The Night Shift

Nancy was tired.

At age forty-seven, she couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t tired, and that thought made her a little pissed off. She had worked the night shift since her daughter Susan was about one year old. But for some reason, tonight finally felt like the last twenty-odd years were finally catching up with her.

“The Moon is in Scorpio tonight,” the female radio host said, and that’s when Nancy felt a shift in the air. “Be on the lookout for something or someone unwanted coming back into your life.” The radio host chuckled, and Nancy felt the darkness looking at her. “Well, that’s enough of tonight’s horoscopes.” The pause in airtime shifted something in the hospital, and Nancy couldn’t help but wrap her cardigan tighter around herself as she stood up. “How about a song for all of you wondering if anyone else is up at this time of night?” Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin' started playing, the song gradually getting louder.

“I’m going to go get another cup of coffee,” Nancy said in her best authoritative nurse voice. “Want another cup?”

Carol, the newest night-shift nurse to join her, held up her coffee mug with her free hand, the other hand holding the latest paperback romance. “That would be great, thanks, Nancy.”

“Sugar and cream, right?” She already knew the answer, but she wanted to make sure Carol looked at her.

”That’s right,” Carol said, not looking up from her book. With a shake of her head only a mom could make as she rounded the nurse's desk to make her way to the lounge.

The only lights that were on in the hall were the security lights. Nancy had always liked that she didn’t have to look at the bright fluorescent lights of the day shift. The lights, no matter where you were in the hospital after six p.m., cast this sickly yellow that reminded Nancy of the sky during a dust storm she had been in when she was fourteen.

Nancy got that feeling again that something had shifted, the air, the lights, or. She shook her head as she neared the door; it was about the right time to do a quick check anyways. She didn’t bother placing the mugs down; instead she shifted one so that she held them both in her left hand, opening the door with her right. Steve Perry was singing the iconic chorus now; at least the radio in the room was at a decent volume. After working at the night shift for so long, Nancy swore she could see better in the dark than she could in the daytime. She gave the darkness a warm smile and a small nod before closing the door, making sure to hear the click before continuing on her way to the lounge.

Nancy set the mugs down before turning on the radio; she would have to remind Carol and the day shift not to turn it off. The song repeated itself a second time; the radio host must like the song. But Nancy couldn’t help but mouth the words as she prepared a new pot of coffee, making sure her back was never truly turned towards any dark corners.

The song ended, and for a moment Nancy thought the radio had turned off and she prepared herself.

”Hi there,” the melodic voice of the radio host said, and Nancy swore as she flinched at the sound. “How are you, friend?” Nancy glanced at the coffee pot; it was halfway done. “You know time is a funny thing, isn’t it?”

”You could say that again,” Nancy muttered to herself, rinsing out the mugs.

“Time is a funny thing,” the radio host said again, a smile in her voice. “It operates in its own way, just when we get comfortable with it.” Nancy couldn’t help but glance at the radio, mugs forgotten. “It changes.”

She felt it again. Like a low vibration that thrummed through the room like a wave, washing through Nancy before moving on. Waiting for it to move out of the room, Nancy counted the ticking of the clock on the radio before moving. Stuffing sugar and creamer packets into her pockets, Nancy poured coffee into the two mugs. They would need it after tonight.

Nancy stepped into the hallway and started her walk back to the nurses' station.

“As we go into the second hour,” the calm voice of the radio host said. “Let’s hear from you, the listeners. What do you want to talk about?” The silence felt suffocating, and Nancy scolded herself. For fucks sake, she had been a night shift nurse for thirty-seven years; she had three years until she could leave this hospital behind her. “Should we talk about our coworkers?” The radio host made a tisking sound as Nancy rounded the corner. She had seen out of the corner of her eye that the door had been opened.

Setting the mugs down on the desk, Nancy pulled out the sugar and creamer and ripped two sugars open, making sure not to get a single granule on the desk. She stirred the coffee with her pen before taking a sip. “Now, should we play another song for you night shifters?” Nancy rolled her chair slightly to the right to get out of the way. The beginning notes of Kiss’s Rock and Roll All Night started, and Nancy took another sip of coffee, straining to hear the song over the sound of Carol’s body being ripped apart. She ignored it and slowly turned the volume up.

Time was a funny thing. Wasn’t it? Nancy thought as she bobbed her head along to the song. As the song played on, repeating itself, Nancy opened her big book of word searches. She made a mental note to pick up a new one at the gas station off the highway when she got off shift.

The volume on the radio slowly turned down, and Nancy counted to thirty-four to hear the sound click of the door before looking over to see what was left of Carol, then to her wristwatch. It was going to be a long night, she couldn’t help but think as she looked into her empty coffee cup.

”I’m going to top off my coffee. Want me to warm yours up?” Nancy asked Lisa, the newest night shift nurse.

“That’d be great, thanks,” Lisa said with a smile. “Mind if I turn the volume up on the radio a little?”

“Go right ahead,” Nancy said, grabbing both mugs as she stood up just as Blue Öyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper started playing.