Sangerella

Sang sighed as she sat back from scrubbing the mat that sat under the desk. Finished with another one, glancing at her watch , she bit her lip to keep in the groan. She had been cleaning since 8 pm and it was now 4 am, cleaning 8 businesses in this 4 floor building and still had one to go.

Her step mom had taken the contract to clean this nine office building, but had only sent Sang and Marie to clean it.  Usually a job like this took 5 or more people to clean.  Her mom had said the rest of the girls that usually help were already out on other jobs.  That could be true, but Sang knew her mother had a hard time keeping employees.  Marie had claimed the top floor and said she'd work her way down, but Sang hadn't seen her yet.

The offices really hadn't been to terrible, actually except for the grease stains in the mechanic's shop waiting room, and the flour disaster in the small bakery (it looked like the bag had exploded) on the ground floor, the rest of the offices were mostly just sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms and windows. There was also an architect business on the ground floor along with this the bakery and mechanics garage, the second floor had been a private medical office, and a sport physical therapist . The third floor was dedicated to a fashion designer a music consultant/teacher and a private school tutor. The top floor was supposed to be the business manager's office that managed the entire building, but she hadn't seen it yet. That's just what Sang had overheard her mom telling Marie before she dropped them off.

Sang picked up her bucket of water and bucket of cleaning supplies and moved to the elevators, wiping down the mirrored doors as she waited for them to open. Once inside, where she had left the vacuum when she had finished with it earlier, she allowed herself a short break, leaning against the wall.

Sang had been up since 8 am and had cleaned 3 other buildings before her mom left her here. They couldn't clean this building until everybody had closed and that hadn't been until 7 pm. She hadn't finished the other job until 7:30 so there had been no time for a break for dinner, she was exhausted and starving though she was used to both, and worse.

Through high school her mom would come up with crazy punishments, from kneeling on rice to drinking vinegar and lemon juice, for talking to the mailman one time. She had ingrained it into Sang's head since she was little that men were evil, murderers and rapists. Sang's sophomore year, her mom had collapsed and her dad rushed her to the hospital, where after extensive tests had shown cancer. It was with harsh chemotherapy treatment and multiple surgery's they had managed to get all the cancer.

During that time her father had announced he was leaving, them for another family, he left them enough money to live on, but her step mom had been left weak and bills started to pile up, so she created this cleaning agency and worked Sang to the bone, eventually hiring more girls when business picked up.

Sang had graduated from high school two years ago, but had no way of paying for college and hadn't been able to apply for scholarships so she continued working for her mom, living in her same room at the house her dad bought before leaving them, she didn't complain, she made a paycheck and aside from food and clothes she saved the majority of her money. Hiding it in a savings account, her dad had set up for her before he left, or in the attic crawl space in her room until she could sneak to the bank. She almost had enough saved for a year at college and then she hoped to apply for a grant.

The doors opening brings her back to earth, and she exits the elevator only to pause in shock. The top floor wasn't just an office, it was a humongous break room, with a full kitchen and living room, a window at the end showed the office. Sang wanted to cry but bit her tongue, Marie hadn't done anything. Sang could see her through said window sitting in the chair at the desk, it looked like she was trying to open the drawer with a letter opener.