@MorrighansMuse (Liz) won the runner-up prize this month with her story, INDUSTRIOUS! I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you. I'm also happy that her I've been introduced to her writing due to her participation in this contest. Please be sure to congratulate Liz by commenting on this page and also by checking out the fabulous stories on her profile page. I guarantee, she does not disappoint.

This chapter is dedicated to September's guest judge, @Linna1029. Lindsey is one of my dear friends here on Wattpad and she was a fabulous judge. Thanks so much, Lindsey!

And now, for your enjoyment , here's Liz's story:

INDUSTRIOUS by @MorrighansMuse

He was industrious. Clara was certain of that. She’d watched him return to that spot on the old carpet and vacuum it for the eighth time that morning, still trying to get the stain out. Was it coffee? Soda? Tea? Clara didn’t know.

She didn’t even know what they were supposed to taste like, though she knew the marks they left behind. If the guest didn’t clean it up first - which they seldom did - then it was up to Nolan to do the cleaning, usually hours later. By then, the stain would have set.

But Nolan was resourceful. And he had a few tricks up his sleeve, though Clara knew it really came from the instructions found inside the lid of one of the washing machines in the laundry room, the one that was replaced with a non-commercial one. And when instructions from there didn’t work, Nolan used his own concoction of a quart of warm water, a half teaspoon liquid detergent, and a tablespoon white vinegar to get rid of the stain from the carpet. Maybe it was something he learned from his mother, she thought. No matter where he had learned it from, it worked.

Still, Clara found that she liked watching Nolan work. He was usually so lost in his thoughts to notice anything, not even the stares from the guests or the staff. He’d just go about the task at hand, checking off whatever was on the To-Do list that the manager gave him each morning.

It actually calmed Clara watching Nolan lose himself with whatever he was doing, even if it was just scrubbing a stain from the carpet. The smell of vinegar filled the room, but he didn’t seem to mind. Even after the stain was gone and he proceeded to run the carpet washer over the whole room, he didn’t mind it. And by then, the smell was gone anyway, replaced now by the scent of honeysuckle - the cheap kind that came from those spray cans lined up along the carts the housekeeping staff pushed around.

But Clara didn’t mind. She liked watching Nolan. She really did.