Energia Tower

Chapter 10.2: Symphony of the Mop (Part 2)

Gil took the yellow bucket and carried it down one level to the forty-ninth floor through the elevator alongside Darcy. Two security guards also placed themselves in the tiny elevator with them. Gil was perflexed by the size difference in that elevator compared to the elevator he took daily to the basement level for his mandatory tasks. Perhaps it was a maintenance elevator that prisoners weren't usually allowed to take; it's small frame intrigued him.

Gil and Darcy exited the elevator and stuck to the same routine they had during the previous floor. All they had to do was mop the floors in the circular hallway until they met again; tedious but still completely manageable. They wet the mops in soapy and proceeded to their task.

As Gil mopped that floor, he noticed the layout was exactly the same as the floor above. When he got to the security room, he basically saw the same site. A security guard watching the screen of every part of the entire floor. When Gil made eye contact with that security guard, he waved. Unfortunately, that security did not wave back like the previous one did.

After several minutes of vicious mopping, Gil finally found himself making his way back to Darcy. Gil smirked when they saw each other again; he was insanely shocked to see her smirk back at him, as he assumed she wasn't capable of making another facial expression. It was pleasant to see her not wearing her usual blank expression.

They re-entered the maintenance elevator, before changing the water in the bucket. On the forty-eighth floor, the routine was the same. Same layouts, number of cells, number of guards, and same security room. Who knew that Energia Tower was structured so repetitively. It was ironic compared to the repetitive nature of complete boring daily tasks.

After they finished the fortieth floor, Gil turned to Darcy to ask her questions about break time.

"Do we get a break? My feet are killing me," said Gil.

"Not really, we usually just keep mopping until all of the floors are clean," answered Darcy.

"Aw man," frowned Gil. "I'll at least ask. The least they can say is no!"

"Hey, can we get a break! We've been scrubbing away for about two hours!" Gil complained loudly to the nearest security guard.

"A break!? Why do you need a break for!?" the guard answered rudely.

"There's only two scrubbing the hallways tonight, as most people refused to complete this bonus task. Maybe with ten bodies we need a break, but we need to refuel. If we keep going at this pace, we'll surely die before we get to the twentieth floor," explained Gil.

"Eh, fine. Follow me to the cafeteria," said the guard.

"Nice work Gil," said Darcy to Gil.

He was hoping to see her smile again when she said that, but she didn't. He was simply greeted by ice cold eyes.

The guard escorted the prisoners to the cafeteria. They were the only two prisoners seated in the entire room, all they had with them were water bottles. Two security guards were by the doors of the room, eyeing them like hungry eagles.

"Don't rest too hard, you freaks got a lot of work to do!" one of the guards shouted.

At that moment, it was like the tip of an iceberg fell in Gil's mind. He was sick of the guards, sick of the cells, sick of the labor shifts, and sick of the boring cafeteria he was in. He still considered himself innocent as well; the fact that an innocent man like him had been forced to suffer in those conditions was baffling.

He looked at the ceiling of the the colossal cafeteria. Could I really escape out of here?

He looked at Darcy and debated with himself if he should tell her his crazy plan or not, but he chose not to. It'd probably be better not to tell her at all, so he thought of another topic of conversation.