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ON SOULLESS FEET WE CROSS THE FLOOR CHAPTER 2
During the next days Olivia soon learned the routines and understood how to make sure that no one paid her any extra attention. Normally she would have done the exact opposite, but she had a feeling that being the centre of all action was not a good thing in her new home.
"They come here sometimes and they don't need an excuse to punish us," Agata had said when Olivia had asked why everyone walked on their toes and acted like they were invisible.
"What could be worse than this?"
"Oh, a lot of things. Our job is not that bad. I don't really know what the worst of the lot have to do, and I don't want to. If you anger the wrong people they take you away and you are never heard of again."
Olivia had snorted. "Sounds like a police state to me."
"Well, in a way this is. We can go out as we like and do whatever we want there. I don't like it that much, the atmosphere is so miserable and the sea reminds me of that I can't leave before they give me the permission."
Olivia still didn't know who the mysterious "they" were, but solving that was one of her main goals. When she found out that she would most likely be able to improve her position a bit. Someone important had to be a man in this world.
She hadn't been outside the building even once because she wanted to find out everything possible before making her area bigger. She had all the time she needed and she was not about to ruin her chances by being impatient.
She already had quite a good picture of what kind of world she had got into and how it worked. What Nick, Tom and Agata had told her helped a great deal, but she had also found out much by keeping an eye on those she spent her time with.
Excluding her former lover she hadn't met anyone familiar. It made proceeding a bit more difficult, but she wasn't about to let it bring her down. If she just was patient she would get her chance to do something great.
The thought of merely waiting until her time was full had been in her mind. However, it was not an option she took seriously. The only way to get something was to take it and the promise of happiness in another world didn't appeal to her.
---
What Olivia had learned about her new job was that even though it didn't please her at all, it was worth it to keep her mouth shut. Women who complained about everything never got anything and she knew that if she wanted to impress someone important she would have to be cool, calm, smooth and soft.
She saw men dressed like Tom every now and then and when they walked past her she leaned on her broom in a way that made them slow down their steps every time. Nothing else happened, but Olivia was pleased. Men were men everywhere.
"You are different from Maria," Agata said to her a couple of evenings after Olivia had started her work.
"What do you mean?" Olivia asked lazily as she leaned against the counter. She had noticed that it was quite interesting to stay and talk to the woman after her work was done. The lobby was also a great place to keep an eye on things.
"Well..." Agata considered her words for a while. "She was silent and -- don't take this badly -- quite dark. I think it was something that had happened to her in the Land of the Dead. She never talked about it. I pitied her and se hated me because of it. I think she hated everything here."
Olivia snorted. "And what makes you think I don't hate this place?" she asked.
"I can see that you are an opportunist. This is an adventure to you."
Olivia couldn't say a thing to that. She had to admit that she hadn't thought of Agata as someone who'd see that right away. In her eyes she had been -- and still was -- just a pathetic girl who had never grown up.
Agata shrugged at the silence. "I guess I am not as simple as some think," she remarked.
One thing that Olivia had noticed about Agata was that even though she was very cheerful for most of the time, she sometimes dwelled too much on her memories and thoughts. Olivia didn't wonder what it was that made Agata so thoughtful at times. That was too obvious anyway.
"I never said you are stupid," she said.
She really missed having cigarettes. They existed in this world, at least Tom had them, but Olivia hadn't seen anyone else but him and his colleagues smoking. Either having them was a luxury or she just hadn't found out a way to get them yet.
"I know, I wasn't talking about you."
A door banged somewhere and a pair of steps started to get closer. Both of the women turned towards them and waited for the newcomer. Olivia was used to that people walked through the lobby all the time and it was one of her favourite places because of it.
The newcomer was one of the so called Reapers and Olivia thought she had seen him a couple of times before. He was relatively short and if he hadn't been a skeleton she would have called him roundish.
"Hi, girls. How is it going?" the man asked and flashed them a smile.
"The same as before," Agata replied. The man's arrival had made her become her own happy self again. The man chuckled.
"Nothing interesting then." He turned his eye sockets on Olivia and looked at her long. "Well, well, you are new here. I think I have seen you working already," he said.
