Between the walls

The white lights that illuminated the space were always too bright for Ezher’s eyes. They often gave him a headache and today was no exception. He felt the tiredness turning his muscles to lead as he walked up the stairs. A slight feeling of disgust twisted his face into a frown as he thought of the inconsiderate messes that awaited him. By kids who are too privileged to realise their good fortune, he thought and opened the store room. A familiar musky smell welcomed him. 

The vacuum cleaner hose was rolled up and was kept on the bottom shelf at the back of the room. He walked in, bent down to pick it up and his back spasmed in pain. That damn box, Ezher thought, remembering the heavy box he had to pick up that morning at the factory. He needed his body to function a while longer as he still had 3 hours until he finished his cleaning job before going to do his daily 2 hours of Uber driving. Then he can go home. The thought of home made Ezher feel slightly better. Aai would be waiting for him. He attached the hose onto the vacuum cleaner, twisted it to lock and dragged it out into the corridor. He plugged in the machine which hummed to life and he let his thoughts drift back to Aai as the noise lulled him into a semi meditative state. Ezher had met Aai when they were both 16. To Ezher, Aai’s round face with porcelain skin was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. They had met at the market where he sold his family’s produce. Aai had wanted to keep talking to Ezher even after he handed her the bag of grapes, which had left him a little shocked. In his motherland, people from his background had been treated unkindly for generations. Ezher had gotten used to people not really seeing him. Aai with her beautiful smiling eyes had looked at him as if he was something extraordinarily wonderful, not at all bothered by his darker skin. To his amazement, after that first meeting, she had kept coming back to talk to him.

The humming noise of the vacuum cleaner reverberated in the empty corridor as Ezher zig zagged his way towards the classrooms. The nozzle left a trail of cleanliness on the concrete floor and an odd sense of satisfaction in the back of his mind. He wondered what this place looked like during the day. As he gazed down the corridor, he could almost see the faint outlines of kids, walking up and down, talking and laughing, trying to get to their classes on time. In his mind they all seemed so intelligent and capable, just like his Tom. Tom was his and Aai’s sun and moon combined into one mischievous teenage boy. He took after his father’s looks but to Ezher’s relief, Tom was more like his mother when it came to books. Aai’s achievements were the reason that they had been able to emigrate and give Tom the future he deserved. Ezher’s stomach clenched at the thought of what Tom’s life would have been, if they hadn’t had the opportunity to get out. 

Ezher slid the master key into the lock and opened the first classroom. It was a science lab. The remnants of something burnt hung in the air and tickled his nose. The walls in the lab were covered with student work. He dragged in the vacuum cleaner behind him and turned it off. His ears continued to buzz as he looked around in the quiet classroom at the new additions of student work. There was a poster with vibrant colours and an image with the letters ‘DNA’ written underneath. The image looked like a ladder with twists and instead of rungs it had letters. He then walked over to the glass cabinet at the back wall of the class. Inside, there was a cardboard structure with a label that said ‘Car Engine’. The structure was labelled with all kinds of words Ezher didn’t understand but appeared impressive nonetheless. He spent a few more moments gazing at the student work, letting his imagination play out a scene of the students at work. They were moving around in the lab wearing immaculate uniforms, typing away at their expensive laptops and carrying out intelligent discussions with one another. Ezher caught his own reflection on the glass wall, staring back at him. As he made eye contact, little tendrils of shame ignited in his mind. Attempts at quenching the shame were just as effective as his efforts at willing his headache to go away. So, Ezher decided to get back to his job.

The benches were covered with bits of paper, smears of glue and remnants of unidentifiable substances. He started to spray and wipe, the cloth changing colour to something dark as he continued. The pungent cleaning agents stung his nose. He paused as his cleaning cloth caught at something sticky. Bloody, privileged, ungrateful kids, he thought, as he scraped the chewing gum off the edge of the table with the plastic scraper he keeps in his pocket. The headache was starting to pierce a path from behind his right eye to the back of his head. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a blister pack of ibuprofen, popped two tablets into his mouth and swallowed them dry before moving towards the next classroom. 

By the time he finished all the classrooms, the headache had settled back to a dull throbbing. The exhausted body was on autopilot, going through the motions in order to finish the job. The last location that needed to be cleaned was the front office area. He dragged the vacuum cleaner and walked past his favourite spot in the school. The awards cabinet. The glass cabinet sat proudly against the wall of the reception area, in direct sight of anyone who visits the school. It was filled with student accomplishments. He paused at the same spot he does every night and let his gaze settle on the familiar face. He read the little description next to the photograph and as it does every night, without exception, his heart swelled with pride. It read, ‘The Fairbank High School’s Award for Excellence’, and on the recipient line sat two words. ‘Tom Ahmet.’