Making a Home out of Loose Ends

Starting From Scratch

It was a wonderful day outside, and Levi was suffering. Maybe it was because of the particular way his body punished him for existing, his nerves flaring up like thunder at each step. Maybe it was because every morning since he was a child, he would wake from a nightmare he couldn't quite remember, terror giving place to grief, and grief to numbness. Maybe he was just lonely and homesick.

He didn't know. He didn't care.

He had a job to do, and a life to earn. Those things wouldn't simply accomplish themselves. So he took the bus to college, and with tired, heavy feet, started his shift.

The National University of Sciences and Technology, NUST for short, had hired him to work as a janitor. It was the first job he managed to land ever since arriving at the capital city of Paradis, Sina, a buzzing metropolis in which old stone buildings and marble palaces turned museums managed to coexist with the modern architecture trends of polarized glass and rising steel beams, though it fully lacked the presence of proper skyscrapers, like his home city in Marley.

He arrived at one. Today it was his first day, though his manager had made sure to give him a quick guide through the building he was assigned to work in the day before, the northern wing of the faculty of biology. He was tasked with cleaning the hallways, some lecturing rooms, and most importantly, the main laboratory. He was also given some training, which he didn't really need, and a shitty-looking gray uniform more fitting for an inmate than for a cleaner. At least they had the decency to not make him buy one himself.

Levi's evening had been so far unremarkable, consisting of the same repetitive, if soothing, motions of sweeping, mopping, scrubbing and dusting off. The only thing left for him to do before going home was cleaning the lab, which promised to add at least some excitement to his otherwise dull routine.

Contrary to what he expected, the door wasn't locked, and the lab was not empty.

There was someone inside, a dark figure lit only by a single lamp, hunching over a stack of open books. Their only discernible characteristics were their tilted square glasses and their wide, wicked smile.

"Excuse me?" He said, and the person raised their head, startled by his authoritative tone. "You are off-hours. Lab closes at seven. I'm going to clean up."

He entered the room and turned the lights on, which struck him as disgustingly bright. It took his eyes a while to get used to it, but now he was better able to appreciate the person sitting at the desk. They had messy brown hair and wore a long white coat.

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Call me professor, please," they said, adjusting their glasses and getting up. "Professor Hange Zoë. I assume you're new around here."

He wasn't able to reply, too confused by the way his stomach turned when he looked at them to think about anything else.

"I tend to stay here in the lab until after hours," they went on. "Everyone knows that, but I guess no one has come around to tell you yet. Nice to meet you, by the way. What's your name?

This made him react.

"I'm Levi."

"Levi what?"

"Just Levi."

"And are you trained on what to do with hazardous waste?"

"I am, yes."

The professor sat down again, shifting their attention back into their work.

"Then get on with it. I'll be here, but pretend I don't exist. Alright?"

"Alright."

One of the many perks of being a janitor was that people usually didn't notice his presence. Levi was, for most, invisible, and he frankly preferred it that way. He found most people insufferable, and the one time he ever tried to have a customer service job, he ended up detained for lashing out at a woman that insulted his height.