Working the Night Shift (a five-minute #freewrite)

It all began on the night shift. She never should've agreed to those godforsaken hours, but blinded by the promise of a higher payrate and the glory of not having to deal with customers... she rubbed at her gritty eyes. She had been a fool.

Sally stared dully at her tea, the once-warm elixir now a disgusting icy mass with a film over the top, and poked at the formation of a tea-cup iceberg poking through the tea-flesh.

"Gross."

After an elongated moment and a grimace, she took a tiny sip of the liquid burbling up through the hole she'd made.

"Why the fuck did I do that?" she shuddered, spitting the mouthful back into the cup.

"Do what?" Roberta shouted from the other room.

Sally leapt upright, startled. How long had Bertie been home for? It had been silent for hours. Was she truly that out of it?

"Fucking night shift," she muttered to herself, then shouted, "Shit. I'm talking to myself. Don't worry about it."

"No, no! I'm curious. What did you do and why are you stressing? You didn't murder anyone, did you?" Roberta appeared in the doorway, her green eyes gleaming with glee. "It was Michael, wasn't it? Finally had enough of his shit and bludgeoned him? His body is in a bush outside?"

"No, Bertie," Sally rolled her eyes. "I am merely lamenting the fact that I accepted the night shift this week. Worst decision of my life."

"Oh, I see," Roberta grimaced. "You killed the night manager, didn't you? Jodie, right? High and mighty twat."

"I didn't kill anyone!"

"Oh," Roberta paused, a rapid flurry of scenarios clearly dancing through her mind before she shrugged. "Well, maybe you should."

"Bertie," Sally pushed the tea-cup away and offered a small, mirthless smile. "Since you're so obsessed with murder, maybe you should kill me so I can get some bloody sleep."

Hullo! It's Day 768 of @mariannewest's five-minute #freewrite challenge. The prompt for today is -- Night Shift -- and this is what I came up with before the eggtimer website beeped at me. Give a few extra minutes for general tidying up and slight expansion because it's 6 in the morning and I've been awake since 3 and I can't think properly. Ugh.

Dear Sally, I, too, would love some bloody sleep.

You can find today's challenge at the following link:
@mariannewest/day-768-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-night-shift

The header image is CC0 and courtesy of Pixabay.

Thanks for stopping by and having a read! 😊