The Maintenance Guy

I clean rooms that reset themselves.

Took me three months to notice.

The job posting said "Night Custodial Services - Industrial Facility." Decent pay. Medical benefits. My Contributor Score was 654 so I couldn't be picky. Filled out the application. Got hired the same day.

First night they gave me a key card and a list of units.

"Clean between 3 AM and 6 AM. These rooms only. Don't go in any others. Don't talk to anyone you see. Just clean and leave."

Seemed weird but whatever. Night shift is always weird.

The units were all the same. Concrete rooms. Folding chairs. Big mirrors on one wall. Sometimes they'd be arranged different. Sometimes there'd be more chairs. Sometimes just one.

I'd mop the floors. Empty the small trash cans. Wipe down the mirrors. Lock up and move to the next unit.

Easy work.

The first strange thing was the trash cans were never really dirty.

Like someone had already cleaned them. Or like they'd never been used.

Second strange thing was the chairs.

I'd mop around them. Four chairs in a line. Come back an hour later to lock up after the floor dried and there'd be five chairs. Or three. Or they'd be arranged in a circle.

I figured someone else was working the other units. Moving furniture around. Some system I didn't understand.

Then I started finding things.

First week: A wallet in Unit 7B. Expired driver's license. Xavier Roberts. Address in the city. I left it on the chair figuring someone would claim it.

Next night it was gone. But there was a different wallet. Same unit. Different person. Sarah Vickers.

Week two: A phone in Unit 9C. Cracked screen. Locked. I plugged it in to charge while I cleaned. When I came back the phone was gone but there was a watch.

Week three: A shoe. Just one. Size 10 Nike. Middle of the room in Unit 4D.

Next night the matching shoe was there too. But they weren't a pair. Different wear patterns. Like they came from two different people who happened to buy the same shoes.

I stopped leaving things on chairs. Started taking them to my supervisor.

Never saw her during my shift. Just left notes and found items in a box by the time clock.

One morning she left me a note back.

"Please dispose of any items found in units. Do not keep. Do not report."

So I started throwing things away.

Wallets. Phones. Watches. Jewelry. Notebooks. Pens. Sometimes clothes.

All of it went in the industrial trash compactor.

I tried not to think about it.

But then I found the notebook.

Small black Moleskine. Unit 12A. Sitting on a chair.

I opened it.

Page after page of names and dates. Forty-something entries. Next to each name was a number and the word "Inactive."

The last entry was from two days ago.

Below that, written in different handwriting: "If you're reading this, I'm already gone. Task six was tonight. I don't think I'm coming back."

I put the notebook in my pocket.

Didn't throw it away. Didn't report it.

Just kept it.

That night I paid closer attention to the rooms.

Unit 7B had four chairs facing the mirror. I cleaned around them. Mopped the floor. Left.

Came back an hour later.

Five chairs now. Arranged in a different pattern.

No one had been in the unit. I had the only key card for this section. The door logs would show if anyone entered.

I checked the logs on my supervisor's computer during my break.

No entries except mine.

But the chairs had moved.

I started testing it.

Unit 9C: I put a pen on one of the four chairs. Pointed it north. Left.

Came back in ninety minutes.

Five chairs. Pen was gone. In its place was a different pen. Same brand. Different ink level.

Unit 4D: I scratched a small mark on the floor with my key. Tiny. Barely visible. Right next to the second chair.

Next night the mark was gone. Floor looked freshly poured. But it was the same concrete. Same cracks in the corners. Just no mark.

I was cleaning a room that was cleaning itself.

Or resetting itself.

Or something.

Week eight I started arriving early. 1:30 AM instead of 3:00 AM.

Parked in the far lot where I could see the main entrance to the units I cleaned.

At 2:00 AM exactly, cars pulled up. Different people every night. They'd stand outside looking uncomfortable. Then a guy in a gray suit would come out and lead them inside.

I recognized one of them. Xavier Roberts. The guy from the first wallet I found.

I watched him go into Unit 7B at 2:05 AM.

I had to clean that unit at 3:00 AM.

At 2:52 AM the door opened. Everyone came out. Got in their cars. Left.

I waited until 3:00. Used my key card. Went inside.

Four chairs facing the mirror.

A wallet on one of them.

I picked it up.

Xavier Roberts.

Same wallet from two months ago. Same expired license.

I put it in my pocket this time.

Cleaned the room. Left.

Next night I looked up Xavier Roberts online. Found his Facebook.

Last post was three days ago. "Excited for new opportunities!"

But his profile picture was wrong. Same face. But something off about the eyes. Like he was looking past the camera instead of at it.

I drove to his address from the license.

Different name on the mailbox. Family that said they'd been there for six months.

No forwarding address for Xavier Roberts.

I checked the notebook I'd found. Flipped through the pages.

There he was. "Xavier Roberts - Task 6 - Inactive."

Date was two months ago.

Same night I found his first wallet.

I started keeping my own list.

Every item I found. Every name. Every date.

I cross-referenced with the notebook.

Seventy percent match.

