89th Spring 513AV
Enria wiped her brow with the back of her hand; she had been busy washing windows for what had felt like hours. Her body quietly protesting every time she moved onto a new window. She had to admit that washing windows seemed more of a job for a Dek but a job was a job. She had been given a rag and a bucket of water, which by now had a grey tint, and was pointed to the windows of the commonrooms.
She had started the job early, when there was less foot traffic passing by, and the low sun made everything seem cooler. It made the job seem much more peaceful and made Enria almost tune out of her environment to focus her attention to the dirty windows. She had started on the left hand side and worked her way to the right. She admired the glasswork, as much as she hated to admit it those who were good at glasswork created such beautiful things; whereas Enria always seemed hopeless with it, she could barely make small glass items let alone make a window as beautiful as these.
Now, the sun was high in the sky. A few people had passed by, none paying attention to Enria. Unless it was to avoid walking into her. Enria had tried to reach the very top corners of the windows, but her small frame couldn’t reach her high enough, even if she stood on her toes. She had decided to come up with a cunning plan on how to deal with it. She had got a thick stick that had found when routing around in the bushes and wrapped the rag around it when she need to reach the corners. It was long enough so that she could wipe away the dirt that had settled in the corners. Enria always liked impressing people and tried to show initiative in whatever she did.
Enria placed the rag she had been using in the bucket and watched it being pulled into the murky surface of the water, and left the stick nestling beside it. As she applied her damp hand to base of her neck to cool the sting that had been resting there since mid-morning it seemed her whole body ached from bending and stretching as she tried to reach every pane of glass so it was immaculate. The one thing that annoyed Enria about cleaning the glass, however, was that she was always in a repetitive position and whenever she shifted to the next pane, a sliver of fatigue would creep its way along her neck.
She looked to the right and noticed she had one more left to clean. It was almost a relief to Enria that she could go off and have time to herself once more. For this pane, Enria only had the top corners left to do. She reached for her stick, grabbed her cloth (wringing it before it dripped down her arm) and wrapped the cloth around the stick. She straightened herself and began wielding her ‘invention’ and making sure that the corners looked cleaner from her sight.
She felt an urge to look to her left and noticed how the light danced through the windows casting intriguing patterns on the floor; but interrupting this pattern seemed to be a shadow. It stood out boldly as if demanding her attention. It seemed odd but Enria hadn’t noticed that shadow before when she was cleaning; nor had it been there when she had checked her left before.
Enria liked to look back on what she had achieved, it seemed to motivate her to carry on with things; otherwise, Enria’s fatigue would turn into eventual boredom which would led Enria to walk away from it. If she didn’t have something to encourage her, she wouldn’t accomplish anything.
A part of Enria pleaded with her to investigate it but Enria had a job to do. She could not afford to leave one window unclean. Enria’s brow creased in frustration, her lips pouted, as she continued her inner debate on whether she should investigate what was causing the shadow. It could just be something silly like a plant? Couldn’t it? Somehow Enria thought that the shadow was something more than just a plant. But she didn’t want to waste time, if she got that window done now she could spend the rest of the day doing as she pleased. The more time she wasted being distracted by shadows, meant the less time she had doing the things she enjoyed.
One more window, then I can see what that shadow is - Enria thought. She snapped her attention back to her job. She picked up her bucket and shifted, once more, to her right. Picked up her rag, wringing it, and began scrubbing the window. The dirt almost falling away at her touch, while the light pierced through once more.
A sound came from the left, Enria’s heart jumped and raced like a hare. She had to calm down; it could just be a breeze brushing through the windows. But a niggling feeling at the bottom of Enria’s stomach, almost like butterflies were fluttering around inside her, told her that that noise was definitely not a breeze.
“Who’s there?” Enria demanded; though she felt rather stupid for shouting at something that was most likely nothing.
Enria continued cleaning; it was only one more window. What’s the worse that could happen?
As she began washing the last window, she occasionally looked to her left to see if the shadow had moved which had stayed where it was.
Enria tried to focus on the window, keeping her ears alert for any sound, and scrubbed until the window mirrored its neighbours and gleamed. Occasionally looking back to check on the shadow. After reaching up for the last corners and making sure the last of the dirt was scrubbed clean, Enria threw her rag into the bucket; causing a small splash that hit her legs. Cursing under her breath, she picked up the bucket before slowly approaching the shadow.
