1 New Cinalia (1/2)
2018
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
6:20 am
Sia pressed the snooze button for the third time. She groggily turned off her alarm and rolled out of bed. Her legs hit the floor first and she kept hold of her pillow as she stumbled to her feet.
”Noooooooo,” She groaned into her pillow and walked out of her dark room.
The pillow blocked the light that streamed into the hallway from reaching her eyes. She wobbled down the hall a couple of steps then turned into the brightly lit bathroom.
”Noooo,” she moaned as she closed her eyes and set the pillow on the edge of the sink.
She blindly reached for a toothbrush and turned on the faucet. She examined the wet toothbrush while cracking her eyes open into slits. After confirming she retrieved the correct item, she closed her eyes and washed the brush once more. She leaned forward and splashed some of the water onto her hand.
”Aaagh!” She exclaimed as hot water burnt her fingers,” Dang it.”
The heat shocked her awake. Her brown eyes glared into the mirror. She glanced to the left of the mirror at the trip itinerary she printed out. Bold black letters stretched across the page and spelled out New Cinalia to America, one way ticket, and $4000.
”Almost there..,” she grumbled as she brushed her teeth.
She dropped her toothbrush onto the sink and tapped a damp finger to the itinerary before exiting the bathroom. She left the pillow on the sink. She trudged back to her room to put on her uniform. The clock read 6:30 am when she stomped out of the silent house to catch her train to River City.
She licked her chapped lips as she power walked to the station. The train usually came at 6:40 am and Sia lived 10 minutes away. It was going to be close, but she always bought her tickets a week in advance. She only needed to verify the ticket before getting on the train. She got to the station at 6:38 am. She ran to the entrance, down the stairs, then back up the stairs to her platform. The train pulled up as the machine stamped her ticket with the time of departure.
Sia sat down near the sliding doors and pulled out her smartphone. No new texts or calls. She sighed and leaned against the wall to look out the window. It was damp with raindrops.
'Must have been raining before I got out,' Sia thought before she looked down at her boots.
Her boots had mud on them. She groaned as she thought of a way to clean them before she got into work. Personally, she didn't mind the mud, but it would be just her luck to run into one of the higher-ups at her new job.
ExplorerTech Industries was a small technology company that was successful, but not very well known. Sia was surprised that she was able to get the job with no prior experience as a janitor, but she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Ever since the divorce of her parents, she had been looking for ways to make money and save for a plane ticket. A plane ticket that she would use to finally see her little sister. Her mother had decided to move back to her hometown in America, and Sia's little sister had decided to go with her. That had been six years ago.
The train bumped around a corner and made Sia's cheek rub against the damp window. She pulled away and took out her phone again. She glanced at her trip app and looked over her trip itinerary and calculations. For the past three months, Sia had worked for ExplorerTech Industries and calculated that if she saved every paycheck for the next six months she would be able to visit her sister by the new year.
Sia had quit her comfortable low-paying library job and acquired a higher paying janitorial job. You see, her librarian salary had been $8 an hour with her only working 4 hours for 5 days of the week. Her social life had been thriving and with her side trips, snack binging, and tiny small minuscule amount of shopping...she had saved $50 from last year's earnings. Hey, she had been 18, and that was her gap year. She was supposed to enjoy herself. That was what a gap year was for; you enjoyed yourself before you had to go to more school and were transformed into a copy of the boring parents that raised you.
Luckily, since no one had cared to notice the year was up, Sia could enact her new plan. A gap year in America would be quite different from a gap year home in New Cinalia. She should get to know both her countries before deciding where to study and begin her life as a carbon copy. She had known she would need a career change. ExplorerTech Industries had been a surprising help.
She closed the trip application and opened her Messages application to read over the recent messages sent by her mother and younger sister.
Mom
Call me when your shift ends. - 5 AM
Aaliyah
Make any new friends? - sent yesterday at 11:55 PM
Aaliyah
Whoo!!!!!!! It's ur 3 month anniversary I'm proud.... - sent yesterday at 11:54 pm
Mom
Did you tell your father I called? - sent yesterday at 8 PM
Mom
Did you do your taxes last year or did your... - sent yesterday at 6:50 PM
Mom
Aaliyah told me to forward the party photos...- sent yesterday at 6:45 PM
Mom
Your grandma misses you. Everyone looks for...- sent yesterday at 4:29 PM
Dad
The welcome mat is missing. Replace it or...-sent 1/17/2018
Dad
She won't be coming with me. I'll see you when I...-sent 1/16/2018
She ignored the old messages sent by her father. Those were at least two months old. She paused over her mother's message from yesterday night.
Mom
Did you tell your father I called? - sent yesterday at 8 PM
'What does she mean did I tell him she called...Why would he care? I don't want to be in the middle of another spat between them.'
The relationship between her mother and father had become amicable after all the years apart, and Sia could almost forget about all their arguments and her mother's disappearing acts. The online video calls and phone calls they had exchanged throughout the 6 years started out strained but had transformed into a seemingly healthy distant relative relationship. It could be because they didn't have to see each other every day. It could be because her mother finally felt fulfilled and cared for back home with people she had grown up around. She could finally relax in the arms of her first love without shame.
It could be because her father had a new wife who kept him busy with her own nagging and annoying habits. A new wife, formerly known as the assistant who had made up fake appointments and meetings to enjoy her father's company. Or it could be that they were holding tight to their fantasy perfect images until the video call ended, so they could trash-talk each other without a floating head involved in their conversation.
Sia couldn't understand how she was related to such irritating two-faced people. At least her father didn't pay much attention. He confirmed she was alive, made sure she did her chores and kept the kitchen stocked with food she could consume while he was gone. His wife paid even less attention to her than him.
'Annoying wench.'
Their lack of attention was in her favor. As long as she didn't skip the chores, he would never seek her out for conversation. Usually, Sia handled the cleaning and maintenance of her father's home. Of course, he could employ a maid, but why would he do that when he had a healthy child that could do it for him?
Dirty bathroom: ”Sia, make sure you don't forget to clean the upstairs bathroom.”
Dirty kitchen: ”Sia, I noticed the oven needs a thorough cleaning.”
As she got older, the chores became more elaborate.
The door won't lock? ”Sia, after-school make sure you put the new knob in.”
Toilet clogged? ”Sia, the first-floor bathroom has been acting up; consult the manual.”
With years of training maintaining a 4-bedroom house, her job was a piece of cake. Most of the janitorial staff worked during the other shifts, and if she paced herself slow enough, she only had to clean a few rooms before it was time to clock out.
Sia arrived at her last stop and long-legged it to her job. Fortunately, the employee entrance she utilized was nearby the women's locker room. The locker room had a basic setup. It contained rows and rows of horizontal metal storage closets with a large bathroom attached to the main room. She changed into her uniform straightaway, pulled her lanyard over her head, grabbed her boots in one hand, and detoured to the restroom area.
The stalls were empty. The blue doors were pushed in to reveal gleaming white porcelain toilets. Her eyes scanned the room before she stomped over to the paper towel dispenser affixed to the white wall. The paper towel dispenser emitted a small rumble as she signaled the motion with her hand underneath the canister.
She tugged a few sheets of brown paper towel out of the machine and scrapped the mud off her boots. She tilted each boot under the fluorescent light to make sure no blemishes could be pointed out to her later. After a few more swipes on each boot, she tugged out a few more paper towels and cleaned up the mud that was scrapped off her onto the floor.
After she completed that task, she pulled out her cell phone and checked the lock screen.
'Whoo. Just in time...gotta clock in.'