Running scared, p.8
Running Scared, page 8
After a full day and most of the night spent clearing out the previous tenant’s crap, Lexi was so exhausted by the time she dumped the last bag outside, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit one of the cheap new pillows she’d bought at the local pound shop. There was still a ton of cleaning to be done, but she had planned to have a lie-in before tackling it, so she wasn’t happy to be woken by the sound of a jackhammer pounding concrete the following morning. Aware that she would never get back to sleep with that racket going on, she dragged herself out of bed and slammed the window shut before heading into her tiny en-suite bathroom.
Feeling a little more human after a lukewarm shower, she decided to go for a walk to escape the horrendous noise and explore the area. As she reached the foot of the stairs, the door of room number one opened and a skinny older woman came out with an ancient dog on a lead.
‘Morning.’ Lexi smiled. ‘I’m—’
‘I know who you are,’ the woman rudely cut her off. ‘You’re the one who dumped all that rubbish under my window last night.’
‘Sorry, there was nowhere else to put it,’ Lexi apologized, thrown by the animosity in her new neighbour’s tone. ‘I rang the agency and left a message asking them to come and move it, so it shouldn’t be there too long.’
‘It’d better not be, or I’ll be putting in a complaint about you,’ the woman snapped.
‘Wow! Nice to meet you, too,’ Lexi spluttered when the woman abruptly marched out, dragging the poor dog along behind her.
‘Take no notice of her,’ someone said from the other end of the hallway. ‘She ain’t happy unless she’s making someone else miserable, that one.’
Turning, Lexi saw a man with long red hair and a bushy beard coming out of the kitchen carrying a steaming mug of tea. He was wearing ripped jeans, a T-shirt bearing the logo of an old heavy metal band she’d vaguely heard of, and a leather waistcoat, and looked exactly as she’d always imagined a Hell’s Angel would look.
‘Six.’ He held out his free hand when he reached her. ‘Welcome to the madhouse.’
‘Thanks,’ Lexi said, shaking it. ‘I’m Lexi.’
‘No, you’re Four,’ he said, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners when he smiled. ‘I’ve got a shit memory for names, so I call everyone by their room number instead.’
‘Ah, right. So I take it your name’s not really Six?’
‘Nah, it’s Jim – but if you tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.’ Chuckling softly when her eyebrows rose, he took a noisy swig of tea before asking, ‘So are you days or nights?’
‘Days,’ she said, guessing that he was referring to the care home since she’d been told that most of the residents worked there.
‘Ah, that’s a shame; I could’ve shown you round if you’d been on nights. Now you’ll be stuck with Five.’ He pulled a face.
‘Debs?’ Lexi ventured.
‘That’s her,’ he said, grinning as he added, ‘I’m only messing, by the way; she’s one of the good ’uns. One’s a cow, as you already know, and Two’s a bit of a dick, so you might want to give him a wide berth; but Three’s OK.’
‘Good to know,’ Lexi said.
Six was about to say more when his phone beeped. He pulled it out of his back pocket and read the message on the screen. ‘Sorry, I need to make a call,’ he said. ‘Pop up for a chat sometime,’ he added as he edged past her to get to the stairs. ‘I’m in number—’
‘Six?’ Lexi said.
‘You got it.’ He winked at her before heading up the stairs, taking them two at a time and sloshing tea out of his cup as he went.
Glad that at least two of her new neighbours seemed nice, Lexi opened the front door and stepped outside. It was a warm day and the foul odours coming from the wheelie bins and the bags she’d stashed under the rude woman’s window had attracted a swarm of flies. Batting them away as she rushed out onto the pavement, she couldn’t help but smile when one of the crew of shirtless workmen who were digging a hole on the other side of the road gave her a wolf-whistle. The stresses of the last few months had robbed her of the motivation to make any sort of effort with her appearance, so it felt nice to get a bit of male attention – even if the man did look old enough to be her father.