Enria looked around for the source of the shadow. A small noise followed by a cat ran past Enria, causing her to jump.
She let out a small laugh. So that was the shadow! She inwardly sighed. How can she have been so scared over a harmless cat?
She had started the job early, when there was less foot traffic passing by, and the low sun made everything seem cooler. It made the job seem much more peaceful and made Enria almost tune out of her environment to focus her attention to the dirty windows. She had started on the left hand side and worked her way to the right. She admired the glasswork, as much as she hated to admit it those who were good at glasswork created such beautiful things; whereas Enria always seemed hopeless with it, she could barely make small glass items let alone make a window as beautiful as these.
Now, the sun was high in the sky. A few people had passed by, none paying attention to Enria. Unless it was to avoid walking into her. Enria had tried to reach the very top corners of the windows, but her small frame couldn’t reach her high enough, even if she stood on her toes. She had decided to come up with a cunning plan on how to deal with it. She had got a thick stick that had found when routing around in the bushes and wrapped the rag around it when she need to reach the corners. It was long enough so that she could wipe away the dirt that had settled in the corners. Enria always liked impressing people and tried to show initiative in whatever she did.
Enria placed the rag she had been using in the bucket and watched it being pulled into the murky surface of the water, and left the stick nestling beside it. As she applied her damp hand to base of her neck to cool the sting that had been resting there since mid-morning it seemed her whole body ached from bending and stretching as she tried to reach every pane of glass so it was immaculate. The one thing that annoyed Enria about cleaning the glass, however, was that she was always in a repetitive position and whenever she shifted to the next pane, a sliver of fatigue would creep its way along her neck.
She looked to the right and noticed she had one more left to clean. It was almost a relief to Enria that she could go off and have time to herself once more. For this pane, Enria only had the top corners left to do. She reached for her stick, grabbed her cloth (wringing it before it dripped down her arm) and wrapped the cloth around the stick. She straightened herself and began wielding her ‘invention’ and making sure that the corners looked cleaner from her sight.
She felt an urge to look to her left and noticed how the light danced through the windows casting intriguing patterns on the floor; but interrupting this pattern seemed to be a shadow. It stood out boldly as if demanding her attention. It seemed odd but Enria hadn’t noticed that shadow before when she was cleaning; nor had it been there when she had checked her left before.
Enria liked to look back on what she had achieved, it seemed to motivate her to carry on with things; otherwise, Enria’s fatigue would turn into eventual boredom which would led Enria to walk away from it. If she didn’t have something to encourage her, she wouldn’t accomplish anything.
A part of Enria pleaded with her to investigate it but Enria had a job to do. She could not afford to leave one window unclean. Enria’s brow creased in frustration, her lips pouted, as she continued her inner debate on whether she should investigate what was causing the shadow. It could just be something silly like a plant? Couldn’t it? Somehow Enria thought that the shadow was something more than just a plant. But she didn’t want to waste time, if she got that window done now she could spend the rest of the day doing as she pleased. The more time she wasted being distracted by shadows, meant the less time she had doing the things she enjoyed.
One more window, then I can see what that shadow is - Enria thought. She snapped her attention back to her job. She picked up her bucket and shifted, once more, to her right. Picked up her rag, wringing it, and began scrubbing the window. The dirt almost falling away at her touch, while the light pierced through once more.
A sound came from the left, Enria’s heart jumped and raced like a hare. She had to calm down; it could just be a breeze brushing through the windows. But a niggling feeling at the bottom of Enria’s stomach, almost like butterflies were fluttering around inside her, told her that that noise was definitely not a breeze.
“Who’s there?” Enria demanded; though she felt rather stupid for shouting at something that was most likely nothing.
Enria continued cleaning; it was only one more window. What’s the worse that could happen?
As she began washing the last window, she occasionally looked to her left to see if the shadow had moved which had stayed where it was.
Enria tried to focus on the window, keeping her ears alert for any sound, and scrubbed until the window mirrored its neighbours and gleamed. Occasionally looking back to check on the shadow. After reaching up for the last corners and making sure the last of the dirt was scrubbed clean, Enria threw her rag into the bucket; causing a small splash that hit her legs. Cursing under her breath, she picked up the bucket before slowly approaching the shadow.
Enria looked around for the source of the shadow. A small noise followed by a cat ran past Enria, causing her to jump.
She let out a small laugh. So that was the shadow! She inwardly sighed. How can she have been so scared over a harmless cat?
