Beyond the Pain

Chapter 14

THE NEXT MORNING, IDIDN'T wake up to the ringing of Susan's alarm clock as usual. I woke up to the sound of Ash yelling and the weight of her body jumping on mine. I couldn't make up exactly what she was saying, or if she was even saying anything discernible at all. I didn't know what this all meant. Was there an emergency? Was I maybe still asleep and dreaming? Ash never woke up before the alarm. More often than not, she slept through it, and Susan had to drag her out of bed.

As my brain gradually woke up and came to its senses, I took in more of the situation. Ash was grinning from ear to ear and she was joyfully—and loudly—ordering me to wake up. I still didn't know what had put her in such an elated mood, but at least I knew that I could stop worrying about the possibility of being trapped in a fire or a similar life or death situation.

"What's going on?" I asked with my raspy morning voice.

"What do you mean 'what's going on'? How can you still be asleep?" she replied shocked, almost offended. "It's the best day of the year! The first day of the Holidays. Lily, we're on vacation for two whole weeks!"

She proceeded to jump on my bed some more and scream in excitement like a child about to go to Disneyland.

Oh, right! I'd forgotten about that. The Holidays didn't particularly excite me this year. I usually loved Christmas: the snow, the big family meals, the presents, the decorations. But it would be different this year. The most important part of it all had died during the summer. I was almost happy that I wasn't allowed to leave the mansion during this time, because work had proven to be quite an effective distraction from my problems, even if, technically, work numbered among said problems.

In the past month and a half, I had stopped hating my job at Evergreen. I had even grown to sort of like it. I still detested most of the Evergreen people and the fact they had taken away my freedom, but the job itself was fairly easy and I had always found cleaning fun and relaxing.

Also, the other Cleaners had sort of become my adoptive family. Chef took on the role of the quiet father, Marcus, was the caring and super-hot mom, Susan was the bossy and annoying eldest sister, Marta and Nicole were the warm-hearted middle children, and Ash, Ben, and I were the young troublemakers. Well, to be more accurate, Ash and Ben were the troublemakers. I tagged along and followed in their footsteps to the mysterious land of their craziness. They reminded me of how I used to be. I also used to jump on my parents' bed to wake them up on the first day of the Holidays because I couldn't contain my excitement. In the last few years, my mother had complained that I had gotten too old for that sort of thing, but it hadn't stopped me, and it hadn't stopped my dad from joining me in the action either. I loved that tradition.

"You get two weeks of vacation," I reminded Ash. "I'm not allowed to leave Evergreen yet, which means I still have to work everyday. I don't get to visit my family like you do."

I said that last sentence with a genuine smile on my face. I knew her excitement and burst of energy this early in the morning was because she would see her father and her daughter in person in only a few hours. I was excited for her too. I knew how much she loved them. Her smile widened even more at the mention of her impending reunion with her family.

"I CAN'T WAIT! And even if you stay here, Evergreen isn't the same during the Holidays," she reassured me. "You don't work as much and you get more freedom. The Evergreen people are in much better moods, probably because they don't work and there are no clients in the mansion. And the other Cleaners are all gonna be here too. Trust me, Evergreen is magical during this season. If it wasn't for my family, I would stay here like the others. But I'm still so happy to leave! I'm so excited, I could explode!"

Ash was always a ball of energy, but this exceeded even her most hyper days. She wouldn't stop bouncing on my bed and zooming around like a dog whose human had just got home. She deserved to be happy. To be truly happy. She was a wonderful person and seeing her get some goodness in her life gave me a bit of hope for the universe.

*****

During breakfast, I could sense a change in the air. People seemed to smile more, and an electrifying atmosphere surrounded the whole mansion. There were also more Evergreen people than usual in the dining room, and they seemed happier too. They talked amongst themselves and some of them even looked at us with a smile. Not a pitiful or sad smile, a real smile. Maybe Ash was right. Maybe there was something magical about the Holidays at Evergreen.

Ben and I spent the rest of the morning helping Ash pack her bag. She left immediately after lunch, and she looked completely free, even though she wasn't. She was still wearing her ankle tracker, though it was hidden by her boots. She would have to come back in two weeks, but, for now, she was going home.

Watching her leave was harder than I had expected, but I guess it was good practice for when she permanently left at the beginning of February. One look at Ben told me he was thinking the exact same thing because, despite his smile, his eyes became a little bit glossy.

I squeezed him into a side hug, and he hugged me in return while we watched Ash's car grow smaller and smaller as it drove farther and farther away from Evergreen until we couldn't see it anymore. We stayed in that position for a little while, even after Ash disappeared in the distance, but the cold forced us to go back inside eventually.

When I stepped through the door, it was as if I had entered a completely different world. There were boxes everywhere, and the hall looked like a mess. I had never seen the mansion that way, especially considering we spent all day every day keeping the place clean and tidy. My first thought was to evaluate what we would have to do to put everything away and how long it was going to take—until I noticed what the boxes contained. Nicole and Marta were taking Christmas decorations out of them, and Susan was instructing them on where to put the decorations up. Even some Evergreen people were passing by with their arms full of snow globes, garlands, bells, and mistletoe.

The mansion was in an unusual mess, and everyone was in an unusually friendly mood. Mary Roberts, the psychiatrist from the west wing, thanked Marta for handing her some decorations. River, whom I had learned was a personal trainer—which explained his clothes—asked Susan where to put down the two boxes he was bringing in. One of the lawyers from the east wing even smiled at me. A genuine smile! From ear to ear! What was happening?

"Good, you're finally back," Susan said as she saw Ben and I approaching. "Benjamin, go help Mister Bastien and Marcus with the Christmas tree, would you? I think they're still in the garage getting their tools."

"Of course, Captain Sue," Ben replied, lifting his hand to his forehead in a military salute.

Ben flashed me a smile and left through the front door. I stepped towards the mountain of boxes, carefully dodging the oncoming traffic of people.

"How can I help?" I asked as I nearly bumped into an Evergreen person wearing a Santa hat.

"Help Nicole with these boxes. Bring them to Chef in the kitchen," Susan replied. "When you're done with that, you can both take these other boxes to the library."

Library? I had never seen the library. I hadn't been at Evergreen long enough to earn that privilege. I had never been an avid reader, but I did find libraries sort of beautiful, like a museum of knowledge, so I was excited to see it. I was also excited to step foot in the east wing, which I was usually not allowed to do. I had wanted to go since I had learned it was forbidden. Maybe something there would give me answers, or at least a lead about this place.