
So Absorbed in Work
Jennah Nunez | Tarneit P-9 |
English | Term 3 2024
Clean, clean, clean. That’s all I ever do.
My sweeper zigzags across the white tiles, leaving nothing but mirrors behind. Dusting every door I come across, making sure not to let any dust cover the number on my upper arm, scared if the government might not see the number. The day turns to night, and it’s time to go home, to go to the white block the government says is my home, but at least I get to think about her. The white sheets hug me till my eyes fall, dreaming about her, and rise again with the sun shining into my eyes. The automated voice tells me about the weather, tells me what to wear according to the weather, tells me not to forget my badge to get into the Middle, tells me the amount of time it takes to get to the middle, tells me it’s her birthday.
My white bike with the white basket, the newest model in stock. The special things I get since I work in the Middle. My eyes scan the clear skies of the summer side in my world, and how it turned to clouds, for the winter side of the same world, but my mind is still on her. The pedals of the bike go faster than it should have, predicting the amount of time I have until I have to clock in. The black cube reaches my eye line, seeing the long line of civilians wanting to get in. The bike’s handle turns left, going towards the worker entrance where I scan my badge that withholds all of my information, but my mind is still on her, only seconds after, a red laser scans me, checking if the badge matches the person.
I meet up with the other janitors in the corner, but my mind is still on her, then the manager starts handing out our areas of the day, and the carts with all the items we need for the day. It takes at least a few minutes to get to my area to clean, passing other people I know getting their areas ready with my mind still on her, but I finally reach my area, spraying the ground with detergent, making sure I go from the back to the front to avoid any slips, which was a lesson I learnt along the way. My arm reaches for the mop, and automatically starts mopping, as it’s embedded into my brain. Hours go by, and the floor is sparkling and my mind is still on her, so my arm reaches for the duster, going door by door in my area, wondering why there are so many doors, and what their use is for. It’s the 10th door I’m up to and the 11th door slides open as the duster leans against it.
“3 MINUTES UNTIL LAUNCH” I read in bold red letters, as I looked down, and a colossal missile with a red nose and wings. My heart starts racing like a trapped animal, desperately wanting to escape, but all that happened was my legs escaping out of the room, my voice going hoarse from screaming at everyone to escape while they could, and when you see someone running, you run. The feeling of my legs escape, but I keep going wanting to get to her, to warn her. My legs are fixed to speed over to my bike, the bike I finally reach and jump onto. I start to pedal, but it slows me down, wanting me to obey the street rules, I make it speed up, I make it go to the winter side, where she is.
My voice is hoarse, yelling at people with all my might to escape before the government catches me, my body starts shaking from the cold of the winter side, my hair wet from the liquid dripping from the clouds flying in the wind. I see it, I see her decorated white block, the block she calls home, and I see her, the blonde hair turned brown from the liquid, a smile slapped on her face making her ocean eyes squished, liquid drops going over her number on her upper arm, twirling her body around the patch of green grass in front of her home. My lips upturn, seeing her, but then I remember why I was there in the first place, to tell her we need to run far away from this place. The dancing body stops as she sees me, her eyes glide towards my hand, and her smile fades. The duster still in hand, the one thing she hates me for, being so absorbed in work, at least it finally paid off, we get to run away together, finally be together without work interfering. I jump off my bike, the duster falling from my grip, my body running to hold her, to embrace her. My heart melts as she squeezes me back, her wet clothes clinging to mine. We stay like this as if our bodies are glued, until a bright white light fills my eyesight, and a big noise fills my ears.
Clean, clean, clean. That’s all I ever did.