Vice

22: Punishment

Even when the clock strikes eight o'clock, Natara's work isn't finished. A quarter of the giant stack of paperwork awaits her tomorrow morning and she still has to clean the bathrooms.

Her eyelids are heavy and the cart of cleaning supplies is blurry as Natara looks up from the walls of text she's been reading and stares at the cart. She's beyond thankful that Jaquie told her she could stop with the paperwork if she didn't finish it all before eight. If he hadn't taken pity on her, she doesn't know how she would have made it through the night.

Natara wipes her eyes and stretches back in her office chair releasing a loud, long yawn. She wonders how many bathrooms are in this huge building, but she hopes it isn't a lot. One or two per floor would be enough of a punishment. After a couple more seconds of stretching and rubbing her eyes she gets up, grabs the cart, and wheels it out of her office.

She decides she'll start with the top floor and go downward so she finds the first bathroom, puts on the rubber gloves hanging off the handle of the cart, and sprays and scrubs the toilets. This isn't so bad, Natara thinks for the first couple of stalls.

But with each subsequent stall she feels a little worse about it. Not all of the toilets (and stall walls) are clean, and some of the urinals are straight up disgusting. Where did people learn their manners? How could public restrooms be so nasty? If she and Macey were that gross in their own home, they'd be in big trouble.

By the time she's at the second floor she's had it with scrubbing people's poop out of toilet bowls. She's tired of scrubbing dried up soap streaks off the sinks, dried urine off the urinals and toilet seats, and picking used toilet paper up off of the floor. She doesn't even want to think about some of the nastier things she found.

The stress of everything bears down on her as she scrubs. 

The first thing on her mind is Crystal. How fake does a person have to be to look someone else in the eyes and describe a possibly poisoned cupcake as a consolation treat for having to stay late? How manipulative does a person need to be to repeatedly sabotage someone else just to get them out of the office so they can have a man to themselves? 

Is this all really because of Jace? Do him and Crystal have some kind of history, or does she just want to have a history with him?

At any rate, Natara will have to keep a closer eye on her. She'll double check EVERYTHING from now on, just in case Crystal has more ingenious ideas to get her fired. She isn't giving in that easily. She wants this job, and she promised she'd work hard to keep it.

The second thing that floats into her mind while she scrubs the bathrooms is Mr. Vice. He is such a shadowy enigma that she doesn't know whether to see him as a cruel power-crazed jerk, an easily frustrated loner, or...something else entirely.

All I'm trying to do is help him during his daily life and get my job done, Natara scowls as she mops the floor. So what if his food was messed up? He doesn't have to come up with a punishment like this. This is overkill. He just wants me gone.

He's a total jerk, Natara concludes. I bet he's a spoiled trust fund baby who has never had to deal with anything bad. I bet he hasn't ever even touched a toilet. I hate him AND Crystal. They're both around just to make my adult life a living hell. 

Natara spends the rest of the night seething with more and more frustration toward the two of them. Thoughts of things she could do back to Crystal race through her head, even though she knows she'd never go through with them. She's just too nice, and too SCARED.

She's too quick to back down in the face of any conflict or pressure. She's too worried about hurting people to ever speak up or sabotage them back. She'd probably shine the heels of Crystal's shoes or do some other stupid thing just to not cause any problems...

Natara clenches the mop in her fist, growling and throwing it down onto the floor.

Why am I so stupid? Why am I such a pushover? Why can't I stand up for myself? I'm stubborn, sure, but I back down too easily. I'm a wimp, and I HATE IT.

She blinks and stares at the fallen mop. What is getting into her? Just yesterday she threw the pen across the room and now she's tossing down mops? It's not like her, and it's not like she can do anything to change her current work situation.

All she can do is keep cleaning. So, that's exactly what she does. She scrubs and seethes with anger and mopes with every swipe of the mop. She does it until every last toilet, sink, urinal, and tile is practically sparkling.

When she's done she goes down into the room where Jaquie taught her to borrow clothes and changes into something that isn't smelly and soaking wet. It's a casual outfit - just a long plaid shirt and black stockings. Natara thinks she might buy something like it for herself one day once she makes a little money.

At least I have Jaquie and Jace, Natara tells herself. Jaquie goes through so much for me and Jace always has my back. Things aren't all bad here, even if I have to deal with a devil of a boss and an angry succubus of an office lady. Well, plus the front desk girl. She clearly wants me gone, too.

Natara takes a deep breath, straightens up as she stares at herself in the mirror, and reassures herself that she can do this. She can work this job. Even if three people are actively trying to get rid of her, she's strong enough to survive. She's always been good at being stubborn. No matter what, she can at least do that.

After she's done pep talking herself, Natara heads outside. This late at night, she notices the front doors automatically lock behind her as she exits. She walks over to her bike and does a double take when she sees it.

Oh, please no, Natara begs, stepping closer. Why is the chain hanging off like that?

She kneels and grabs it, holding the limp broken bike chain in her hands. 

Why? How did this happen? It was fine this morning... Did someone...?

She lets out a sharp sigh, utterly defeated, and walks her bike down the street under the moonlight.