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masksofmany · 4 years ago

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Bump in the Night - Writing Prompt

“Set your story during the night shift“ (Acquired from Reedsy’s Writing Prompts

TW // Mention of drugs, anxiety stuff, and other stuff (only briefly mentioned) (Not entirely sure if all these account, but I just did so to make sure. I’m new to this :p) Also, I’m not a very good writer, so I apologize that it’s bad :V

----------------- Kori Anderson, a man around his late 20’s or early 30’s, constantly in a tired state. No one knew why, other than that he worked the night shift at some restaurant as the security guard.

You’d probably think that night shifts are pretty easy, right? Who’d want to break into a restaurant meant for kids? Well, that’s what everyone else thought, but those that work in the industry, specifically previous night guards and the manager, know that the place was more dangerous than it seemed.

No, no one broke in, unless it was the rebellious teenagers that broke in every now and then to prove it wasn’t dangerous or to just chill and smoke whatever they had on hand, but they were always caught and dragged out of the place. But this isn’t what had Kori in a constant tired state.

Ever since he started working at the restaurant, Kori was more paranoid than usual and started suffering from insomnia, struggling to get any rest at all when able to, even with medication. The bumps in the night, the constant fear for one’s life, the stress of being in the dark, it all got to him.

He was already a frail man; a thin body that had no muscles, looking like he starves himself to near death. He doesn’t though. He can’t explain why he’s so thin, but it’s whatever. Not like it’s killing him.

Today’s the day, Kori thought, staring at the restaurant’s front entrance. Today’s the day I quit. The day I finally leave.

Kori had been wanting to leave the night shift for some time now, not able to handle the constant state of fear he had to deal with each time.

Although it did provide something eventful in his bland life, it wasn’t the kind of excitement he was looking for. If it was affecting him negatively, it wasn’t something he wanted.

Taking a deep breath, he walked inside, instantly hearing the loud chattering and squealing of children, smelling the mix of junk food and sweat. Air conditioning must be broken...again.

He walked past the front desk that occupied the main entrance, going to where all the fun was happening, stepping back before he got run over by some kids running around playing tag.

Looking around, it was obviously packed. It’s the middle of summer, meaning school has yet to be in session, so this was bound to happen. Kori feels bad for all the work the janitor’s will have to go through. But that isn’t the main focus right now. All he has to do is find the manager.

He walks around, keeping an eye on his surroundings while looking for the manager, Mx. Richardson. The loud music blaring through the speakers mixing with the constant chattering and screaming, it all gave him a headache. He couldn’t stand it. The more he looked around, the more panic he felt the longer he was in such a crowded area.

Breathe...it’ll be alright, just breathe-

“Mr. Anderson?”

Kori stopped and looked behind him, seeing a person half his size. Their dark hair was under a black hat with the restaurant’s logo on it, dark brown eyes staring at him with confusion and shock. It’s not like Kori to be seen outside during the day, seeing as he’s more of a night owl, and an introvert.

“O-oh, uh...Mx. Richardson…” Kori stuttered, feeling a little embarrassed. He must’ve walked by them without noticing.

“Is there something you need, Mr. Anderson?” Richardson asked. They quickly noticed his nervous posture, his hands shaking as he fiddled with them.

“Yes, uhh… I wanted to...talk to you..?” He stated, sounding more like a question.

Mx. Richardson nodded and motioned him to follow, which he obliged. They went into the storage room, seeing as it was the closest room to them.

Kori sighed, taking deep breaths, thankful he was now out of the crowded area. He hated going outside during the day, especially in the summer.

Kori took another deep breath before looking at Mx. Richardson, who was closing the door behind them before looking at Kori. “Is everything okay?” They asked softly.

He nodded, taking his time to gain his composure. “Y-yes, I...I just…” He started choking up on his words, his nerves getting to him. Come on, Kori, you practiced this hundreds of times, don’t screw it up now!

“I...quit.” He said slowly.

Mx. Richardson blinked, processing his statement, but understood exactly why he wanted to. They knew what the night shift was like, though not through personal experience, but saw the recordings from the security cameras. They knew this was about to come, but it surprised them that it took him this long to call it quits, seeing everything he went through. They’re surprised he hasn’t gone to therapy yet.

“Is that what you want to do?” Richardson asked, holding their clipboard close to their chest.

Kori nodded, too afraid to talk in case it was to fail him. They took a deep breath, then looked up at Kori, understanding evident in their eyes.

“I understand, but may I suggest a better option?”

Kori tilted his head, confused, before giving them a nod to continue.

“One more night. That’s all I ask. I’ll still provide you your full week’s payment, because I know you’re struggling with money right now. After tonight, you won’t have to come here anymore. I’ll have someone take your place by then, I promise.”

Kori closes his eyes, anxiety starting to build up. He didn’t want to stay there another night, but...the offer was tempting… He was struggling on cash, barely being able to pay for his rent on time and keep food on his table...but was it worth it?

