Rosie Knight never thought she'd find joy cleaning toilet bowls. Sure, it wasn't a joyous occasion, and it didn't exactly put a smile on her face, but she found a certain soothing appeal to the whole thing. She had a nice routine when cleaning a bathroom and found the repetition and reward of it relaxing.

Most days at least. Today, however, was not one of those happy, peaceful days. Today was one of those days where her boss's harpy grandmother followed her from room to room criticizing the job she was doing.

"Oh, that spray smells terrible, Dear."

"That glass cleaner leaves streaks. We'll have to talk to Wendy about changing brands."

"You should use a different vacuum when you're cleaning Berber."

The litany of critiques was never ending. Not unkind, just never ending. Headphones helped. Rosie found herself, on days such as this, wearing her headphones often.

She'd been lucky to find this job. Being an unskilled worker complicated things enough. Add in being an introvert and job prospects seem nonexistent. But nighttime housekeeping with hours she liked to keep, not interacting with customers and half decent money sounded too good to be true. But it hadn't been. It had been real, and she'd somehow gotten the job. 

Except her perfect job came with her boss's pushy grandma.

Most weeks she worked overtime and for the first time, she experienced having enough money to spare. It felt good to be secure and comfortable providing for herself. She'd been on her own since she was sixteen, and some of those seven years had not been easy. 

Living in a cute little Florida beach town, with a steady income made life seem almost simple. 

Most days.

"I don't think the cleaner you're using on the bathroom counter is doing enough disinfecting." Mrs. Murphy made another note on the obnoxious clip board she was constantly carrying around.

"You should go see what Marta's using," Rosie mumbled. It was nearing midnight, she and Mrs. Murphy in the law offices of the Jacob's Beach Professional Building. Marta, one of the other maids, was on the sixth floor working on the accounting firm.

"That girl doesn't' speak any English!" Mrs. Murphy complained.

"I know," Rosie laughed. "You guys would get along great."

"Funny," the older woman chuckled. "Listen, Rosie-,"

Rosie stood up from the toilet and gave it one last flush, interrupting the woman.

"No," she told her when the noise died down. When the woman opened her mouth to speak again, Rosie repeated herself. "No. Absolutely not. Not gonna happen."

With a huff, Mrs. Murphy wandered out of the room, passing through the wall as if it wasn't there.

Nearly done for the night, Rosie and Marta had one more office to clean together. If only she could get through the rest of her shift without another Grandma Murphy sighting. 

She wondered what the chances were that would happen.

* * *

The next evening, she went into the Murphy Maid's office downtown to double check her schedule, gather supplies and catch a ride to the office they were cleaning that night.

She'd just grabbed her schedule from the main office and was heading out when she bumped into Lisa, the office manager. 

Rosie took an immediate step back. Then contemplated taking another. When Lisa was near, Rosie's instincts screamed at her to stay back, and as much as she hated them sometimes, Rosie had learned to trust her instincts. 

Then there was the dream she'd had.

"I see you've got your schedule," Lisa said.

She said it in a normal, business like tone. There was nothing Rosie could pinpoint or voice that didn't make her sound crazy. Nothing that could explain the way she felt around Lisa. 

There was just something off.

"I did, thank you," Rosie replied, her lips stiff. She let out a breath when Lisa walked away.

"Hey girl!" Wendy popped out of her office. "How's it going?"

"Good. How's it going with you?"

"Well.” She drew the word out. Rosie knew, from experience, her boss had something up her sleeve.

"Oh God, what now?" Rosie covered her eyes.

"Hey!" Wendy protested. "It's not bad."

"Last time you said that, we drove a hundred miles to some convention that didn't have anything to do with housekeeping."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Okay, so that was my fault, but this isn't that. Besides, that trip turned out great. You found that little shop that makes the eco-friendly cleaners. It's my best seller."

"Okay, what is it now?" Rosie asked.

"I've got a few really great business clients that want their homes done too. I was thinking you could move to days and clean while they're at the office and I can hire some other night maids."

"Wendy-" 

"I know, we've talked about this. You like the night shift. You don't drive. You don't really want to have to interact with a lot of people." Rosie nodded because she had, many times over, repeated her love of the night shift to Wendy.

"But, just hear me out. You're the best I've got."

"No," Rosie argued.

"Yes," Wendy laughed. "You don't argue when your boss tells you you're their best employee. You're great at the job, you're thorough, you're meticulous. But that's not all I want you for."

"Oh crap. There's more?" Rosie put her hands on the sides of her face, faking a scream.

"Jeez, you make it out like I'm putting you in front of the firing squad," Wendy joked. "Come into my office and we'll talk more about it."

Rosie looked around, catching a glimpse of Marta moving around the storage room. 

“I really don’t have time right now.” She took a step back. “Marta and I are headed downtown. Maybe later?”

Wendy consulted her watch. "Tonight's your short night, right?"

"Yeah." Rosie held in a wince. Of course, Wendy would remember that. "We're done around ten."

"I'll go downtown and we'll meet when you're done."

Rosie laughed. "Wendy, I'm in my scrubs."

"I know you have a change of clothes in your bag. You always do."

Her face heated.

"C'mon," Wendy laughed. "What's the big deal?"

The big deal was that Rosie hated being in public. Too many people, too many conversations all going on at once and too many people noticing her. Her hair stood out, such a distinct silver white, people couldn't help but stare. If they happened to catch her eyes, they never looked away. 

That was saying nothing about spirits that lingered in certain places or followed people around. Nothing about auras that weaved their way into her personal space. 

Avoiding crowded places had just become a habit. One she enjoyed.

"No big deal," she lied, knowing she couldn't say no forever. "Just tell me where and I'll be there."

* * *

"I think now's the time, dear," Grandma Murphy repeated for the hundredth time.

Rosie's head was throbbing, the woman's repeated requests and the consequent music blaring through her headphones catching up with her.

"Wendy's such a smart girl. It's so important she know everything. How can she reach her full potential if she doesn't know the truth?"

"It's none of my business."

"It's time to make it your business," the spirit argued.

Rosie scrubbed and scrubbed. She just wanted to be home and alone, so she did her job and tried to ignore everything around her. She emptied trashcans, which in an office building you wouldn't think would be gross but that just wasn't true. She couldn't count the number of used condoms she'd seen in office trash cans.

Trash, counters, windows, mirrors, toilets. She did them all. Meticulously.

"Miss Rosa!" The shout came from behind her and Rosie jumped a mile, holding her heart in her chest.

Grandma Murphy was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sorry, Miss Rosa, I finished downstairs." Marta was standing in the doorway looking like a deer in the headlights.

"Oh my God, Marta, you scared the crap out of me!" When the initial shock wore off, Rosie laughed. "Let's lock up. You can head back without me."

"I will drive you," Marta said.

"Not tonight," she explained.

Marta smiled like she knew a secret, "Ah, you meeting someone."

"Yeah, I'm meeting someone."

"You have a boyfriend," Marta assumed.

Rosie wanted to laugh. Having anyone in her life was the last thing she wanted, let alone a boyfriend. 

She'd learned long ago that nothing lasted. Not family, not friends, not anything. Money and health came and went. Homes and cars, stability could be wiped out with the wind. 

Family and friends? Well, they went even faster.