"I am quite aware of that," Olivia said.
"Ah, a controlled one. I see so few of you around here. I hope you can keep this Agata in line for a while. She talks too much. And what was your name again, dearie?"
"I am used to men introducing themselves first. But if this time... Call me Olivia."
"Excuse my impoliteness. I am Simón Martin. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but I can not yet say what kind of person you are. I hope I'll have the chance to find out some time," the man said and grinned in a way that left nothing unclear.
"Don't say things like that. You'll scare her," Agata said and elbowed Simón sharply. The man laughed and backed away.
"Come on now, Agata." He eyed Olivia in interest. "I have a feeling this cat doesn't fear anything."
"At least not ones like you," Olivia remarked. She had already formed an opinion of Simón and it wasn't a positive one. However, he was a considerable option in her climb on the top.
Agata gave the man the file he needed and exchanged several more words with him. Olivia took no part in this conversation but concentrated on looking at the duo. It was clear that Agata liked Simón and trusted him. Considering what kind of person she was, it was no real surprise.
"Who is that Simón?" she asked once the man was gone.
"He is one of our Reapers, just like Tom. He works mostly in another part of the city so we won't be seeing much of him. I'm sorry of what he said to you. He just is -- "
"Never mind, it didn't bother me at all. I know better than to listen to men like him," Olivia interrupted quickly.
"Oh." Agata said nothing else and Olivia realised that she had shut up out of compassion. She probably thought that Olivia had had a nasty encounter with someone like Simón. Oh well, she didn't care what she thought.
"Has anyone interesting gone through this lately?" she asked changing the subject entirely.
"Not anyone I'd recognise. You ask that every day. Are you waiting for someone?"
Olivia suppressed her desire to sigh. She was annoyed by that her work kept her away from the lobby for most of the say and made her unable to keep an eye on the newcomers.
It was obvious that either Manny or Hector would arrive sooner or later. The showdown between the two couldn't end without either -- or both -- being sprouted. And when that poor one arrived Olivia would be there to hear the news.
"No one special. I am merely curious."
"You know, sometimes I think I will see Alejandro among the newcomers. Of course I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but it would be nice to have him here," Agata said.
"What makes you think he hasn't found a new woman for his business already?" Olivia asked and Agata glanced at her, looking hurt.
"Alejandro is not like that. He really loved me and even though we are in different worlds now, nothing has changed. We will be back together in the Ninth Underworld," she snapped.
"You keep telling yourself that, girl. Maybe it keeps you happy for a while."
"Olivia! That was darkly said! Perhaps you are like Maria after all. What makes you say so?" Agata asked. Annoyance was evident in her voice.
Olivia chuckled. "I don't believe in happy endings. I worked to get what I wanted when I was alive and dead, and didn't reach my dreams in either world. Why should it happen in this one?" Olivia asked calmly.
Agata was silent. "So many agree with you." She didn't want to say anything else and Olivia wasn't interested in talking either.
---
The next morning provided a surprise -- not a pleasant one perhaps, but an interesting one anyway.
"Well, I don't envy you," Agata said after glancing at Olivia's schedule. "He is not a very nice person."
"Don't worry, he is exactly the kind of man that I can take care of," Olivia snorted. She took one more glance at the work list before going to get her equipment. For the first time she was not in a bad mood, but was actually eager to start the work.
It would certainly be an interesting morning.
As she stepped inside the room 312 Olivia noticed that she didn't share it with Nick only. There was a man dressed in a worn out suit and he kept glancing around, flinching clearly when Olivia entered.
"Just give me your name and you will be able to continue," Nick said sounding awfully annoyed and the scared man mumbled something. The lawyer wrote it down and gestured the man to leave. "Go on already. I don't want to look at you the entire day."
The man walked past Olivia, clearly speeding up at her and then disappeared through the door. Olivia and Nick were alone now.
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," the lawyer stated glancing at Olivia's broom.
"I could say the same to you. At least I haven't been chained like a dog," the woman replied. Nick glared at her and concentrated to read his book.