After some thinking, he decided to go with it. It’s just one more night...it should be fine.

“Okay…” he mumbled.

Mx. Richardson smiles and gives his arm a pat. “Thank you. Also, I’ll throw in some free therapy your way. I know you need it.”

Kori gives them a tired smile before making his way home, quickly leaving the place before his panic settles back in again. By the time he makes it home, he collapses onto his couch, groaning into a pillow.

“Just one more night…”, he mumbled. “One more, and I’m free...everything’s fine...everything...is fine…” he reassures himself before falling asleep for the first time in a long while.

-11:47 pm, Thursday 27th.

He arrives at the restaurant, staring at the doors. Instead of dread and fear filling up his senses, he feels...relaxed. More relaxed than usual. Yes, he’s still stressed, but knowing that this was his last night working here helped him calm down. Taking a deep breath, he unlocks the doors and makes his way in, locking the doors shut behind him.

The place is spooky at night, seeing as it’s a large place with many places to hide. Although it’s not exactly the easiest place to break into, it certainly is easy to hide. The security during the day isn’t exactly the greatest. Then again, there are a lot of distractions at that time, so anything can slip out of view.

Taking out his flashlight from his belt on his uniform, he turns it on and makes his way through the building. The security office isn’t too far away, it’s quite literally the place in between the two separate halls that lead straight into the main party area, where the main attraction usually is.

You’re probably asking yourself “what’s the main attraction?” Well, I’ll tell ya. It’s not animatronics! The main attraction, or attractions, are of various people. Sometimes there are animatronics, but they don’t stay at the restaurant. Instead, they’re brought in by people who made them for their turn in entertaining the guests.

The usual entertainers consist of bands, clowns, magicians, and so on. So, in a way, this place is meant for all ages! It just so happens to attract parents who want to just drop their kids off so they could entertain themselves and let them have a break. Mostly.

What ends up actually causing Kori all this stress is that something, or someone, has been making so much ruckus in the building, and he can’t find them at all. It’s been happening for months and it was stressing him out. Thing is, he doesn’t find anything wrong! Nothing’s broken, nothing’s altered, it’s all as it should be, and it’s driving him mad!

When entering his office, he looks around carefully. The monitors are placed on the wall, posters of the common entertainers plastered on the back wall behind where you sit, balloons tied up on the leg of the table where the computer resides, everything as it normally is. Except, however, there’s a cupcake with a note beside it.

Tilting his head, he walks over to the desk after turning the lights and fan on, turning the flashlight off and setting it down on the table. Carefully, he picks up the note and unfolds it, now seeing that it was a letter from Mx. Richardson.

“I hope tonight goes well! Here’s a cupcake to help you feel better. Your favorite! ~R”

Kori smiles and looks at the cupcake. Yep, it was indeed his favorite: a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing. Call him basic, but you can’t argue it’s a good combo. It even has some edible sprinkles shaped like stars!

He takes a seat and turns on the monitors, leaning back and taking a deep breath. Slowly, he unhooks his water bottle from his belt and takes a drink before setting it on his desk.

Checking the time, he notices he still has five minutes before his shift officially starts. He didn’t realize he left earlier than he intended, he just wanted to get this night done and over with. And before you get your shoes all wet, yes, he does have a job he can go to after this one. Better pay too, surprisingly. It’s a much simpler and safer job than being a night guard.

Although he has five minutes to spare, he decides to not really do anything out of the ordinary. Not like he really wanted to either, he’d rather stay in that room until the clock screams that it’s morning. Although, the only thing “out of the ordinary” he’s doing right now is eating the cupcake. At least starting to, he’s not exactly a fast eater.

A few hours pass by, and everything is running smoothly. No bumps, no jumps, just...quiet. It put Kori a little on edge, as it wasn’t something he was used to, but he was thankful it was running smoothly. That was, until he heard a crash from one of the camera sections.

He jumps up and looks at the monitors, seeing nothing but a blur slip out of view. This is new… He thought. Although he’s not new to people breaking in, this experience was. Usually people breaking in take it slow and quiet, never the brute force way.

Quickly, he scans all the cameras to see where they could be while trying to keep his breathing in check at the same time. It was difficult, but thankfully, this person wasn’t really trying to be very quiet. From the looks of things, it seemed that whoever this person was was making their way to the storage room. Why there out of all places?

After confirming that was indeed their destination, he takes a quick drink of his water and grabs his flashlight, leaving his half-eaten cupcake on the table and makes his way into the main room, scanning the area. He hates how dark the place gets, especially when he’s looking for something. The fact that he can’t just turn the lights makes him more tense.

Looking around, he finally spots the storage room, but sees that it hasn’t been opened or fiddled with. Narrowing his eyes, he decides he should go check the location the person broke into to see the damage, but stops when hearing movement behind him. He turns around, shining his light in the direction, only to see nothing.