People who went Inactive showed up as lost items in the rooms days or weeks later.

Like they were leaving pieces of themselves behind.

Or like the rooms were spitting out what was left.

Month four I made a mistake.

Unit 17F needed cleaning. I went in at 3:00 AM like always.

The mirror was transparent.

I could see into the other side.

Another room. Identical to the one I was in. Someone was mopping the floor.

I stopped.

Stared.

The person on the other side stopped too.

Looked up.

It was me.

Same uniform. Same mop. Same confused expression.

We stared at each other for maybe ten seconds.

Then the mirror went back to being a mirror.

Just showed my reflection.

Standing in an empty room with a mop.

I checked the door behind the mirror. Locked. No key card access.

I tried to write it off. Trick of light. Exhaustion. Reflection glitch.

But I kept thinking about it.

About the way the other me moved. Exactly synchronized. Like we were the same person doing the same thing in the same moment.

Or like I was in both rooms at once and only seeing myself in one of them.

I requested a transfer.

My supervisor denied it.

"You're doing excellent work. We need reliable people. Your score has improved significantly since you started."

I checked. She was right.

My score had gone from 654 to 712.

I hadn't taken any gigs. Hadn't done anything different.

Just cleaned rooms at night.

Last week I found something new.

Unit 9C. A piece of paper on the chair.

Handwritten note.

"They're not taking us. They're copying us. Every task makes another version. By task six there are too many to keep track of. That's what Inactive means. You're still out there somewhere. You just don't know which one is you anymore."

Below that: "Check the maintenance logs. You've been here longer than you think."

I went back to my supervisor's office during my break.

Logged into the system.

Pulled up my employment records.

Start date: Eighteen months ago.

But I'd only been working here for four months.

I checked the cleaning logs.

My key card had been used every night for eighteen months.

Every single night.

Including nights I knew I hadn't been here. Nights I'd been home with my wife. Nights I'd been sick.

The logs showed I was here anyway.

Cleaning units at 3:00 AM.

I looked at my bank account on my phone.

Direct deposits from Harmonic Solutions every two weeks for eighteen months.

I'd thought I started four months ago.

But according to every system, every record, every log, I'd been here since last year.

I don't remember last year very well.

My wife says I've been distant. Working a lot. Coming home tired.

I thought I was working my regular day job and doing this three nights a week.

But the logs show I'm here every night.

All night.

I sat in that office for an hour trying to figure out if I was losing my mind.

Then I found the video files.

Security footage from the units. Archived by date.

I pulled up last night. Unit 7B.

Watched myself clean the room at 3:00 AM. Mop the floors. Wipe the mirror. Empty the trash can.

Then I watched the footage from 2:00 AM. Before my shift.

Four people entered. Sat in chairs. Watched through the mirror.

Someone was brought in on the other side.

I couldn't see clearly through the glass. But I could see enough.

It was me.

In the chair. Answering questions.

While I was supposedly at home asleep.

I checked other dates. Other units.

Found myself in at least a dozen recordings. Sometimes in the chair. Sometimes watching. Sometimes cleaning.

All different nights.

All different versions.

I think I understand now.

The rooms don't reset themselves.

Different versions of the rooms exist at the same time. Different versions of me cleaning them.

I'm not the only janitor. I'm one of many janitors who are all the same person doing the same job in slightly different realities or timelines or whatever this is.

And every night I clean up after myself.

After the versions of me that sat in chairs. After the versions that watched. After the versions that answered questions.

The items I find aren't from other people.

They're from other mes.

I took out my wallet.

Checked my driver's license.

The photo looks wrong. Same face. Wrong eyes.

I don't remember when they took this picture.

I don't remember the last time I saw myself clearly in a mirror.

I got a notification on my phone an hour ago.

NEW OPPORTUNITY ASSIGNED

Gig Type: Special Task
Pay: $2,400
Time Commitment: 3 hours
Location: 1847 Riverside Industrial Park, Unit 9C
Start Time: Tomorrow, 2:00 AM

Unit 9C.

The unit I clean every night.

The unit where I found the note.

I'm not supposed to get Special Task assignments. My score is locked. I work here.

But according to the logs, I've been getting them all along.

I just don't remember.

My shift starts in twenty minutes.

I'll go in. I'll clean the rooms. I'll find things and throw them away.

Tomorrow night I'll come back and sit in a chair and answer questions.

Or maybe I already did that.

Maybe I'm doing it right now in another room while another version of me cleans up after.

Maybe there are hundreds of me in this building. All doing our jobs. All trying to figure out what's happening.

Maybe that's what the system needs. Not people. Just enough versions of people to fill all the roles.

Observer. Participant. Questioner. Cleaner.

All the same person. All separate. All confused.

My score is 712.

I don't know what I'm being scored on.

But I keep showing up to clean rooms that I'm also sitting in somewhere else in the same building at the same time.

The decline button is grayed out.

It was always grayed out.

I just didn't notice because I thought I was the one cleaning.

Turns out I'm also the one being cleaned up after.