade. She had planned to go too, but the discomfort in her stomach had made her decide to stay home. They had promised to bring her back some parade candy.
The nauseated feeling grew until it enveloped her whole body. Then she dropped to the floor, unconscious.
The day had started off bad and had become nightmare levels of terrible. And like the fabric softener that had already gone into the washing machine, once it had happened it could not be undone. No matter how much she wished things could be different.
=END=
~Harper Kingsley
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I accidentally added fabric softener to the washing machine instead of detergent. I don’t even know where the fabric softener came from, only the label looks exactly like the All Free and Clear we usually get except it has a little "Fabric Softener" on the label that the grocery shopper probably didn’t even notice.
There’s a reason I believe all liquid fabric softeners should come in blue or pink jugs. You should be able to differentiate it from laundry soap without having to read the whole label.
All Free and Clear is what I use. It’s cheap, and one of the big jugs with the spigot on the side lasts me almost a year.