The Night Shift

11:48 pm

There was something he always found interesting about blood splatter. It was like art, abstract art. It leaves such a distinctive mark, beautiful and fascinating. He used to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, his favorite thing was the human heart. The distinctive curvature and vein pattern that reminded him of a snowflake. Many people would think he's still a doctor with the way he talks about human anatomy. He's far from a doctor now, he's the opposite actually. Instead of saving lives, he was ending them.

He looked down at his watch. “Time of death, 23:48.” he says as he holds the heart in his hands. The warmth of the organ warmed his cold hands.

His black boots made a squishing sound as he trekked through the puddle of blood, leaving red bloody footsteps behind in his wake. He walked over to his medical tray and observed the organs that sat in their separate containers of ice. Oh how he loved working the night shift. The cool air and the dark sky always set the mood for murder. Murder wasn’t exactly a morning activity, well it wasn’t a normal activity at all.

“Why do you have to be so messy when you work?” He heard a voice from behind him.

Turning around, he was met with his partner Scarlet. He loved her name. Scarlet, like his favorite color, like his favorite thing. He found it funny how she worked in this profession with that name.

Looking around the room, it looked like a horse had been murdered. Blood was everywhere, spattered all over the floor and walls. The room where he worked was a small concrete ice box so he wasn’t surprised the mess he made was more than unusual.

“The human body can hold almost 2 gallons of blood. What we do isn’t exactly clean work.” He says as he smiles at the woman.

Scarlet rolled her eyes and looked over to the containers filled with human organs. “Are you Jack the Ripper tonight? We only needed her dead, not an organ transplant.”

“Thought I could save some lives while I end them.”

“Trying to make up for your sins I see,” She laughed. “You’re still going to hell Jonathan. We all are, it’s time to accept it.”

Jonathan shook his head as he walked back over to the mutilated body. He loved what he did, but he still couldn’t help but still feel guilty. The least he can do is try to make up for the lives he ended, it’s not like the people he killed were good people anyways. He felt like he was doing a good deed, but still, he wasn’t one to judge a life. He wasn’t god after all.

Pulling some coolers from under the table, he carefully started placing the organs inside of them. The smell of iron from the blood used to overwhelm him back when he was a med student. Now that he’s used to it, it has become comforting to him, it was the only thing he had known.

Scarlet walked closer to the body to examine Jonathan’s work, she grinned and looked at him. “You’re such a sick bastard you know that? There’s nothing left of her.” 

He pulled off the latex gloves on his hand and ran his fingers through his pepper gray hair. They go through this every night, every night shift. She mocks his work ethic yet she smiles at his work. It was what he secretly loved about her besides her name. The night shift consists of three things, Scarlet leading their target to this room, Jonathan finishing them off and the same conversation afterwards. They worked very well together. 

“She was trafficking children into slave rings, she deserved what was coming to her. She’s O negative so her organs will be saving a lot of lives.” He says picking up the coolers from the table. “Ready to go?” He asked his partner.

Scarlet nodded, taking one of the coolers from his hands. “Next stop, Mercy Memorial Hospital.”

~~~

2:34 am

“Forgive me father for I have sinned.”

Jonathan sat in a confessional of the large church. He buried his head in his hands and groaned. Every week, Jonathan would come to this church. Same time, same day, every week. The pastor now expects him. He didn’t know if he believed in god, he was a doctor, he was taught to only believe in science and nothing more. He couldn’t help but to think there was a higher power though.

“Jonathan, I was wondering where you were. You’re late today.” Father Stanley chuckled.

Father Stanley was the only priest Jonathan would talk to this late at night. The old man found Jonathan amusing and was in desperate need to right his wrongs.

“I’m sorry Father Stanley but you know how the night shifts get now. Scarlet and I have been busy these past few weeks.” Jonathan said, looking up at the wooden ceiling of the booth. He hated the confessional booths, they were too small and made him feel claustrophobic. 

The two sat in silence as Father Stanley waited for Jonathan to confess his sins for the week. Father Stanley knew Jonathan when he first started his night shift job, he had helped a lot of people in Jonathan’s line of work.

“I killed another woman this week. It made me feel sick but she was a terrible person. She hurt children and tore families apart. She deserved to die.” Jonathan said, shaking his head. He already knew what the priest was about to say.

“No one deserves to die Jonathan, you know that and even if they did-”

“I’m not God to judge,” Jonathan interrupted. “I know this Father Stanley, but why isn’t God judging these awful people? I don’t understand why good people die while the bad people get to live their lives. I’m ridding the world of the garbage.”

“We can’t assume what God has in store for us. For all we know, maybe you are supposed to kill these people, but that’s not the point. Jonathan you need to repent for your sins.”

Jonathan didn’t say anything. He didn’t understand repenting for his sins. Were they really sins if he was doing something good in the long run? He didn’t know, but what he did know is that he didn’t want to go to hell if there was one. 

“Yes Father.”

~~~

4:23am

“Time of death, 4:23.”

Scarlet looked up at her partner and smirked. “I thought you were repenting for your sins.”

Jonathan looked at Scarlet before walking closer to her. He pulled off his latex gloves and pulled her in for a kiss.

“I’m already going to hell so might as well finish the shift.”