Fear Unlike Any Other

          I can feel the hesitation building up in me. There was a reason I had put this off for so long and I still want to put it off but it has to be done. Brad our apartment manager is coming sometime this week - of course he didn't tell us when- and I couldn't stand the thought of him looking into the dark cave full of toxic fumes, also known as our oven.
     "Katie it's not that big of a deal if you don’t want to do it than don’t!" I can hear the annoyance in Tyson’s voice. I had hoped that my complaints would have saved me the trouble and gotten Tyson to do the dirty job of cleaning it for me, but to no avail.
     "What if Brad charges us for not taking care of it or what if he gets a bad impression of me because of it?!" I say with more desperation in my voice.
     "It sounds like the world is going to end." Tyson says in a mocking tone.
     "You should at least help me! I mean you made most of that mess with your cheese toast and other creations you've come up with." it was my turn to show the frustration in my tone.
     "Look Katie I'll help you a little bit but I do have homework that needs to get done and other projects." Tyson says. I felt the guilt slowly working through me. He was right, like always. I know he would help me no matter what and probably even do it himself if he wasn't in school right now. I let out a little sign in defeat.
     "Well I'll take what help I can get." I said thankful that he was nice enough to help as much as he could. He then looks inside the cave and gives me ideas on how to clean it. He then pulls the oven away from the wall so I can even sweep behind it.
     "Spring break I'll be of more help with cleaning. I promise." Tyson says. He then kisses me on the forehead and then is out the front door headed to work on some group project.
          I decide that I have all night to finish this project and that there is no need to hurry. I walk into my room and slide on some grungy clothes so I don’t get my nice work clothes dirty. I then walk into the bathroom and pull back my hair so it’s out of my face and away from any nasty burnt cheese or other unknown burnt food in the oven. I walk back into the kitchen and start to get out the cleaning tools that I'll need. 'Too bad I don’t have a flame thrower or any other heavy equipment' I think to myself. I grab my dish soap, a scraper that I use on my non-stick cook wear, and last a couple of old socks that neither Tyson nor I want. I then find myself staring into the huge mess in the oven.
          'I wish I would have been smart like Annie and put aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven' I think to myself. 'Well it’s now or never. I grab one of the old socks and soak it in water and dive in. I can smell the fumes from the mess and can feel my hands drying out. I was never a fan of this kind of cleaning. I was starting to get annoyed with the spots that seemed to be welded onto the bottom of the oven. They wouldn't budge or even get smaller. But I found myself still trying. I was started on this project and wasn't going to stop will the job was done. I finally let the music playing fill my mind and let it wander thinking of other things rather than the frustration.
          An hour later I found a sparkling oven and somewhat clean floor. 'Success!' I thought as a huge smile crossed my face. I then felt stupid after making such a huge fuss over this. I laid some aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven and found myself admiring the cleanliness of the oven. It happens so often where we find ourselves postponing a project because we either find it a waste of time of too hard. When in all reality nothing is a waste of time if you learn something from it or gain strength from it and last we are always undermining ourselves. We're capable of anything that we set or minds to.