Olivia sighed, shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. She couldn't understand why Nick was mad at her. It wasn't her fault if he had been naive enough to believe Hector LeMans.
"I really don't get your problem, Nick. Do you think you'll achieve something by sulking?" she asked.
The man didn't reply, but lifted his gaze when another person arrived. He was a man as well, but slightly younger than the previous one.
"Your name?" Nick asked mechanically, as if he had asked the same thing numerous times before. The man answered and continued his way.
Olivia walked right next to Nick's desk, placed her broom on it and looked at him. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing more than writing down some more names today."
"Some? No greater goals?"
"No. People are not sprouted as much as they used to be."
Olivia tilted her head. So either the situation in the Land of the Dead had calmed down or people had suddenly got luckier. The latter was not an option, so...
"Has Hector walked past you?" she asked sounding a bit too excited in her own ear holes.
It seemed like Nick noticed the change in her voice as well and his expression turned -- if just possible -- even darker.
"How should I know? I am not the only one who keeps these records. If you are so interested in your boyfriend's fate, I suggest you to ask someone else," he snapped.
"I think someone is a bit jealous," Olivia said playfully, but in reality she was staring to lose her nerves. What the heck was wrong with that man? Nick had never treated her in such an... Indifferent way and she really didn't like it. "You must have something in your mind. I know you."
"I can't see what you are heading at. I am not planning anything but sitting here and taking care of my job so that I can leave one day," the man said.
"You can't be serious," Olivia chuckled, perhaps a bit nervously. "Are you trying to tell me that you have no intention to rise from this state? That you have just given up? You are not the Nick Virago I knew."
Nick said nothing but glanced at the door, as if hoping for someone to enter and disturb the conversation with Olivia.
Olivia shifted in her place. "Fine, do whatever you want. I am going to fight my way back on top and before you know it, I will be the queen of this place," she said.
"Good luck. You might notice that nothing is easy here."
"Oh? Perhaps there is something I should know?" Olivia's tone was as arrogant as it could get.
"Believe me, you will see. Hope for yourself that it happens in time."
Olivia growled quietly. "That's enough, Virago." The man flinched a bit as she called him by his surname. She hadn't done that since they had met for the very first time.
She smiled, she had chosen her words on purpose. "I don't care if you sit here an eternity suffering from this state. It doesn't mean a thing to me." After this she finally started working and got to cleaning the small room.
No new souls arrived and Olivia and Nick didn't speak to each other. It didn't take long before she was finished with her work and started leaving.
"If I were you, I'd be a bit more careful," Nick said then, just when Olivia was about to step through the door. The woman stopped and looked at him in curiosity.
"I see," she said.
"Despite what you think, this is not that bad. I have seen worse."
Something in Nick's words made Olivia believe him, but she was not about to let him know it. He had really managed to annoy her.
"I doubt I'll be needing that advice. Goodbye," she said sharply.
---
Olivia placed her broom against the wall more harshly than she had intended.
"Didn't go well, did it?" Agata asked in compassion. The lobby was almost silent, it was one of the small breaks they were allowed to keep.
"I can't see what is wrong with that man. He is so irritating," Olivia muttered angrily crossing her arms on her chest.
"I know what you mean. I tried to cheer him up after they chained him on the desk, but he was really rude toward me. I don't blame him though."
Olivia looked at her in slight interest. "You don't? Who else could you blame for his stupidity?"
"Well, I don't know." Agata shrugged. "I think someone broke his heart."
Olivia snorted in despise. "His pride more likely. If he is suffering of something, it's a scratched self-esteem."
"How can you be so sure? You said you didn't know him that well," Agata pointed out.
"I didn't. He was just my lover."
Shock flashed on Agata's face and she drew a quick breath. Olivia only tilted her head, amused because of the other woman's reaction.
"What?" she asked with an arrogant smirk.
"He was your lover and you don't... love him?" Agata dared to ask.
"No. Not that I loved my boyfriend either. Any of them." Olivia leaned against the counter and let herself remember all that she had had. Money, power and someone who would have fallen on his knees and kissed her feet if she had desired that.