Panic started to set in, but he knew he had to keep himself calm and quiet. If he were to yell out, it could startle them, and he doesn’t know how they’d react when startled. Would they run away? Would they retaliate and try to hit him? He didn’t know, and he didn’t feel like taking the risk.

Turn after turn, bump after bump, Kori was spinning in circles. He felt surrounded, but he knew there was only one person causing this movement. It felt crazy to him how fast they were moving, he didn’t know how to react. His breath started to pick up, struggling to keep it at a slow pace. He felt nauseous, like he was going to faint, but just before he was able to turn around behind him after hearing another sound, he was pushed to the ground, causing him to scream out, dropping his flashlight.

He tried getting up, but there was a weight on his back, preventing him from doing so. He wiggled and thrashed, struggling to get out of their grasp, but to no success. He stopped when feeling a firm hand press against the back of his head, feeling the pressure lean forward as the figure leans down to speak into his ear in a low, deep voice.

“Don’t. Move.”

Kori freezes in place, holding his breath. He didn’t know what else he could do other than comply. He couldn’t break out of their hold, and he definitely couldn’t fight back. He’s as thin as a twig! No way he could get out of this one. He also couldn’t just run away either, thanks to his stamina not being the greatest.

He waited what felt like hours, nothing but the sound of heavy breathing coming from the both of them. From what Kori could tell, this person was strong, he could feel their hand flex every now and again, keeping his head on the ground so he couldn’t move his head to look. Not like he’d be able to anyways, it’s really dark, the only light coming from the flashlight that rolled out of reach when dropped.

Suddenly, he feels something sharp poke his neck, causing him to jump. Am I being drugged?

Before he could say or do anything, he felt his entire body go numb in an instant, exhaustion taking hold. Must be one hell of a drug.

The weight on his back slowly got up and moved to the side, snatching the keys off Kori’s belt and going to the storage room. Kori was barely able to keep hold of consciousness, struggling to push himself off the ground. Slowly, he crawled to his flashlight, going to reach for it until he saw it get kicked away from reach, it being the same person from before. He went to look up, but felt a sharp pain as the figure gripped his hair tightly and dragged him up, moving to look him in the eye.

Having one eye closed due to pain, he struggled to look at the figure in front of him, now able to see their face. They had fierce, sharp eyes, a mask tightly covering their nose and mouth that went all the way around half their face, a mixture of light and dark hair swept to the side in a clean cut, a small wave-like texture being provided. A low, deep voice, presumably sound male, but Kori didn’t want to judge, spoke in a slow and somewhat mocking manner, their eyes crinkling as if they were smiling- no, smirking.

“See you next time, Anders.” Before dropping him to the ground, making Kori unconscious.

-8:29 am, Friday 28th.

Kori groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. His whole body felt sore, a headache taking over his head. When he woke up, he saw Mx. Richardson looking relieved, as well as another person standing behind them, someone he doesn’t recognize.

“Thank goodness you’re okay!” Richardson exclaimed, adjusting Kori in a more comforting manner to lean against the wall. They quickly ordered the new person to get some water, watching them run off before returning with a cup. The manager quickly took it and held it up to Kori’s lips, helping him drink slowly. “What happened? Did someone break in?”

“Andi, let him breathe,” the one standing said. They were wearing some faded out jeans and a white t-shirt, a blue and black hoodie to accompany it. Their hair was pulled back into a tight braid, seemed to be the fishtail kind, it also had various pastel colors mixed into it, providing a unique look.

Kori took a moment, gaining his senses again. His mind felt scattered, confused. Why did they break in? What did they take? What was so important in the storage room?

“There, they...someone…” Kori started, feeling out of breath. Andi helped try to keep him calm, telling him to take his time. “They...took something…” “What did they take?” They ask, tensing up slightly. They hoped it wasn’t something they thought it was…

“I don’t know… They went into the...storage room…” He whispers, motioning towards it.

Andi nodded, moving his face to look at them. “Okay, don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll deal with this. You’re free now, okay? You don’t have to work here. I’ll email your payment tonight, okay? It’s been doubled, no, tripled. Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone what happened, okay? This is between me, you, and Ena.”

Kori nodded, though not completely understanding why. It was probably something only Andi was supposed to know, and now since himself and Ena, who he assumes is going to be the new night guard, are aware something was stolen, they don’t want theories spreading around and potentially closing the business. He didn’t know if it really was that bad, but he doesn’t want to risk it.

After helping him calm down, Andi asked Ena to help Kori get his stuff and send him home. While they were off doing that, Andi went into the storage room and took a look around. It was a mess, like someone was in a hurry, or looking for something hidden. When they found that a specific secret compartment was forcibly open, Andi froze. Their fear becoming a reality.

They stole the business hard drive.

3077 words

#writing prompt #story #improvised story #original character #original characters #oc story #night guard #criiimes #short story #one shot #Mask's Writing Prompts

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