Are you sleepy?

The last customer

"Come again!!, oh FINALLY!!!, that was the last of them, I can close the store now!". It had been a long day at the clothing store I worked at. I normally take three days and two night shifts, but this week I had three night shifts and this night was the third one, I was covering up for my co-worker who had a date apparently, she did not want to lose a day's worth salary and so I covered for her, because I decided to be very kind  the day she asked me. Turns out that today we had a new delivery of clothes and manikins for the display and this shift would probably be longer than I wanted it to be.

The store used to close at 9pm every day and our shifts at night used to end at 12 am. I had to unpack the clothes from the boxes before leaving and unwrap the manikins. You see, we could not leave the clothes in the boxes in the storage unit because the rats in these areas were crazy for cardboard, so our storage unit could only hold up inventory during the day or before the lights go out at twelve, we had to unpack everything and put them on the racks of the store the very day, every time there was delivery. The storage unit  was at the back of the store and the wall of the unit on the other side was a trash area, which invited all these rats, no matter how many times we had chased them out, by poison or traps, they would comeback and if there was any box, food or carboard type material, you would know who partied here all night. Rats like the dark and so that's why we had to empty that unit before going home if it was a delivery day.

Manikins were a new addition to our store. We never had them before because they were costly and my boss thought that once the store guarantees profits he would purchase them and you guessed it, sales were booming in the last three months, this store had been open for five. Today happened to be the unfortunate day that the delivery of both manikins and clothes came in. I had no choice, I had to arrange everything because if not, any damage would be payable by 'me' the employee responsible. 

I closed the doors and locked them, put the keys away at the desk, turned the sign 'closed' and got to work. There had been a lot of customers today, most of them with kids, kids who love throwing things around and never plan to pick them up. I cleaned up the store first and that took around an hour, I went to the storage unit and bought the boxes in, and first started with the clothes. 

Every time we had a delivery the receipt had to match the message my boss sent us on our work chat group, '30 shirts , 30 skirts , 40 jeans, 50 coats and 10 manikins'. I looked at the receipt and matched it to the one in the chats, and then proceeded to put them on the shelves, while counting and price tagging them. My phone buzzed an alarm of twelve and I was barely done with the clothes, I still had to hang the coats ,place the jeans and of course unwrap the manikins. While I was placing the jeans on the racks, I heard a buzz, checked my phone, it was my boss on the group chat, "if your still at the store, put some clothes on the manikins, am sure there won't be enough time in the morning, I am aware that you guys won't be early enough to put them on". Of course he knew one of us had to be around, there was a ton of work, so it just made sense that he sent that message regardless of the time. I took ten pairs of clothing, some with coats and some jackets, kept them on top of the counter so that I would not forget to dress the manikins before leaving. I hung the coats and moved to the manikins, it was about 1:30 in the morning and I was tried, I just wanted to finish up and leave. 

I unwrapped ten manikins and placed five at the front, near the glass display and arranged the rest around the store. I dressed each one of them one by one, put glasses on some and bags on other. I was almost done, just had to make one manikin at the display at front wear a trench coat. I went in the coats section and looked for a beige color trench coat , "BOOM!!, power's out!", the timing was spectacular, it was my last job for the day, so instead of going and switching on the inverter, because ours is not automatic and I am too tired  to do anything more, I switched off the switch of the light of the  store ( just in case the powers back, the light will be on for the rest of the night and I would have pay the extra), took the trench coat at the front and made the manikin wear it, ALAS!! I was done. I was about to leave, when at the corner of my eye I saw a manikin move. I get it am not used to them around and its almost two in night, my mind was playing tricks on me, so I pushed the door only to remember its locked, I went to the front desk and picked the key, walked ahead while looking at these new additions in the store and noticed something, there was another trench coat on another manikin, no it was a whole new manikin, instead of five there were six manikins at the front. " I must have made a mistake while arranging and dressing them, let me place this back somewhere around", though I did not remember dressing another manikin with a trench coat, I was too sleepy and tired to think about it.

I picked the manikin up and placed it by the counter and decided to leave, when I realized that I kept...no actually lost the keys somewhere while lifting and placing the manikin I did not know about. Now I had to  turn on the inverter which was at the back in the storage unit, and the rats could be their because it dark and late already and I had no choice but go through all this unnecessity just to go home, all I wanted to do was to go home!, this shift wasn't mine to begin with, but I took it upon myself right, so now I must be the one to suffer. So I entered the dark room and looked Infront only to see this silhouette exactly like the other trench coated manikin that I did not remember dressing or placing at the front. In a blink it was gone, "am too sleepy and tired for this man", I turned on the inverter looked for the key, found it under one of the shelves that was placed in the center of the store and while picking the key I saw it again, the silhouette, "how?, the lights are on " I looked up in haste and saw nothing, so I turned to towards the desk to see that manikin only to find nothing, I didn't think much of it, I mean I had enough of it, but I still had to turn the lights off, so I powered up and did it , turned the lights off, to only find the manikin back. What in the BH productions was this, was I in the LIGHTSOUT movie or the universe was playing games with me. I mean all I wanted to do was leave and call it a day. 

While I thought about this whole situation the manikin moved and this time I was sure that it moved, this time I was in my senses, completely awake and aware, I was sure that it moved and that I was not alone. Right beside me was a huge mirror that was for our customers to see themselves wearing the products of our store, I looked at it and saw it, it was right there, right behind me, I couldn't make out a face, it was blank like that of a manikin or at least that's what I saw.

A car drove by and the light shinned in only to reveal a distorted face in the mirror, but it looked like me, the manikin had my face, but completely messed up. " What in the....", I ran in the opposite direction but that wasn't the door's direction, I hid behind the coats and tried to fuel courage to run at the door, unlock it and go home. 

I took a breath and ran towards the door, unlocked it and did not even look behind me, I was traumatized, I saw 'me' but distorted. I was terrified. Cherry on top, I had not locked the door from the outside, if my boss was to come first tomorrow I would be dead, so I walked towards the store, very slow and when I reached and lifted my head to see the display, IT WAS THERE staring at me, into my soul, it was me, but how? 

I lifted my hands, which were trembling at this point and locked the door, and walked away, I glanced back and it was there, the manikin or  a disturbing 'ME' in the trench. When I reached home I went straight to bed, closed my eyes and slept. I was just too tired to even think about what happened to me. When I woke up in the morning or more like in the afternoon, I saw a text from my coworker, "Hey!, I think you left your trench coat behind, don't worry ill bring it over after my shift today". My heart skipped a beat, and I called her instantly, telling her how it didn't belong to me and that she must not touch it, to which she replied " don't worry a man came in asking for it, and told me to tell you to 'take it easy and relax, its just a coat' I found it weird you know, well did you know this man?, he told me he was the last customer yesterday" and I replied by an "okay" and cut the call. 

I did not know who or what this man was, but after what happened that night, I resigned and took a job that only served during the day. Hoping that I never see 'ME' like that again.