The Midnight Cleaning Company

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Even over the whirr of the microwave heating my pig's blood, I could hear George and Andre's muffled conversation from downstairs. Andre was inevitably unsatisfied with George's responses to his questions.

George was always quiet but especially regarding this particular topic. Andre climbed the stairs and weaved his way through the desks towards me. I took a swig from my mug but immediately spat the blood out. The normally refreshing taste was instead sour and sharp.
"Too hot" I quickly lied. "It's morning so I am going to bed. I will answer every question later", I promised Andre as I passed him.

I examined the new bullet hole in the back of my jacket, before hanging it over the back of my desk chair and continuing on towards the stairs.

I slept deeply; dead to the world. I had a dream for the first time in nearly a century. I dreamt vividly of the girl from the alleyway. In my dream she helped me up from the ground, a beautiful smile on her face, her big warm brown eyes shining, but as I got to my feet and tried to speak to her, the smile shattered into a silent scream. Tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her hair changed from brown to blood red, and flew out behind her as if in a storm. I felt horror, guilt, and sorrow grip me. I jolted awake, still thrashing in my tiny bed.

Fortunately my deep sleep had lasted longer than the dreamless naps of my colleagues so the room was empty. I took a moment to regain my composure, smoothed my hair back from my forehead, and went upstairs.

All my colleagues were at their desks on the second floor. They were each scribbling frantically, utterly absorbed in constructing proposals of how to combat our current Rogue problem. Andre sat at his desk looking bored and irritated that no one would explain why they were so tense.
"Come on, I promised you answers," I said, retrieving my jacket from my desk chair and returning to the staircase.
Only as I left the office did I realise how long I had been asleep. The sun was already setting and casting a red glow which accentuated the autumnal orange of the sparse trees that lined our forgotten street.

Andre was still sulking about being ignored and kept in ignorance all day. Uncharacteristically he followed me without talking. We reached the end of our backstreet of abandoned warehouses and took a short-cut through an estate of high-rise council flats. Our footsteps echoed off the closely packed concrete buildings. Some children in oversized clothes giggled as they played with a broken bicycle by the bins of an adjacent block of flats. As we strolled past a number of youths who dragged on roll up cigarettes and glared at Andre, sizing him up, curious that a young man like them was wearing such smart clothes, as if they could sense that he was out of place and belonged in their world . Their hooded heads tracked our progress across the concrete courtyard like vultures observing a potential meal. The tense silence was punctuated by the rhythmic clicking of our heels on the ground like the second hand of a clock.

We emerged at the other side of the estate and into a new world. The high street we turned into was bursting with life and noise. People in expensive coats hurried past, brightly coloured scarves billowing out behind them, chatting on mobile phones while they finished their shopping. We passed a group of young revellers with fashionably scruffy clothes,and ironic twirled moustaches, having an impassioned debate with a young man with huge beard like a nineteenth century German philosopher while they smoked outside a pub on picnic benches.
We turned off the main road into a more intimate narrow street of bookshops and cafés. I found the place I was searching for. A small bell rang as I pushed through the door and stooped across the threshold, holding the door open behind me for Andre.
"Do you like steak?" I asked him.
"Yeah of course!" he said, surprised and immediately cheering up.
We were shown to a small round table for two in the far corner. The restaurant had a Greek theme and was cheaply decorated with blue and white tiles and someone's framed holiday photos of Athens.