The thought of that it was all gone didn't bring her down. She'd just keep her eyes open, so to speak, and get it all back.
It was quite a pity that the new environment had made Nick give up. Olivia wasn't sure if she wanted to know what he had seen to lose his ambition like that. The Nick she had taken in her bed had been a true snake in paradise. You would have expected him to have some sort of plan.
"I... that is hard to understand," Agata said.
"It's not that different from what you did with your little group. I merely let it go on for longer," Olivia replied. "But I don't think I need to explain my actions to you, do I?"
"No, of course not. I just didn't think that -- never mind." Olivia knew that Agata was surprised and most likely respected her less now. It didn't really matter to her. Other women's opinions had never been important to her. Not even when she had tried to make friends with their husbands.
Agata was also an unimportant, naive fool. She didn't say it aloud because, despite everything, she didn't want to cut it with the only soul she had managed to learn to know well.
"You know what, I have decided to go out tonight. Just to see what lies behind these walls," she said then. She had already noticed that most souls went out regularly. And if there were people, there was most likely something important.
"Really? Would you mind if I came too? I could show you around a little. Not that I know much myself," was Agata's reply. Olivia agreed. It was better to have a guide, after all.
---
The afternoon was very windy and Olivia pressed her beret deeper in her head as she stepped out. Agata's words had made her think of a world where there was nothing. When she put her head out for the first time she couldn't help but think that her idea had been right.
"This is... different," she stated as she looked around on the grey street. It was strictly straight and surrounded by factory buildings that were completely identical in height, colour and shape. Antique street lamps stood in line. The only colours visible were grey and black, even the sky was a strange mixture of these two.
The wind was able to blow over them despite the high buildings. It howled on the empty streets and it almost made her want to go back inside.
"I told you it's horrible," Agata pointed out. The women walked alone on the street, Olivia leading despite that Agata had been supposed to show the way.
"Not necessarily horrible," Olivia replied. "Where is everyone?"
"At the docks. There is nowhere else to go. We are at the east side of the town and the docks lie north from us. There is nothing but buildings here, all exactly like the one in which we work."
Olivia said nothing but kept an eye on the surroundings. Not that there was anything to look at. Everything was equally simple in every direction. She felt like writing a poem about it.
They walked in silence until they started getting closer to the docks. Olivia saw a lot of souls, men and women, of all ages, gathered together on the piers. Some sat on boxes and debris, other stood in small groups. Some had even decided to sit on the ground.
What they all shared in common was that they were completely silent and kept staring at the sea.
The sea was very similar to everything else. The water was grey and looked very cold. The wind raised white laced waves that hit against the stone piers with a roar. There didn't seem to be an end to the sea but it continued and continued until it was mixed together with the sky.
Olivia was silent for a while and looked at the view that was only coloured by the different clothes of the souls. "What are they doing?" she asked then.
"Expecting to see dolphins," Agata replied shaking her head.
"What?"
"Most of the souls in this world never go outside, but there are those who dream of freedom and something better. Someone once saw dolphins in the dim of the night and ever since that these people have gathered here to see if they would appear again."
Olivia looked around. People just stood and stared in front of themselves, eye sockets even emptier than usual. No dreams, no ambition, nothing but a hope of seeing something as useless as a swimming mammal.
She felt sick.
"I can't stand to look at them," she hissed angrily. Agata nodded in compassion, but her pity only encouraged Olivia's disgust and hatred.
That would not happen to her. No matter what, she would find something to keep herself together. She would not become an empty, wishful shell and she would not give up.
She would never be like Nick and the others.
"Hey! Look!"
Someone's enthusiastic shout made the people move and they all did their best to get as close to the sea as possible. Olivia was pushed and jerked around and she gladly backed away to the edge of the crowd. She was not interested in finding out what someone had seen. She didn't want to see it herself.
"What? I can't see? What is there?"
"Look! There they are!"
"I am not staying here," Olivia snapped, turned around and started marching elsewhere. Agata glanced around, but hurried after her then.
"Olivia, wait for me."
Olivia was somewhat surprised for that she had reacted so strongly to what she had seen. She didn't pity the miserable souls and had no desire to help them. However, their empty existence was something that she couldn't look at.
