Night Shift

Chapter 16

We're heading back into town.

Laura hasn't said anything since we left the private property. She doesn't look annoyed or frazzled, she just didn't seem to want to talk at the moment. I don't have anything to say, anyway. I guess a part of enjoying each other's company is to also appreciate the silence.

I have my phone plugged into the stereo again, this time listening to music that actually has a beat.

The plan is to head into the city centre. I haven't been into the actual part of town in what feels like forever. I never felt the need to; no one has given me a reason to. I don't know what to expect.

I start to wonder what has happened to the customers that were expecting to stop by The Myriad tonight. There's normally a really drunk man that orders half of the items in the hot box, and gets crabby over the total purchase. I would have argued back tonight, I was prepared for it. There would also be a tired woman that would come in and grab an iced coffee and an ice-cream.

"I really shouldn't be eating this," she'd smile cheekily. "But what am I to do?"

I'd always give a polite giggle and wish her a goodnight.

I'm curious to see if any of them will get really angry at the closure. Maybe write a late night one-star review online somewhere. Proudly claim that they will never return; they will, though, not if they can help it.

It's not as dark out here as it was on the way out. It's easier to see the landscapes, the trees, the hills that cut off the horizon. The road is completely smooth, it must have been recently resurfaced. I can keep my head against the window and not have it bounce around.

"We aren't too far from town, now," Laura says. It's the first thing she's said in a while. All I do is nod in return.

There's a moment of silence.

"Did you know there's a man who believes he's reliving the same day over and over again?" Laura begins.

I give a light chuckle. "No, I haven't heard of that."

"I think he's up in Europe somewhere. I can't remember how it happened, but he wakes up every morning thinking it's the same day, and he believes he has an appointment with the dentist later on the day."

"That sounds crazy," I say.

"He's been living like that for years, apparently. They haven't been able to find a way to get him out of it. There's nothing wrong with his brain or anything. He hasn't even suffered any trauma to the head. He just woke up one day, not realising that another day has passed."

"I can't imagine how it must feel when he realises," I say. "But then he wakes up again and that feeling is gone."

"Do you think it's possible to relive the same day and not realise it?" Laura asks.

"I feel like I do that every night at work," I joke.

"Be serious," Laura says, but she's also smiling. "Is it possible to live such a mundane life that you find yourself trapped in a routine that you can't get out of?"

"I don't think it can be the exact same," I say. "Because that would mean the other people in your day to day life will be going through the exact same thing as well: the same interactions, performing the exact same gestures and whatnot. It would just be a society of people living a life of mundanity, it would almost seem pointless."

Laura's hands are at the bottom of the steering wheel, a 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock position. Did she always drive like that? It always unnerves me to see people drive like that. It seems reckless.

"I don't think mundanity should be viewed as pointless," Laura says. I notice she has picked up the speed, we're now going ten kilometres over the limit.

"No?" I respond.

"Well, it's definitely not glamorous, but people are out there doing the same thing day in and day out for their job. I think in the grand scheme of things it all leads to something, therefore it's not exactly pointless."

I shrug. "Fair enough."

I see some lights sprinkling in the distance: it's the mines. I'm in disbelief as to how fast everything has been moving. I can't imagine it's the slight speed increase from the car that made things move quicker.

Laura's fuel gauge still hasn't shifted. It's been constantly resting on the stroke before the FULL mark. Must be faulty or something.

"Have you always lived here?" I ask Laura. I don't know why I didn't think to ask it until now.

She looks at me funny, as if I asked her what colour an orange is. "Of course I have," she laughs. It's the cheeky kind of laugh again.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around," I say.

"Well I was always in a different crowd. And there's more than one school in the city. We might have seen each other in passing," Laura explains.

Her explanation doesn't entirely sit right with me. It's a small town, everyone knows everyone. If you haven't met the person you would have definitely heard their name somewhere. Everyone has a story that gets spread around town.

Yet I've never heard of Laura, nor have I ever seen her. But, here she is: taking me away from my job and letting me experience the stars for the first time and adding a bit of excitement to my otherwise mundane routine.

"Are we going to stay friends?" I ask her. "Like, this isn't something that'll only happen once and never again?"

Laura snickers. "You're making this sound like a one-night stand," she says.

"Well..." I begin. "Is it?"

Laura's face drops. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again, they're a bit glassy. The green in them look amplified.

She doesn't say anything.

My stomach hurts all of a sudden. The deep, pronounced feeling I've experienced for the better half of tonight has now gone in the exact opposite direction. It's like leaving a toxic situation only to walk right back into it; the feeling of dread just washes over you.

Laura is only here out of pity. She feels bad that I've wasted the best years of my life stuck in some grocery store. What's the point of all this, then?

I stare blankly at the road. I don't have anything to say, I have a bitter taste in my mouth. I want to vomit. I want to be dropped off at The Myriad and deal with the customers for the remainder of my shift. I won't send a text to my relief. No day off for anyone.

I see the entrance to the town a few hundred metres away, now. Laura slowly eases her foot on the brake pedal. The car groans as it rapidly slows down.

"You will know where I'm coming from... soon enough," Laura says.

I give a grunt in response. She doesn't add anything else to the topic.

We get into town. The Myriad still looks like it isn't there, a missing piece to the rest of the street. The hum of the mines adds to the sound of the car driving on the road.