Just to Live

Different women spent 10 seconds of their time explaining the house rules of the Avenged Sevenfold manor before running towards the mirror unoccupied by anyone. All rushed through their words of wisdom, leaving Tabitha completely windswept. Once 60 minutes ticked by, Tabitha realized she had not changed into her uniform and tied her hair up in a high ponytail like the rest of the women. Panicking, Tabitha stripped out of her t-shirt, jeans, and tattered sneakers to change into her new clothes and shoes. The instant she was able to tame her hair into a ponytail, there was a knock on the door.

“Girls, are you done?”

“Yes sir!” all of the women besides Tabitha cried in unison, standing in one line by the door.

The mahogany door Tabitha previously admired opened and in strode Matthew. His polite smile from the interview before was gone, but in its place was a generous dimpled smile that clearly showed he appreciated the help.

“You all look well rested today. Good. Well, you know your job,” he said, stepping to the side so the women had space to open the door and proceed out towards different directions in the mansion.

Before the last woman left, Matthew said, “Don’t clean mine or Brian’s office though!” Afterwards, the only people in the Relaxation room were Matthew and Tabitha.

“Sir, what would you like me to clean?” Tabitha asked softly.

“Your job is special,” he smiled. “You get to clean my office and Brian’s. Follow me, I’ll show you the rooms.”

Unlike Brian, Matthew didn’t take Tabitha through a ridiculous tour of the house. He liked tackling directly to the point. “No bullshit here,” he always enjoyed saying.

Together, they ambled up the steps conveniently located near the Relaxation room. Since Matthew spent most of his hectic day conducting interviews alongside Brian, he was well behind on his work that seemed to pile up by the minute. That was why he decided that he would ask Tabitha to tidy up Brian’s office before his own.

“Uh yeah, you’re gonna have to fix up Brian’s room instead of mine,” Matthew said, turning around to face Tabitha. She took two steps back, respectively. “That sounds fair?”

“Yes sir,” she replied.

He nodded his head, opening the door to Brian’s office. At the sight of the mess, he let out a low whistle. Brian’s office wasn’t disgustingly dirty where there were fast food wrappers lining the floor, but he developed a bad habit of throwing balled up papers over his shoulder. The papers landed on the carpeted floor, on top of shelves, and underneath tables.

“Anyways,” Matthew said, clearing his throat. “In this cabinet is where all the cleaning products are. Bleach, Windex, paper towels, gloves, a bucket, a face mask, gloves-”

Tabitha chuckled and nodded. “I think I get your point. I don’t want to catch an STD do I?”

Matthew smiled and brushed his index fingers against each other in mock shame. “Shame on you for calling Brian a dirty whore!”

“Ah crap,” Tabitha mumbled, scratching her left arm.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell the dirty whore,” Matthew grinned, giving her two thumbs up.

“Oh thank gosh!”

“Si. I’ll leave you to clean his office and stuff. Have fun!”

After Matthew left the office, Tabitha grabbed all of the cleaning products, and remembered to use the latex gloves Matthew kept emphasizing. As she picked up all the balled up papers and landed basketball shots into the large recycle bin, she couldn’t evade the thoughts of just how lucky she was. She submitted her very first job application to the Avenged Sevenfold house and she caught the job before she could comprehend it. Never did she think she would be able to find a place to live and eat where she could also work for money. Living on the streets for three years tended to wear away her hope.

Tabitha noticed that all of the women told her one key thing: “If you snoop around in their cabinets, they’ll never know,” they all said and gave her a wink. She then realized that it was a test. They were testing her curiosity and loyalty to her job. Luckily, for herself, she passed when she caught Brian and Matthew’s smile of approval two hours later.

“So I did a good job?” Tabitha asked, wanting a confirmation.

“A really good one,” Brian noted, sitting down in his chair to inspect the cleanliness of the office space closely. He gave his desk a quick scan to make sure none of his important documents was touched. He powered his laptop on and waved a childlike bye-bye motion to his friend and new employee.

“That’s our cue to go,” Matthew chuckled, holding the door open for Tabitha. After they walked out of Brian’s office, they walked around parts of the mansion that Tabitha wasn’t familiar with. She was quite content with the sweet silence, but it didn’t seem to sit well with Matthew.

“You know, I was peeved that Brian agreed to hire you without telling me his decision,” he mentioned, looking down at Tabitha for a second or so before looking at where he was walking.

“Really? I’m sorry for causing any problems.”

“Don’t worry about it. To tell you the truth, you’re the most mature person we’ve interviewed and you have a real reason for the money. It’s kind of a philanthropist thing.”

Immediately, her curiosity spiked. “So you donate to charities too?” she asked, looking up at Matthew’s face.

“Yeah we do. We’re active members in the FC Cancer Foundation. Ever heard of it?”

“No.”

“It’s interesting. It’s a non-profit organization that gives all proceeds to cancer research and for families dealing with cancer. Kind of heart-breaking isn’t it?”

“Just a little bit.”

Tabitha’s view on rich people disintegrated before her eyes. She always believed they were selfish and pompous bigots that loved to roll in a pile of their own money whenever they pleased. She never thought of them to care about other beings except themselves. Talking to Matthew for just a few minutes changed her views straight away.

“Anyways,” Matthew chimed, noticing another silence, “for your first day, you did a good job. Everything is clean and you threw things away in the trash and recycle, environmentally friendly. Good job. I’m gonna shut up and take you down to the kitchen so you can eat. It looks like you need some food.”

“Actually, I just want to go to sleep.”

“Tabitha, who’s the boss here?”

“You are.”

“Exactly. That means if I tell you something that isn’t a question or statement, you have to listen. I’m telling you to go down to the kitchen so you can have lunch.”

That was the first time Tabitha experienced Matthew’s authority. She recently thought of him as a happy, careless, cheerful person who was very tolerant. Now, she erased those thoughts and rewrote new words to describe him in her mind. Businesslike. Firm. Nice. A little intimidating. My boss.