Hello, my name is Zeke and I’m here to apply for the night shift. “I know who you are and soon everyone will-” Huh? What’d you say? “I was telling you that I know you from your online application, my name is Garlyl. It’s nice seeing you here.” More weirded out than ever I respond, What a name! Thanks, where do I go from here? “Just walk down the hall and enter door #284” Okay, sounds good. “Yep! Welcome to the team or whatever..we’ll see what he says” Wow, no wonder they’re hiring..staff here seems utterly dead inside. I honestly can’t remember the number I think it's 280. Man, what’s that horrible smell, it smells like a dead animal, I say under my breath. I’ve never seen halls so empty. There’s no decorations, posters, or even stuffed animals. Lost in my footing, I appear in front of a door that reads #0 which is very odd, considering it feels like I’ve been walking down this hall for what seems like an eternity. I look back to see where I am and there’s just a window with an obviously-fake skyline. I’ve seen enough Stephen King & Jordan Peele movies to know to get the hell- Interrupting my thought, I hear “Well, aren’t you a nice one!” echoing from up the hall. With nowhere to go but towards the voice, I continued but this time as if there were a million legos scattered around me. Screw It. I booked it and sped faster than ever. My eyes halted before the rest of me when I saw him. With anxiety riddling my body and my heart sweating in paranoia, the only thing I could say was Hello Sir, nice weather we’re having, huh? “I’ve been expecting you to be a bit taller little mister, please follow me.” Worried for my very existence, I followed this scruffed up and potentially ill man down the hall as his right leg dragged behind him. It’s so quiet that the silence is silent. He’s not even trying to fill the air with awkward small talk. “Looks like this is your stop.” He opened the door open for me and before I could even say “thank you”, he slammed the door behind me. I looked around and compared to the rest of this place, this room was beautiful. I feel like I'm inside Tinker Bell’s heart. Every inch of this room is covered with at least 7 feet tall kids’ stuffed animals. From lions, bears, tigers- I say to myself just when a woman with the name tag Ella comes in and finishes my breath with “Oh MY!! Hahaha. That’s a classic..nice to meet you, young man, my name is Ella and this is the animal room, of course.” I don't know why everybody here talks to me as if I’m a little kid. Eh, I guess I’d do the same if I just opened up a zoo filled with stuffed animals. Hi, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Zeke and I’m applying for the zookeeper job. “Oh, Yesss! Now you’re probably wondering why we need a zookeeper for a stuffed animal zoo, but you’d be surprised to know how many people don’t have zookeepers in their zoos.” Ignoring that strange response, I said, Yeah, that question was on my mind..but I’m still interested if you’re looking for a zookeeper. “Yeah of course Hunny, luckil-i mean sadly, our last employee went missing back in March. She did not just almost say luckily. I need to calm down, I’m just paranoid from the shining-like hallways and anxiety. I’m fine, safe- well okay, as of right now. I remind myself. I’m not going to lie uh--Ella, I was surprised to see the stuffed animals in here with how vacant the hallways were. She shattered the windowpanes that once shielded my soul, and filled it with a deep dark pitiful sinking. The air froze still. I held my breath because of my sense of vulnerability that sky-rocketed as I feel as if I’m on a rollercoaster with no safety bar. She smirks just a little and then finally moves to get up and say “ Well, we’ll see you tonight. Pay is 21.50 an hour and all you have to do is come to the back door..capiche?” Unable to process, I subconsciously respond with “Okay sounds good”. She held the door open and I walked through ready at any moment to break out the karate moves I learned in the 5th grade. I walked out and she slowly and gently closed the door to say “Don’t wanna wake the stuffies, now do I? That'd be a nightmare!” As soon as the door closed completely, my feet drove with adrenaline taking the wheel. I felt the gusts of air breeze through my hair as the lights sped mercurially above me with every dash I took. I stopped cautiously and sped-walk the rest of the way to the door. The skinny man from the beginning of my evening, locked the door very carefully as to not crack his glass-thin bones. Before I could speak he said “Why don’t you just take a seat there on the bean bag and wait for your shift to start? How does that sound?” Afraid of his threatening nature, I felt obligated to sit. He told me he’d be right back so he could turn on the air-conditioning. I sat there for a while. I reach for my phone. Dang, it! It's in my car’s glove department. I am trying to find something to distract my mind from going into panic mode. I look around to my surroundings and all there is another beanbag parallel to me, the desk, and a whole stack of stuffed animals with a poster that reads “You will love stuffies till your dying day”. A little dark for what's supposed to be a kids’ zoo.I feel drowsy. What’s happening? I screamed to try to wake myself up but no noise came out. I tried slapping myself but my arms won’t move.
Where am I? I awake and am blinded by a huge bright stadium light in a room filled with giant teddy bears. All dark red. I hear over the P.A system, “You are the chosen one. You’ve made it to the night-shift as a zookeeper, Congratulations. To your left, you’ll see a 26-foot tall door, and around you should see 20 feet-or so Stuffie bears. All you gotta do is take the remote out from your pocket and turn on the television in front of you, and watch Stuffie commercials. Must you know that they haven’t aired yet, so you must not record or repeat!” The speaker cut off and I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw up my heart. “Oh and one more thing Zookeeper Zeke, don’t wake the Stuffies.” I try to swallow but my throat is too sore and torrid. My hands tremble as I reach for the remote. I click the on buttons and nothing happens. Okay, I’m good so far, I think to myself. I take that back when the television takes full control, turning the volume up vociferously. I close my eyes scared of the unknown. The melancholic Stuffies jingle ringing through my ears. Piercing the drums of my ear canals one by one. Then nothing. The television goes mute. I open my eyes to see a heinous Stuffie face invading the space between my breaths and the silence. It opens its mouth. Blood streams out. Lights out. Darkness in. I am engulfed in its warm misery. I peel my way through the elasticity of the darkness to reveal 3 white wooden doors. Assuming I’m supposed to choose one, I once again close my eyes and run toward the third one. Because after all three is a lucky number, right? I say to comfort myself. Lights turn on again and I see that I am taller than I ever was and ever could be. I look down to see dark red fuzzies coating me. I see someone in my peripherals with a remote pointing to a television. That someone is me.