Despite growing up only a few miles away, Lexi and her friends had never ventured over to this side of Manchester before, and she made mental notes of the locations of the launderette, the chip shop and the local GP’s surgery as she walked. Eventually she came across a small park, wandered inside and took a seat on a bench by a pond that was tucked away between the trees. Two ducks were gliding between the handles of a shopping trolley, a bicycle frame and various other bits of debris that were sticking out of the murky water, and she smiled when it occurred to her that they were in pretty much the same boat as she was: living in a shit-pit, with no choice but to make the best of it.
She watched the ducks for a little while, but decided to make a move when she heard male voices and laughter and looked up to see four men – her neighbour, Billy, among them – entering through the gate with cans of beer in their hands. Quickly walking away from the pond before the men spotted her, she made her way back to the house.
Glad to find that the workmen had gone by the time she returned, she reopened her window and ate a Pot Noodle before getting stuck into the rest of the cleaning.
Later that night, every muscle complaining after a day spent on her hands and knees scrubbing the skirting boards and the filthy carpet, Lexi made a cup of instant chocolate and lay on her bed. With no TV or radio to amuse her or drown out the sounds of music, flushing toilets, conversations and coughing from the other residents’ rooms, she scrolled through the photos on her phone.
Homesickness washed over her as she gazed at the faces of her old friends chilling out at a festival in Hebden Bridge the previous year. But then a shot of her ex, Kyle, came up on the screen, and her stomach clenched. She had thought she’d deleted all the photos of him, but she had obviously missed this one, and the sight of his smiling, handsome face filled her with mixed emotions. Four years she had wasted on him. Four long years of working her arse off to pay the rent, the bills, and fork out for the booze and weed he couldn’t function without while he played at writing the next great novel.
What a fucking joke that had turned out to be!
The only thing he had ever created was the persona of a charming, brooding creative type – and she had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. So hard, in fact, that she had turned her back on all the friends who had tried to warn her about him, believing his assertion that they were only interfering because they were jealous. The only one who hadn’t had anything bad to say about him was her best friend and upstairs neighbour, Violet, and Lexi had loved her for that. But her rose-tinted spectacles had been shattered on the morning she came home early after being told that the company she worked for had gone into liquidation, only to catch the pair of them having sex in her bed.
It was only after she had kicked them both out that she began to realize the true depth of Kyle’s duplicity. Not only had he been screwing Violet for months behind her back, he’d also been siphoning money out of her bank account and charging all sorts of shit to a credit card he’d taken out in her name. Jobless, almost broke, and forced to listen to the two people who had betrayed her having sex in the flat directly above hers night after night, it hadn’t been long before the rest of her life had unravelled. With no job vacancies anywhere nearby, and the benefits she had applied for taking way longer to get processed than expected, she had fallen into rent arrears and been served an eviction notice – which was why she’d been forced to make a new start back here.
Annoyed with herself for reopening those old wounds by going through her photos, Lexi deleted the one of Kyle and slammed her phone screen-down on the bedside table. Then, finishing her hot chocolate, she switched off the lamp and pulled her quilt up over her head.
12
Excited to be working again and earning an honest wage, Lexi got up bright and early on Monday morning. She’d have preferred to travel in with Debs, given that it was her first day, but she hadn’t seen the woman since their initial meeting on Friday, so she made her own way there.
Unlike the house, which had looked clean and well-maintained on the agency’s website but was the absolute opposite in real life, Daisy Nook Residential Care Home in the heart of Didsbury was far grander than it appeared on the photos Lexi had seen. A three-storey Victorian mansion with huge windows, it was set in beautifully landscaped grounds and had a sweeping driveway with tall electronic gates at either end; one marked Entry, the other marked Exit.
The interior was even more impressive, with high ceilings, polished real-wood flooring, and numerous doors leading off the reception area. Already nervous, because she’d never done care work before and had only a vague idea of what would be expected of her, she felt like an imposter as she approached the reception desk, behind which a smartly dressed young woman with the most immaculately applied make-up Lexi had ever seen was sitting.
‘Hi,’ she said, hitching the strap of her handbag higher on her shoulder when the woman looked up. ‘I’m starting work here today.’
‘Alexis?’ The woman smiled and stood up. ‘I’m Katie. Come with me.’
Surprised that the girl sounded Mancunian and friendly, because she’d expected posh and standoffish, Lexi followed her through a door behind the desk and along a corridor to a door marked Staff at the far end. Katie pushed it open and waved Lexi inside. This room was large and had the same high ceiling as the other rooms they had passed, but the furnishings were far less grand. A long table surrounded by plastic chairs took up most of the floor space, and a row of metal lockers occupied one full wall. There was a basic kitchen area on the other side, with a sink, an oldish-looking fridge, a microwave and a kettle.
‘Dress and shoe size?’ Katie asked, opening a cupboard.
‘Twelve and six,’ Lexi said.
Katie pulled out a neatly folded pale green top and a matching pair of pants and handed them to Lexi before opening a different cupboard and taking out a pair of flat, white, lace-up shoes. ‘The changing room’s through there.’ She gestured to another door. ‘If anything doesn’t fit, just go through the cupboard until you find something that does. You take your uniform home and wash it after each shift, and make sure you clean your shoes, as well. Oh, and you’ll need to keep your hair tied back at all times,’ she added. ‘I’ve got spare scrunchies and clips in my drawer if you need any.’
‘Thanks, but I think I’ve got one in my bag,’ Lexi said.
Nodding, Katie walked over to the metal units and took a key out of an open locker. ‘This is yours,’ she said, handing it over. ‘All personal belongings, including your phone, must be locked in here during work hours. Try not to lose your key, or you’ll be charged twelve quid to replace it,’ she added quietly.
‘I’ll keep it in my bra,’ Lexi said.
‘Most of the girls do.’ Katie smiled. ‘Right, I’ll leave you to it. The morning staff will start arriving in the next ten minutes or so. In the meantime, make yourself at home and help yourself to tea or coffee.’
Thanking her, Lexi waited until she’d left the room before slipping into the changing room and quickly putting on her uniform. It fitted perfectly, and she smiled as she checked out her reflection in the mirror on the back of the door after tying up her hair. All she needed was a stethoscope around her neck and she would look like an actual nurse.
At the sound of voices on the other side of the door, Lexi hurriedly gathered her things together and went back into the staffroom. Several women of various ages were chattering as they took off their coats and stuffed them and their bags into lockers.
‘Morning, love,’ one of them said when she spotted her. ‘You Alexis?’
‘I prefer Lexi, but yeah,’ Lexi said, smiling at the others when they turned to take a look at her.
‘Coffee or tea?’ asked a short, older woman who was already filling the kettle.
‘Erm, tea, please,’ Lexi said. ‘White, one sugar.’
‘I’m Julie,’ the first woman said. ‘Put your stuff away then I’ll introduce you to everyone.’
Doing as she’d been told, Lexi wiped her clammy hands as she joined the others, who were now seated around the table. She smiled at each of the women as Julie reeled off their names, but she knew she would struggle to remember them all, so she was relieved when one of them pulled a lanyard out of her pocket and she saw her name on it.
The older woman – whose name Lexi had already forgotten – was handing out the teas when a car pulled up outside. Glancing out through the window over the sink, she said, ‘It’s Ada.’
‘Great.’ Julie rolled her eyes. ‘Day super,’ she explained when she glanced at Lexi and saw the question in her eyes.
‘And by that she means super bitch,’ one of the younger girls added, between puffs on an e-cigarette.
Already dreading meeting the woman since it was clear that her co-workers didn’t like her, Lexi’s heart sank into her flat white shoes when the back door opened a few seconds later and the rude woman from the ground-floor room in her house walked in. It was the first time she’d seen her since the rubbish-bags-under-the-window debacle, but it was obvious from the cold look the woman flashed her that she wasn’t yet forgiven.
‘Five minutes,’ the woman barked, looking pointedly at the clock on the wall.
‘We’ve only just got our teas, Miss Briggs,’ one of them complained.
Ignoring her, Ada clicked her fingers at Lexi and said, ‘Follow me.’
Eyebrows shooting up, Lexi looked at the other women in shock when Ada marched out of the room. She knew she’d upset her the other day, but there was absolutely no need for that level of rudeness.
‘Welcome to Daisy Nook,’ Julie chuckled.
Determined not to let Ada think she was intimidated by her, Lexi raised her chin and followed the woman out of the room and into a small office further along the corridor. Ada took a seat behind a desk and motioned for her to sit down before pushing a sheet of paper over to her.
‘This is the list of clients I’ve assigned to you. Study their notes carefully during break times, because they all have different needs, some more complex than others. You’ll be shadowing Julie for the first week, so make sure you do exactly as she tells you.’
‘Of course,’ Lexi agreed, relieved that she wasn’t going to be thrown in at the deep end and would have someone to show her the ropes.
‘As you’ve already demonstrated you’re not the most . . . hygienic of people,’ Ada went on snippily, ‘I need to warn you that slovenly behaviour will not be tolerated here. We have exceptionally high standards, and if you fall below them you will be dismissed on the spot. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly,’ Lexi said through a fixed smile, thinking: Fuck you, bitch! You live in the same shithole as me, so don’t be lecturing me about hygiene!
‘I’ll be watching you closely,’ Ada said. Then, flicking her bony wrist in a gesture of dismissal, she picked up a pen and started making notes on a pad she’d taken out of the drawer.
Guessing that the introductory meeting – or whatever the hell that had been – was over, Lexi picked up the client list and, still smiling, walked out and made her way back to the staffroom, where the other women were now washing their teacups.
‘You’re alive!’ Julie mock-gasped.
‘Yeah, but she might not be for much longer if she talks to me like that again,’ Lexi muttered. ‘Who the hell does she think she is?’
‘Oh, you’re going to fit in here just fine,’ Julie laughed.
Feeling better when she received several pats on the back from the other women as they made their way out, Lexi nodded when Julie asked if she was ready to get started.
‘Keep your head down and don’t let Ada get to you,’ Julie advised. ‘I might not like her, but she’s bloody good at her job – and she’s got far too much on to waste time watching you. Stick with Auntie Julie and you’ll be fine.’
Hoping so, because she had a feeling she was going to like it there, Lexi pushed bitter little Ada out of her mind and followed Julie out of the staffroom.
Care work was a lot more intensive than Lexi had anticipated, and she was rushed off her feet that first day – and every day that followed. Under Julie’s patient tutelage, she soon got into the swing of things and by the end of her first week had memorized not only her clients’ names but also which of them needed their medication before or after breakfast, and which had special dietary needs or needed extra help with washing and dressing.
She hadn’t expected to enjoy it quite as much as she did, but her joy was decidedly tempered by the fact that Ada Briggs seemed to be there every time she turned around. So far, Lexi was confident that she hadn’t put a foot wrong; and Julie had told her that she had picked things up way faster than newbies usually did, so she knew she was doing all right. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was on borrowed time, so she had already decided to spend her weekend looking for another job – just in case.
Woken by a knock at her door on Saturday morning, Lexi was surprised to find Debs on the landing.
‘Morning, hon,’ the woman greeted her cheerfully. ‘Didn’t wake you, did I?’
‘No, I was just getting up,’ Lexi lied.
‘Could’ve fooled me,’ Debs chuckled, taking in her bleary eyes and unbrushed hair. ‘Here, you haven’t got someone in there, have you?’ she added in a whisper. ‘I haven’t interrupted you know what?’
‘Definitely not,’ Lexi laughed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. ‘You’re looking a lot better than last time I saw you,’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Great,’ said Debs. ‘It actually cleared up a few days ago, but I didn’t fancy going straight back to work, so I laid it on a bit. But don’t you dare tell Ada.’