She had seen many kinds of people during her life -- both real and the one after death. Some had been like her. Others had been victims for their kind. There had been several clear eyed heroes as well, but only few pathetic failures who had no ambition whatsoever and lived clinging to one, desperate wish.
Olivia couldn't stand people like that, they were no use and no one needed them. If everyone in this world was like that her plans would be very difficult to set in motion.
"What lies on the west side?" she asked stopping in the middle of the street and waiting for Agata to catch up with her.
"I am not sure, I have never been there. I have heard that only the worst of souls go there. They never come here and we don't go there," the other woman said out of breath.
"The worst of souls? Sounds interesting," Olivia stated in thought.
"I don't like that tone, Olivia. You shouldn't go there. Some have tried to find a way out of this island through those parts, but none has ever come back to tell what it's like there."
"Even more interesting. Perhaps that western area is my key to a different kind of life," Olivia stated and started going again. She had seen enough for one time and had no desire to spend any more time on the straight streets. The west could wait for another while.
"I don't think that is a good idea."
"What do you know about it? You have never been there."
"Neither should you."
---
Later that night Agata watched how Olivia walked away to withdraw to her chamber. She herself wouldn't do that in a while because she wanted to have some of her files organized for the following morning.
She couldn't say what she thought of her new comrade. She didn't dear to call Olivia a friend because the woman had turned out to be very different from what she had first seemed like.
Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here with these people, she thought to herself.
Olivia was so different. Much more adult and deep than her. Compared to her Agata felt like an uncertain teenage girl who had no idea how things worked. Olivia was so calm, controlled and she had dignity.
Thinking about it didn't make her feel any better at all. She was rarely glad to be alone, she felt like she needed someone else around to be able to smile.
I wonder what she did to end up here? Agata put some files in her shelf and made sure that they were in the right order. It wasn't her business, but she was curious to learn to know the details. Perhaps it had something to do with Nick?
The sound of busy steps made her turn around and to her surprise she saw Tom hurrying past the lobby.
"Evening!" she said and he stopped to look at her. Tom muttered something Agata couldn't catch. It didn't really surprise her, he had never been particularly friendly with her.
But she was surprised when Tom didn't just go on but returned to her.
"Do you need something?" Agata asked.
"How have you come along with Olivia?" Tom asked staying a few steps away from her.
"Fine, I think. She is no trouble. Of course, she is different from me, but that only -- "
"Yes, yes, I know. But have you noticed anything that could turn out to be a problem?"
Agata shrugged and smiled. "No, should I have? Why do you even ask? She is not that strange compared to some others I have seen here."
"But she is not like them. I despise that woman and I would have been glad to send her somewhere else..." Tom muttered.
"What?" Agata looked at the man in curiosity and he flinched, as if he had forgotten where he was for a moment.
"Forget that I even asked. You don't need to know everything," he snapped sharply and turned around. Agata watched him go.
Strange.
She returned to her work and later, when everyone else was asleep, she decided to stop as well.
---
Nick was in a bad mood.
It was not a new feeling to him because he had always been easy to get annoyed for the smallest things. However, he didn't remember when he had last time been as irritated as now.
The horrid state that he was suffering from was more than boring and kept biting his self-esteem more and more every day. He could imagine how every soul who walked past laughed at him and just thinking about it made him want to strangle someone.
And now Olivia was there too.
He had spared a couple of thoughts for her in the train while everything had looked it was going to be fine. Fine, he had thought about her quite a lot, but all those thoughts had soon been replaced by shock and fear as he and the other passengers had jumped in the fiery pit with the train, not even realising what was going on.
He hadn't though he'd meet her again and it had been quite a disappointment to see her after his own destruction. It proved that she had let someone outsmart her. That was something Nick hadn't thought would happen.
Nick lifted himself into a proper sitting position and felt for the light switch of his lamp. When light filled the room he opened his book, browsed back a few pages and found Olivia's name. He looked at it for a while, then took his pen and drew a line over it.
Perhaps they were in a new world, but everything else was the same old thing.
To be continued...
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