Alone

Dhalia POV

The bathroom is a disaster. It looks like someone used it as a kennel for a wild animal. It takes me half an hour, but I finally get it clean enough to remove the cloth from my face. The smell is gone, and the bathroom is almost unrecognisable. I don’t know who stayed here, but they were either deeply troubled or just plain cruel.

“Well, shit,” the man says, leaning against the doorframe. "Sorry, no pun intended. It looks like you get to keep the job. Payment comes at the end of the week. No advances, no using the resources. If I catch you stealing, you’re gone without pay. If I catch you trying to shower or wash up, the same. You start every morning at ten.”

He leaves, and I continue cleaning the rooms. None of them are as bad as the first, though one is covered in vomit. By the time I’m done, I’m exhausted, my muscles screaming in protest. But I did it. I kept the job.

When I walk back to the front desk, the man shakes his head. “Don’t ask,” he says gruffly. “I don’t give