3

***Lucia Monica Fabien***

The week passed very quickly. I had preferred to first take the time to settle in before starting work. And it's done. Today is my very first day at work. I got up early enough to be on time. Like any new employee, I hope not to start on a bad note and to make a good impression. This is the basis for keeping a job. I am in the approval period right now. I already live far enough from work. No one should complain about me to my probation officer anytime soon. I have no room for error. And that, I knew. What awaits me otherwise is not at all pleasant.

So is it true that we can't get rid of our past and that it remains like an indelible stain on our lives? It's not sure that our past always defines who we are in the present. So why does it stick with us so much? We definitely learn over time. And certain nonsense that we have done will no longer be repeated, which is certain. Moreover, we can be marked by a past that is not ours. What about those people who are condemned when they were innocent?

We will all say that life is like this. You just have to accept it. But, how long would I have to bear this pressure to always go straight so as not to lose everything again? If I was let out it was because they were sure that I was fit to live in society. So why did you insert this clause that I could go back to prison at the slightest sprain while I'm out? It is clear that I had not understood everything when I left. It's almost like a prison. The only difference is that you're outside.

I arrived at work quite early for my first day. Being new there, I didn't know anyone. Anyway, I'm not here to make friends. I just wanted information about my work. Friendship is an abstract concept for me. My experience with this thing called friendship has left me with a bitter aftertaste in the past.

Back then, I only had one friend, Ashaya SMITH. More than a friend, she was my second sister. She and I, we shared so many things. To me, she was so important. I had more affinity with her than with my own sister. The one coming from the same entrails as me. The one I shared the gestational sac with. There's no sacrifice I wouldn't have made for my friend. Yet the latter did not hesitate to go out with my fiancé behind my back.

Unfortunately, it was a one-sided friendship. And the only one who it mattered to, unfortunately, was me. She came herself to spit it in my face when the poor little idiot that I was already suffering martyrdom in prison. According to Ashaya, I had robbed her of her happiness by killing the man she had fallen in love with. Isn't that quite ironic as a situation? I'm the fiancée who was cheated on. And yet it is still me who suffers all the reprisals of the other woman.

-Hey news, what are you doing all alone at the end of the corridor? Have you finished cleaning the room you were assigned yet? I heard someone shout after me.

I just shook my head no. Besides, I hadn't even entered the room yet. I was far too deep in thought to take a single step forward.

"So that's what you're being paid here for?" If you wanted to sit around doing nothing, you should have stayed home. Here no one stands there twiddling their thumbs. Get to work right away. We don't pay you to hang around.

It was the housekeeper of the hotel who had come to reprimand me, saying that I was a layabout. It begins well. I've barely started when I've already put my boss on my back. Will I be able to hold out here long enough? In any case, it went badly.

I retrieve the cart and push it to the bedroom. I would have to clean the floor, change sheets and towels, scrub the toilets and so many other things, in several rooms. And this in record time. Above all, I shouldn't screw up. Not for my first day on the job anyway. It's not a job I've been used to. But I get used to it. Now is not the time to choose.

Outside in the hotel lobby, there was quite a hubbub caused by the comings and goings of some curious people. Which put the whole hotel in turmoil. It looks like a very special customer was coming today. Anyway, that's what was being said. Everyone was talking about it as if it was the event of the year. To believe that it was the President of the United States who landed.

Who was it ? Why did all these people seem to be in perfect reverence just hearing his name? My 10 years of confinement have not been of great help to me to be up to date on the news. Already that it did not interest me so much before. The one who was always up to date was my sister. We couldn't have everything in common. The face was already enough. So, I just contented myself with doing my job well in order to be on time. And don't get scolded again all day.

During the break, Lisa, my brand new friend, brought me food. She probably thought I hadn't done it yet and she was right. I didn't take much this morning when I came. I had hoped to take care of it on my break. It is good to limit my expenses to what is strictly necessary. While waiting for the first pay, I have to be able to manage the little money I have left. And with a budget as tight as mine, it's no wonder that important things like eating well find themselves relegated to second place. Even useless.

-Thank you Lisa, I say when I get the small package brought by the latter.

-There is no reason my beautiful, she replied. Friends are made for that. If I don't take care of you, who else will?

She didn't believe so well. Except that I was not of the same opinion. And that's probably because of my bad past experience. But I smile anyway. You shouldn't do anything that would make Lisa uncomfortable. She is in no way responsible for my nightmarish friendly past.

"Okay, I'm going," Lisa said. I don't want to invade your workspace too much and then be reprimanded. Let me know if you want to meet later. You have to rediscover the city.

I nod my head. With Lisa, I quickly learned one thing. You don't have to tell him no. Thereafter, I soon returned to work. Just that, I arrived in the hall at the same time as the famous customer. And I, the antisocial that I am, hadn't paid attention to him. Either way, I couldn't have gotten close to him even if I wanted to. If it hadn't been for the man in question's super beefy bodyguards, it would have been all those women swarming around him like he was a god hoping he'd notice one of them. 'she.

- Pffffff! How not to take the head after all that? I declare seeing how these women did not care to be pushed around just to be able to approach this man who obviously did not give a damn about her.

I roll my eyes in annoyance and resume my work calmly. For me, this man was just one more employee that I had to serve if by misfortune he should end up in my sector. I didn't have to do like all those women did and run after him like a desperate woman. I was only there to work. Nothing more

In the afternoon, after finishing my job, I went out to wait for the bus to go home. During the trip, I send a message to Lisa explaining to her that I'm exhausted and that therefore we'll put it off until next weekend. Thank goodness she was very understanding.

All in all, I had a very good day. No one looked at me askance. Nobody seems to know who I am. It's much better than I expected.

- As long as it lasts, I say, blowing when I get home.