A Rough First Day
1222 Words
DAHLIA
I checked time on my phone. Past two. It was twenty minutes past time to go get Haven from school. But I had one problem — there was no where to keep her until I was done with work.
The rude manager that I'd come to learn was Millie Jewelson but was popularly known — amongst the staff, particularly — as Meanie Cruelson and with my own personal experience with her, she deserved the name. She was also going to pose a problem for me.
The witch would probably not let me leave. I'd just have to beg my way out.
Satisfied with the gleaming surface of the kitchen floor, I gathered my bucket and mop, heading for the cleaners' closet to change out of my uniform.
Every staff had their own uniform. The cleaners wore a dull green knee length dress with white ruffle collar attached to the plain round neckline, and had an apron with a plain white wide kangaroo pocket strung about my waist. I looked more like a maiden from the 1700s, I just needed a bonnet and a long, sweeping ball skirt to complete the look.
I was told Meanie Cruelson picked out the dress and now it made perfect sense why she wanted me to be a cleaner.
I walked to my locker, changed into my clothes and jamming the locker shut when I heard the sharp, precise click of heels walk in.
"Why aren't you in your uniform?"
The hardest task was now before me. I swallowed and hoped I could appeal to her sense of reasoning, if she had any. Towards me, at least. "To pick my daughter from school. I'll return, I promise." As soon as I found a safe, secure place to keep her until I was done with work.
"When you were applying for this job, did you consider the time and effort it took for this establishment to come this far?" She began, her tone tightened by condescension.
"Please, I promise. She's just five. I just need to go pick her up for school. I promise I'll be back." The image of my daughter sitting alone on the steps of her school, eyes trained on the gate, waiting for me, tugged at my conscience.
"I don't care her age. My establishment should not be made to suffer because someone chose to get pregnant, possibly, in her teenage years. Your child, your choices. My establishment, my choices. Which will it be?" She really was mean.
It wasn't even her establishment, I thought bitterly. So mean. But I didn't say those aloud, I still needed to plead. "Please, just this once, I beg. Don't make me choose between my daughter and my job. Please, I'm begging you."
Desperation and meekness rippled through my tone.
"The only time you're allowed to leave this establishment is ten pm. Any..."
"Ten pm?" I croaked, cutting her short. "I thought you have workers for the evening shift. I..."
A dry chuckle emitted. "Just for you."
My eyes narrowed as my brain comprehended her words. "I'm the only worker who'll work double shifts for the pay of a single shift?"
"You don't like it, you resign." Her eyes flitted over my frame in mockery. "Go back to work or you're fired, riff-raff."
I boiled silently, willing angry tears back. "I'm a mother. Who'll look after my daughter until then?"
"Not my problem. If you leave before ten pm, even a minute before, consider your poor ass fired."
She left but not before letting me see the flash of smile showing superiority and high-handedness.
She was a b***h. An evil one, I decided sadly. What was I going to do?
My phone rang. It was Haven's school. And I knew what they were calling for. With a heavy heart, I answered. "Hello."
"Haven is still in school, Miss Harold." Her teacher impatiently reminded.
"Yes, I know. I'm on my way. Please."
"Miss Harold, if it's not absence in school due to the inability to pay her fees, it's getting her late from school. Haven is always the last to go. I sincerely wish you can give this girl to a family who is ready to raise a child."
She sounded neither judgemental nor harsh. I knew she loved Haven, just as she loved the other kids in her care, but she thought because I was young and Haven was an...unexpected gift, I wasn't capable.
And it never failed to make me feel bad. Or worse, worthless.
"Are you there, Miss Harold?"
"I'm on my way." I ended the call.
There was no way I'd let Meanie Cruelson stop me from picking up my child from school. I just had to find someone to cover up for me.
I finally begged Cassie, a fellow cleaner with a pixie cut that fitted her and piercings that added a certain degree of wildness to her pretty face, who agreed so long as I promised to return before she ended her shift by four pm. I envied her but what could I do?
At the moment, I was grateful she even agreed to cover for me, knowing how risky it was for her too, if we were caught.
I rushed out of the restaurant, also begging the security guy not to say a word about where I was. He reluctantly agree which didn't really put my heart at ease.
I rushed out to the road and hailed a taxi. Gave him directions and struggled not to think of what might be happening at the restaurant — if Meanie Cruelson was now aware of my absence or not.
"Are you okay, miss?"
I caught the driver's eye, noticed he was staring my bouncing knees. I forced my nerves away from my leg. I couldn't afford to lose this job, even though the manager was determined to make life hellish for me.
I nodded. "Yes. Thank you."
A short while later, I realized, with a frown, the route he was taking. It was unfamiliar.
"Uh...what route is this?" I asked.
He quietly drove into a gas station and slowed. "My tank is empty."
But he wasn't driving near any of the gas pumps. He continued his slow driving to the left side of the station where another vehicle was parked.
"Aren't you filling your tank?" I wondered.
No response.
Before I could say more, a guy came out of the vehicle in front. He wore black.
My nerves were back and grinded against the pit of my stomach. I didn't feel comfortable. "Can we leave?"
This guy in black entered the backseat of the cab. My eyes widened. It was the guy from that morning.
I didn't know if I should feel relieved or even more scared. "W-what are you doing here? Is your boss with you?"
He flashed me a cold smile and the next thing I knew, my body automatically froze feeling the hard press of a cold metal to the side of my stomach.
"Now get out of this vehicle, nice and slow and climb into the vehicle in front."
Fear engulfed me. My eyes on the other side of the door. He followed my gaze.
"And if you so much as try to escape or draw attention, well...I have others ready to help pick up little Haven from school."
- Writer
