"Knock! Knock!"
Somebody knocked with much force on the door and Amanda instantly turned to look at the door of her tiny room. The girl was given the tinest room in the entire hostel, which had a small attached balcony. She had decorated the room beautifully with several paintings and artwork, which she had learnt in school.
The balcony was full of several potted plants, and this was the girl's favourite place to sit, where she could have a clear view of the garden of the hostel.
"Sigh...."
Amanda sighed and walked towards the door as she could hear several chirpy sounds of a few girls giggling and talking to each other.
"Hey!! Open up Amanda!! Fast!!" A girl's bossy voice echoed in the room, from outside the door.
Amanda rolled her eyes and then walked towards the door instantly. As soon as she opened the door a bunch of wet clothes and undergarments landed on top of her head, while six girls laughed looking at Amanda.
"Hehehehe!"
"These are our dirty clothes. Wash and iron them nicely. Here is the money." One of the girls handed over two currency notes in Amanda's hand and walked away making fun of her.
Amanda held all the clothes with her one hand an looked at the two currency notes. She smiled happily looking at the money and rushed to the bathroom, to wash the clothes. She spent the next hour, washing and ironing the clothes, while she played a beautiful music on her tiny melody box, which she bought from a thrift store.
Soon the girl had prepared all the clothes and she stepped out of her room, holding the neatly folded clothes. Just outside her room, was a huge set of wooden stairs and she climbed down towards a giant lobby area of the womens' hostel, entering a long corridor. The corridor had several large glass windows on both the sides, while after every distance was a door, where the girls lived.
As compared to Amanda's tiny room, these rooms were huge, royal and were elegantly furnished. She walked upto a large table, and placed all the clothes on it. She spotted several girls sitting on a couch, watching a movie from the newly installed television.
Amanda suddenly smiled and glanced at the television screen for a few seconds. It was a beautiful romantic scene between the leads of the movie which immediately caught Amanda's attention. Suddenly a blonde girl spotted Amanda and stood up on her feet instantly. "Hey you!! We pay for this television. Why are you watching it? You filthy poor girl. Shoooo!!!"
Amanda was startled for a few seconds and she instantly turned and rushed back to her room, while she could hear the girls giggling and laughing at her. She entered her room and shut the door taking deep breaths, in much nervousness.
A tear dropped down from her eyes and she walked towards the balcony, bursting into tears. The girl's life had always been like this. She had no clue about her family and had always lived a poor and secluded life.
She was granted to live in this hostel even after her parents had passed away and now she had to pay a huge loan, which had been accumulating from all these years. The poor girl had barely managed to pay half of it from odd jobs in the hostel and working part time in a bar.
But... nobody really liked her in her college. Even the boys looked down at her as she did not wear the fancy dresses like her other batch mates. So... now the girl always kept herself busy in studying and reading, trying to evade the sad thoughts. "I wish you were alive mom and dad."