Laundry Terrors

It was Monday. It was the day I dreaded the most. One, because I hated going to school on Mondays, and two, Mom scheduled me to do laundry on that day.

I took my hamper downstairs and started tossing my dirty clothes into the washer. After I put the soap in and started the washer, I sat at the table to do homework. It's always nice to keep yourself busy while you're waiting for laundry.

Mom came into the kitchen with her empty hamper. "Hey, Katie, are you doing your laundry like I asked?"

"I just barely put my stuff in."

"Okay. I'm going to take my stuff out of the dryer and then can move your clothes over."

Mom took her clothes out of the dryer and started to fold socks. I could hear her mutter from the living room, "Where do all the socks go? I swear I put in another one just like this."

The timer on the washer beeped a while later. I moved my clothes over to the dryer and sat next to Mom on the couch. "You losing your socks again?"

Mom nodded. "Yep. Crazy how that happens. I think our washing machine is eating our laundry."

I helped Mom find matches to socks, and not surprisingly, some of them didn't have matches.

It was finally time to fold my laundry. Good. My most hated chore was almost over. I took my laundry onto the couch and started to fold it. There was something off about it, though. As I dug through the pile of warm clothes, I noticed my shirt was missing. "What the heck?"

"What's the matter?" asked my little brother, walking into the family room with a bag of chips and a juice box.

"My shirt's missing. You know that coral one?" I dug through the pile a little bit more and checked between the couch cushions. "I was going to wear it for school picture day tomorrow."

"Maybe someone broke into our house and stole it."

"Okay, who in their right mind would break into a house just to steal a shirt when we have latptops and TVs?"

"Maybe they just really wanted a new shirt."

I laughed sarcastically. "You're so funny, Josh."

There was no way I could have lost that shirt while I was doing laundry. I emptied my hamper entirely. I even checked to make sure the clothes weren't inside each other. It was the weirdest thing.

Not knowing what elese to do, I checked both the washer and the dryer. They were empty.

Mom put some detergent on one of the shelves. "What are you looking for?"

"My shirt. I put it in my dirty clothes basket and now it's gone. It just disappeared like 'poof!' How does that even happen?"

"Sweetie, it's a shirt. It can't just get up and walk away. It's probably stuck in the dryer or something. I'll have Dad try and get it out when he gets home."

When Dad came home, though, he didn't have much luck. He tried opening up both the washer and dryer. There were a few socks, but my shirt wasn't in there.

"Man," Dad exhaled, wiping his sweaty forehead. "Shoot. I was hoping my pants were in here."

Mom wrinkled up her eyebrows. "You're missing your pants?"

"Yeah. You know, my yardwork jeans? One of them has a hole in it."

Josh piped up. "And I'm missing my soccer jersey!"

Oh boy. We all were missing things we really needed.

"Well, it's probably not going to be in there," Mom told him. "Looks like the dryer only eats the small things." She gave me a side hug. "Sorry, Katie. Looks like you'll have to wear something else for picture day. And Josh, we need to find that jersey. Your coach isn't going to let you play."

"But it got lost in the wash!" he cried. "I know it did!"

That night, I stayed up late. I couldn't help but think about how clothes go missing in the wash. It was one of life's greatest mysteries.

Right as I was getting sleepy, I heard the sound of the dryer door opening and shutting.

Maybe there was a burglar! Maybe every house gets their laundry stolen! It seemed far-fetched, but I couldn't think of any other explanation. Was it a ghost? Was there a ghost in our house that I didn't know about? Against my better judgement, I quietly went down the hallway and followed the noise.

When I got close to the laundry room, I could see that the light was on. Shadows moved around the door.

"Mom?" I whispered. My heart pounded. I could see shadows moving around by the door. I really hoped it was Mom, but I didn't have enough courage to go in and see for myself.

The dryer opened and shut itself again. I hid behind the counter and peeked over the top. What I saw terrified me.

There was my shirt, a mismatched pair of Mom's socks, Dad's pants, and Josh's jersey floating in the air. It was the weirdest and scariest thing I had ever witnessed in my life.

My shirt raised its arm up like a human motioning for someone to follow. Dad's pants, Josh's Jersey, and Mom's socks followed behind. They all looked as if someone was wearing them. They moved how a person would, too.

"Hey," I started, getting up from my hiding spot and pointing.

The clothes saw me with their invisible eyes or something. They frantically moved around the door. My coral shirt somehow managed to open the door without fingers. Once my shirt opened the door, all the other clothes exited in a hurry.

"No, no, no!" I called, running after the missing laundry. "Wait! Wait! Stop!"

It was too late. The laundry practically ran down the street. They must have been pretty spooked how I caught them red-handed.

Though I tried to chase them down, I ran out of breath. I couldn't believe it. Disembodied clothes were faster than I was. My jaw hung open. Nobody was going to believe what I saw. Deciding I wouldn't go through the trouble of chasing down runaway laundry, I went back to bed. I had seen enough.

In the morning, I got myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table.

"Did you sleep well?" Mom asked, opening the fridge. "Any crazy dreams?"

I shook my head. "No, just a crazy realization."

Josh looked at me with confusion. "About what?"

Keeping a straight face, I replied, "I finally figured out where our missing laundry goes."

"Where?"

"They get up and they walk away," I said casually. Knowing how ridiculous it sounded, I tried not to laugh. A small snicker escaped my throat.

Mom gave me a weird look. She must have thought I was joking.

I shrugged. I couldn't explain it either. All I knew was that my shirt, Dad's pants, Josh's jersey, and Mom's socks got up in the middle of the night and headed out, never to be seen again.