Chapter One
“So…how exactly did you find this job?”
Helen had been waiting for this question since she arrived. She was surprised no one had asked earlier, but half the people in this place were too unhinged to ask the question and the other half were too stressed taking care of the unhinged to ask, so she was hoping that she could just skim by without the question being brought up. She guessed she better reply, lest be thought of as rude.
“Article in the local newspaper, small paragraph. Many wouldn’t have noticed it”
The lady leading her to her new work station just hummed, seeming content for now with the lazy answer Helen provided. After around 5 more minutes of silent walking, the lady came to a stop behind a small maroon door with frosted glass.
“Well, this is where all the cleaners come at night to get changed, put away their belongings and collect the cleaning supplies. You’ll be provided with a set of keys to open the door. The door must be kept locked at all times, we don’t need no loony patient running in and finding bleach to burn themselves with or others”
The way she said it, made Helen think something similar had happened before, but she was too scared to bring it up. Just why did she think it would be a good idea to take a crappy cleaner’s job at the local nuthouse?
She wasn’t telling the whole truth when she told the lady she saw an ad in the newspaper for the job. More like her sister, Karen, found the ad and decided her brainless, good-for-nothing older sister would love a job where she had to clean demented people’s toilets. Helen did really need the job though, especially if she was going the pay her rent next month, since her sister decided not to fund her anymore. Helen knew it was her sister’s husband, James, who influenced her into thinking it. James was a classy guy, hotshot lawyer or something to that affect. He never did like Helen since he set his eyes on her, thought she wasn’t good enough to hang around with her sister. If only James knew how close Helen and Karen were since childhood. They were all the ever needed up until the age of eighteen, until James decided to step into the picture and snatch her sister up like a piece of meat.
“What do you think?”
Helen forgot the image of bashing James’s head in and realised they’d already entered the cleaner’s staff room and the lady was showing the sets of lockers to put their stuff away.
“Looks great, when can I start?”
The lady looked shocked by Helen’s enthusiasm, as if other people didn’t relish the thought of spending their night cleaning with crazy murderers all around them
“How about tomorrow night? We’ve already got two covering the night shift tonight, but we can put you on with a more experienced worker tomorrow to show you the ropes”
“Sounds fantastic”
….
