Midnight Calling

❍ 𝟏 - 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐰

The brown leather jacket landed atop the mini bar in a smooth, draped toss. The plasticky clatter of a hospital ID on its lanyard followed.

Toeing off his shoes, Dr. Oskar Andersson reached behind the marble countertop to snatch a clean glass along with the bottle of 12-year old Glenffiddich and proceeded to pour himself a double. The ER had been a zoo tonight. Full moons did it every time.

Eyes the silvery blue of moonlit skies drifted closed as the first swallow of the whiskey's smoked butterscotch notes spread its warmth.

With a slow exhale, Oskar rubbed the sore back of his neck, and grimaced at the whiff of his forearm's skin.

You'd think he'd have gotten used to the chemical smells after all this time. But the showers he took after changing out of his scrubs at the end of his shifts only ever succeeded in suffusing the smell of surgery antiseptic with that of the disinfectant they used in the staff showers. It was why the good doctor always took another shower when he got back to his condo. Not that he need fear any contagion or infection. No human disease could touch him. It was just that the astringent bouquet he ended up carrying home was an arrangement he could do without. Cloying as it was on his hair and skin, it unfortunately transferred to his regular clothes.

Which reminded him...

Pulling out his phone from his back jean pocket, Oskar swiped to the bright yellow washing machine icon of the laundry service app. First Rinse™ was a name that had appealed to the temporal guardian of the First Hour when he'd been looking for a service. That, and the fact they operated 24/7. Just like he did.

According to the app, his clean and folded laundry was on its way and should be dropped off at his condo door in a few minutes. His favourite pair of lounging pants was in that load. Fine. He'd wait for it to arrive before taking his second shower.

The time read 00H35 on his phone. Oskar smiled.

At the wave of his hand, a gilt bronze hourglass materialized to hover over the bar. His Clock.

The bulk of its crystal grains of sand had returned to the top bulb with the changing of the day. It was exactly thirty-five minutes, seventeen...eighteen...nineteen...seconds past midnight by his count of the granules falling. He still had time before his watch started in this Here and Now.

Since time zones spanned the entire world, technically it was always his watch somewhere. But as a temporal guardian, as long as he held true to the zone he happened to be in —the Here and Now of his current moments— the passage of his watch and the days across the globe held true as well. It was the same for all the twenty-four Hours.

Oskar settled himself on the living room couch, propping his socked feet on the coffee table.

It was rare for him to be home at this time. More often than not, he was on duty at the hospital and his watch as the First Hour came and went without any conscious thought on his part.

As an emergency room doctor, there was such a range of firsts for him to experience directly instead; first to examine, first to provide care, first to heal. Then there was that most powerful of firsts... first to call time of death, though this latter was sometimes offset by being the first to witness the birth of a new life in some rushed circumstances.

He took another swig of his whiskey.

I wonder how Twent—

A rapping at the door cut off his thought. Odd. The laundry delivery service always left the bag outside. Was there some problem with his order?

Oskar's frown deepened when he sensed no human presence in the corridor beyond.

The rapping grew sharper.