CLEANER II: Chapter Four - Part Six

DAHLIA

I hadn’t visited Melissa for two weeks, what with her taking a trip to get another round of liposuction done. I was nervous about it.

The expansion of my body wasn’t something that had occurred since she left – of course it wasn’t; it was a long ongoing process – but with the latest developments that morning it felt like something new and significant had occurred. It felt like something had shifted; something she would notice.

I was fatter now by a pound or four – maybe that would noticeable – but it was more the shift in my own perception, the ruminations I’d had in front of the mirror that morning; the new status quo with Maxine and the other cleaners.

I was always nervous when I went to see Melissa. In order to play the part we’d agreed on she operated with an aloof frostiness that did more than suggest superiority. She made me feel as though I was inferior to her and I guessed that was true. She was fitter and slimmer now. She was bettering herself; working hard with discipline to get stronger and healthier. I was making myself fatter and fatter; doing damage to my health to chase after a fantasy that bordered on mental illness. Even without the question of who controlled the money and the diametric roles we had taken on, she was a better person than I was.

But also I felt that she would see right through me. She would know that a shift had occurred in my thinking; that I’d followed her instructions to wallow in my new status.

I hated the idea of falling under her scrutiny. It chilled me. And my headache was no better.

The bus journey was just as long and uncomfortable as it always was. I was sweating a lot more now that I was fatter and the sweat was collecting in the folds of flesh around my bloated body. It was nice to get off my aching feet but my motion sickness was back in full force by the time I got there. I trudged to the Satine Palace, my nerves tinkling and faced the scornful glares of the reception staff. They had seen me coming and going for the past two months. They couldn’t know what our connection was but had they tried to guess? Had they noticed that as I grew fatter, Melissa became slimmer? I didn’t know. I hated and resented their air of superiority.

Ignoring them as best I could, I took the lift up to the penthouse floor and knocked on the door to Melissa’s suite.

There was a sound of rushed movement inside and then the door opened, not to reveal Melissa but to show a good looking man hurriedly doing up the buttons on his shirt. He flashed me a grin then darted into the lift just before it closed.

I watched him go then cleared my throat nervously and entered the room to face Melissa.