“Local school girl Isabella Winters was found dead this morning, cause of death homicide. She was found with her arms over her chest and a rose found in her hands,” the news reporter on the radio said. It was the seventh murder in a span of 2 weeks, and they all were found the same.
I turned off the radio. Then I parked my car in front of the school building. It was 6:32 in the morning, less than an hour till school starts. That means less than an hour till those brats come and make more messes for me to clean.
I walked up to the school doors while reaching in my pocket for my keys. I unlocked the doors and walked inside. I walked down the Hall towards the janitor’s closet. I opened the closet door and grabbed a mop and bucket. I then headed for the cafeteria.
Once at the cafeteria I started cleaning. I cleaned until 7:24am, just six minutes until school started. I grabbed my mop and bucket, and headed back to the janitors closet. I’ve loathed this school since those little brats took my precious Rose from me.
They tormented her, because of me and my job. They’d call her named such as “The Poor Girl” or “Rags”. They tormented her so much she couldn’t handle it any more. She hung herself while me and my wi-ex wife were sleeping.
When she died me and her mother were devastated. At home she was an outstanding artist and gardener with a wonderful personality. Her mother, Daisy, divorced me after her funeral. She did not explain why but I understood plenty why.
*Briiiing* the school bell went, and the students came through the doors. Their voices filled the halls. I sat in my closet waiting for the homeroom period to begin.
The bell rang, and the students hurried into their classrooms. I got up and went back to the cafeteria to clean up the messes from breakfast. Once done I went about the school collecting trash bags and taking them to the dump behind the school.
About three hours of cleaning it was time for lunch. I went back to my closet and started eating my lunch. While eating I enjoyed reading poems. The poem I read that day was “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. It went;
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour,
Then leaf subsides leaf.
So Eden sunk in grief,
So Dawn goes down as Day,
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost (1874-1963)
This poem reminded me of Rose, and how childhood does not last. That childhood must be cherished. I
finished my lunch. It was fifth hour. Which meant only two more periods till school was out. I got up and continued my tasks as the school janitor and groundskeeper.
Walking down the hall a group of girls snickered as they walked past me. “Something funny?” I asked. They continued walking down the hall. I continued too. I took a few steps and felt a wad of paper hit the back of my head. I ignored it as I was used to those little brats throwing things at me. I walked down to the school’s indoor pool, for its weekly cleaning.
I finished cleaning the pool. It was now 4:56pm hours after school. I turned off all the lights then head to the doors, I locked them. I walked to my car and unlocked it.
To be continued…
