Mirabelle POV
"Bye! Have a great rest of your night!" Rena called to the couple leaving the bar. They turned and waved, bright, cheery smiles on their faces. Usually the last people to leave are so completely wasted that we had to literally drag them out and into a cab, but these people were only partially drunk.
Rob waved as well, then locked the door as soon as they were out and switched of the awful flashing neon sign that said "We Are Open!". He turned with his hands on his hips and flashed a goofy grin. "Alrighty girls, it's just you and me tonight. I promised Janet she could leave early to go see her family in California. Go get the buckets and rags and start cleaning!" Rena and I knew that Rob was a really nice guy and he treated us very well, but when it came to work he sure didn't go easy on us.
I quick shrugged on my sweatshirt before going into the kitchen and grabbing the pails from under the sink. Rob had the air-conditioning cranked up to the point where it was practically 40 freaking degrees in the building. "Rob!" I yelled, my hands searching over the cupboard over the sink, but I couldn't see a thing. "Can't...Reach!"
Just then my hand hit something that felt like a bottle of dish soap. I huffed in success and wrapped my hand around it. "Never mind, I go-" As I pulled it towards me, a mountain of other bottles came raining down. I let out a small squeak as I fell to the floor and covered my head. One of the bottles exploded and covered the room, and myself, in some sort of greenish yellow liquid.
Rob ran in to see what happened and burst out laughing. He clutched at his stomach and doubled over as Rena joined the little party. "What the..." She trailed off, a smile tugging at her lips. "Oh dear, that's the soap we needed." She burst out in laughter, unable to hold it in any longer.
"Haha, very funny." I pouted, but couldn't help but smile as well. "You guys going to just stand there or are you gonna help me clean this up?"
We all continued to enjoy ourselves as we mopped up the kitchen floor and walls. In the end, the place was sparkling clean and the appliances were shining like new. "Wow," Rob scoffed. "This is the cleanest I've seen this place in, like, ever."
"You're welcome," I replied, reluctantly stripping of my beloved sweatshirt which was now a weird, indescribable color. "If you'll excuse me, voy al bano," As I made my way to the bathroom I could hear Rob and Rena still snickering. I rolled my eyes and locked the door tight behind me. Carefully, I peeled my soaked tank off and threw it in the sink with some water. My hands balled up some paper towels and wiped me off. As I ran the wet make-shift rags across the base of my neck, I could clearly see my scar. I cursed, rummaging through my pockets. Relief filed me once I found what I was looking for.
I pulled the small bottle of concealer out of my jeans and set it on the sink. I let the water run over my top as I re-applied the cover-up over my neck. The scar had faded out a bit, but it was still a very noticeable pink line that was rather questionable. Once it was well covered and out of sight, I finished washing out my shirt and slipped it back on. Water-soaked was much better than soap-soaked.
Rena was still chuckling when I walked out. I snuck up behind her and gently punched her. She turned, a small playful pout spreed across her lips. "You're so mean!"
"Yeah yeah." I muttered, grabbing the second rag and joined the table-washing team of one. Well, now two. Rob had grabbed a broom and was sweeping up the floor.
"Hey, Rena?"
"Yeah," She replied, looking up at me. "What's up?"
I shifted on my feet, a bit uncomfortable. "Um, I was wondering...How come everyone's so...calm?"
Rena cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, no one ever seems to get in trouble. And during lessons everyone's like dead silent unless their answering a question. Why is that?"
There was a moment of silence where I assumed she wasn't going to answer me, so I went back to cleaning. Rena, however, pulled out a chair and sat down with a huff. "Everyone's afraid of Nadia's punishments."
"Punishments? Like what?" I took a seat across from her. Rob made a noise, but didn't say anything.
"Well, um, have you ever seen Matilda?"
"Of course! That movie may as well be a Classic American Movie,"
Rena squirmed a bit in her seat before going on. "well, it's pretty much like that, only for a couple days."
"Wait, what?"
"You get locked in a room in the basement and get no food for how ever many days Ms. Nadia sees fit for what you did."
"W-what's the longest she ever put someone down there?"
"Three days."
I gasped and almost fell off my chair. "Three days?! That's...that's insane! How can she so that! It has to be illegal."
"Don't you see? The orphanage is in the middle of nowhere Mirabelle! Nobody questions anything. We don't even have a sheriff here."
"Oh my..." My heart was racing. That has to classify as cruel and unusual punishment!! I though. Then, a thought occurred to me. "Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"
"Pfft," Rena shook her head. "I'm too good to get caught," She struck a ninja pose that made me smile and feel a bit better.
"You two done having a one-on-one girl talk? 'Cause if you are, I'd really like to get out of here by no later than four." Rob called, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Yeah yeah, we're goin'" Rena called, waving a dismissive hand. I smiled, picking up my rag and moving twice as fast as before. Within five minutes Rena and I had every table, counter and bench wiped spotless.
"Thanks girls, you can head out. I've got the rest covered." Rob smiled. He waved as we left out the back door. The lights of the orphanage were shining dimly. As we walked up to one of the side doors, I slipped off my borrowed heels and we walked in quietly. Rena made sure it was shut tight and securely locked before we headed to the stairwell. We were part of the way up when we heard a door open on the first floor.
"Rena. Mirabelle, could you come here for a minute?" A voice called. I looked at Rena, alarmed and confused. Her facial expression was an exact copy of my own. No help there.
Having no choice but to obey the speaker, Rena and I slowly made our way back down. When we were past the walls that shielded our vision of the first floor, we both gasped. There, standing in her nightgown and slippers, was Ms. Nadia.
She had a calm smile placed on her lips, but her eyes were burning with flames of fury. "If you could take a step in my office for a minute. It won't be long, and you'll be able to go to sleep." She turned and sauntered through the open door, semi-closing it behind her.
Rena looked at me with eyes as wide as a doe caught in headlights. Her distinct, short words grew a fear inside me bigger than ever before.
"Oh. Shit."
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Whew, finally! An update :)
Sooo sorry for the long wait. School got out and I was hoping for some free time, but I got the complete opposite :P Thank gosh Driver's Ed is over, so my open time had increased a bit.
Anyways, please vote, comment, and fan :) I need to know people are reading so I have reason to update!
~Ali-Blue Bunny