Experiments of Humanity

001

EDITED

Content Warning:  language, violent depictions  

"I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am." I hum along with the song, my fingers slipping into the corners of the fitted sheet smoothly and I flip the sheet around, folding it in half and then half again, before quickly dropping it on the counter in front of me and making thirds and thirds again, dropping the neatly folded sheet on the pile of other fitted sheets.

I lean over into my fabric laundry bin, grab a handful of pillow cases and sort them, then start working on a flat sheet. A few minutes later there are only a few sheets left in the bin but I hear one of the commercial dryers stop, and I make my way over, opening it and grabbing the hot bedding to add to the rest of the things that still need to be folded. I happily keep singing along to my music, swaying my hips and folding sheets and the occasional towel.

Before I know it my bin is empty and I'm sorting through the dirty laundry, separating bedding and towels into separate bins to throw into the washers. Every once in a while someone calls down for laundry and a pile of dirty fabric comes flying down from somewhere upstairs from one of the cleaners.

A few hours of folding and swapping and the occasional sweeping of lint later and the last of the housekeepers are coming into the laundry room to drop off a dirty uniform into the basket for me to throw in before I leave, cheering out a goodbye on the way out.

"Lyssie, how much longer do you think you'll be?" my manager Nikki asks as she drops off her uniform, checks my bin, and looks at the dirty laundry bins.

"Not much longer," I give her a smile, loading up a cart with a few stacks of clean laundry. "I plan on running these upstairs and throwing in the uniforms and then I'll be on my way."

The look on her face relaxes and I watch her shoulders drop slightly, a side of her lip curling up. "Awesome. I can't tell you how much I wish you worked seven days a week," she almost laughs.

I give her a tight but polite smile, straightening the stack of towels I just placed on the cart I need to take to the fourth floor. "It's nothing, really."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yes ma'am."

I hear the door close behind her and I let out a sigh, relieved she's gone. Nikki's nice enough, but she and I both know I can't work more than five days a week regardless of how early I'm done with my work.

I run the clean linens up to the fourth floor, awkwardly dodging a few guests with my overloaded cart as I make my way down the halls and to the elevator and then the storage room. I make quick work of my last few tasks, sweating slightly on my walk out of the hotel, covering my eyes with one hand, and hiking my bag up over my shoulder higher. I dodge a few cars pulling into the parking lot as I'm walking out, cutting through the small patch of grass and into the parking lot of the restaurant next door, before reaching the gas station on the other side. The bell on the door chimes as I walk in and Mari grins at me from behind the counter.

"You're here early! Did you get done early?"

"I did," I give her a nod, ducking past the older woman heading towards Mari, and male my way to the coolers.

I choose a water and energy drink, getting in line behind a kid who couldn't be a day over sixteen and was asking Mari for a pack of smokes.

"I.D?" she gives him an easy smile as she cocks her head, and he stutters out an excuse, heading for the door. "Fucking kids," I hear her mutter.