Night Shift At The Furniture Shop

I worked at this place so I could get some money while I was in high school. The furniture shop wasn’t that big, so I couldn’t get that lost easily. I had the night shift, and yes, every now and then some people would come to purchase something. But over the past few weeks, the other employees had been acting strange. Sure, they would always mess around since there wasn’t much to do, but what they did that night was on a whole other level. It was scary as hell, and I couldn’t deal with the night shift anymore. So I quit. My boss begged me to not leave because I was their best employee, the only one who took their job seriously.

“Daniel, you can’t just quit. I managed to get all the money back because of what they did. How is this business gonna keep going without you?” Mr. Johnson explained.

“I can’t do this anymore. They went too far. You don’t know what happened last night, okay? Even if it was, ‘just a prank’. The only reason Devin is still here is that he’s your son.”

“Come on, now. He’s just a kid.”

“And I’m just a kid! It was assault and damage to my mom’s car!” I yelled, placing my plastic nametag on his desk.

“I’m leaving! You don’t understand what happened, so you shouldn’t be defending your irresponsible kid!”

I left the store, thinking about what happened last night. What if they hurt another customer again? No customer is safe while they’re on the night shift. We were lucky enough to escape them before they hurt us.

-Flashback-

I was making sure that all of the furniture was in top shape for the next day, until the door swung open, revealing a small old lady with a tired smile. She told me that she was looking for a sofa for her living room, I didn’t question why she would decide to look for one at such a late hour. The other employees were laughing at each other after Devin pulled another one of his pranks on Crystal and she shoved him into the large trashcan. Me and the old lady were looking at one sofa after another. She said that the white sofa was nice but it would easily get stained. I searched in the storage for sofas of the same type but a different color. 

When I came back, I saw that the other employees stopped laughing. They were all dead silent as they walked closer to the old lady. Their faces were blank as one of them, Harold, attempted to punch the poor woman. I ran and knocked him off his feet, causing him to crash into a wooden dining table and chairs. All he did was stare at me. I was surprised. Harold was known to have a foul mouth whenever he would get himself injured, or fall victim to one of Devin’s pranks. But he said nothing. Crystal then picked up a coffee table and tried throwing it at us, only for it to land many feet away. 

“What is wrong with you guys? You’re all gonna get yourselves fired if you assault our customers!” I glared at them, and they looked back at me with dull, empty eyes, as if they were zombies. 

The old woman hid behind a nearby bookshelf while looking at me and the other employees.

“These darn youngins best keep me outta their pranks, I’m gettin’ too old for these sorts,” she muttered, clutching her chest.

Devin staggered over to me, swaying a little, with a stool in his hands, while I sprinted away, grabbing the old lady’s wrinkly hand. The others began to chase after us, as I went out the front door, with the woman struggling to keep up. 

“We shouldn’t stay here, do you have a car, ma’am?” I asked, occasionally checking to see if the other employees had caught up with us. 

“Unfortunately I don’t, I had an Uber ride bring me over here.” she frowned.

I decided to go drive her home in my car, only to see where the other employees were. The reason they hadn’t caught up to us was that they were busy smashing up my mom’s car with furniture. I was pissed. I couldn’t afford to buy another car. Not with this salary. AND, my mom is gonna explode once she finds out I didn’t take care of her car. I told the old lady to go to the stores nearby and see if any of them are open. This prank had gotten too extreme. We had to report this to the police. I stuck my hand in my pocket, only realizing that my phone was no longer there. I must’ve dropped it when I was running away from them in the store. I speed-walked into the store again, quickly checking to see where it was. I found the phone next to a light brown rocking chair. I bent down to pick it up when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Thinking it was one of the employees, I push whoever was behind me. The old woman who returned fell backward and landed on one of the beds on display. 

“Goodness boy, you’re lucky this bed was here. I recently got me a hip replacement. Can’t be breaking another bone in this here frail body of mine.” she shook her head in dismay.

“Were any of the stores open?” I questioned.

“Yeah, yeah. Them McDonalds was open. Got myself some chicken nuggies and fries.” she smiled, holding out the bag of food.

“Ugh, you were supposed to call the police! That’s why I told you to check if the other stores were open!” I facepalmed.

“Ohhhh, now why didn’t you say so, young man?” she opened her light pink floral handbag and took out her flip phone.

“So who do ya wanna call?”

“911!” I said loudly, trying not to get angry at this woman.

They answered the phone, but the old lady forgot she was calling the police and began ordering a pizza. After a minute or two of wasting their time, they hung up on her.

“Hey, am I gonna get me Hawaiian pizza with extra ham on top?” the old lady frowned at her phone.

I sighed in disappointment, picking up the phone from before. Thankfully it still had battery, so I called the police and then an Uber for us. I pleaded with her to not file a lawsuit, and her response was,

“As long as I get my sofa for free. AND, free delivery, since you gave me quite a scare with them cheeky youngins and their weird way of pranks,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

-End Of Flashback-

The other employees were found by the police, but they didn’t know what happened. 

They were found next to my mom’s silver BMW with shattered windows and its roof smashed in, wondering why they were outside holding furniture. My boss managed to pay me back for the damage done to the car, taken out of the others’ salaries. I gave the money to my mom, which she didn’t hesitate to take. After my outburst, I decided to return out of worry for the customers tonight. We checked the camera footage, only to see that they weren’t working. Harold, one of the employees from last night, was supposed to take care of the cameras, making sure that they still worked. My former boss called over Harold, only to learn that he had been taking care of them, but somehow they malfunctioned and didn’t record what happened yesterday.

The boss decided to stay and watch, to see if the other employees would do the same as last night. He stayed at his desk, eyes staring at the computer screen. I stayed behind the counter, eyes never leaving the group of people fooling around again. Devin turned around and looked at me.

“Heyyy dude. Thought you quit your job. Was it cuz you didn’t wanna miss out on all the fun pranks we were gonna do todayyyy?” he said while relaxing on one of the sofas.

The guy seemed really relaxed, like a cat that was high on catnip. He took out a plastic water bottle, that seemed to be filled with a suspicious purple liquid. