Cleansing.

I’m a cleaning lady at a local hospital. I love my job, it gives me something to do, I meet lots of interesting people and patients and I rarely have to deal with anything out of the ordinary. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years now, and I’ve seen it all. I guess that’s why I decided to write this, because what happened yesterday was entirely out of the ordinary, and I need to talk about it with someone before I go crazy.<br><br><br>It started pretty normal, I arrived at 7 am, sharp as always, and started by picking up disposable cups and food packages that some lazy asses can’t be bothered to throw away on their own before they head home. I love those people, because it’s always the ones that talk about the environment this, and people should take better care of each other that. I can’t tell you how many times I stand there and watch while nurses without any scruples whatsoever leave the room they’ve been in with a sick patient without even washing their hands. I’ve stopped pointing it out too, I’m just a cleaner, after all. <br><br>I was in room 304, which is one of the rooms in the pediatrics department, when one of the nurses came in around 9.30. I recognized her as the one that always said hi, even though she was always in a hurry. Today, she looked more stressed than normal, so I asked her what was wrong. <br><br>She stopped in her tracks, looking around the room to make sure we were alone. We were. <br><br>“You know what room this is, right?” She asked while she looked at me like I was an idiot for not figuring it out for myself. <br><br>“Yes, pediatrician”. I replied, equally puzzled. <br><br>“Listen; I saw something very disturbing today. I need you to promise you won’t breathe a word about this, ok? I don’t need all hell breaking lose, especially not now when all hell is already breaking loose outside.” <br><br>I promised her, intrigued. What could possibly be going on that I didn’t know about, I wondered. <br><br>“Listen, this is room 304. And the number for the pediatrician. What doesn’t add up?” She asked again. I started following her eyes while she was talking, and noticed a poster on the wall that caught my attention. <br><br>*Room 304. Cleansing* <br><br>“I don’t get it”, I admitted. <br><br>“Right here where we stand, it says it’s room 304. Same with the pediatrician. What’s the logics in naming the same room twice, in the *same* building?What’s the need for that? I mean, sure, maybe 304 can be used as a normal ICU, but what’s the need for naming it anything *but* that?What’s the need for another department all of a sudden? And the best part is that the patients here, they’re all kids, and they all have the same symptoms. They have *the plague*.” She hissed, while she looked around the room nervously. <br><br>I stood there like an idiot, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Of course I knew about the virus, but what did that have to do with anything? I asked her again. By this time she’d gotten really cross with me. <br><br>“Look; all I need you to do is to clean this room, and clean it *well*, do you hear? I need you to do that all day, every day. It’s vital! I’ll talk with your boss later, but I need you to do this. Don’t ask me why, I can’t tell you. Just do it, ok?” She said, without taking her eyes off the bed. <br><br>I said ok, even though I had no idea what I’d just agreed to. What I did know was that I had a job to do. <br><br>Hospitals don’t get clean by themselves after all. <br><br>I put the vacuum cleaner in the hall and started to pick up things laying on the floor, when I noticed that what was laying next to the bed didn’t look like ordinary trash. <br><br>I grabbed the bag closest to me and picked it up, and realized it was a tube connected to a plastic bag. <br><br>It was also a catheter, and it was *full* of piss. <br><br>I stood there frozen for god knows how long, staring at it. I forgot all about the nurse and her weird instructions. I forgot that there still was a pandemic to take care of. I forgot about everything. I simply stood there staring at what I held in my hand, and I felt something creeping up inside me.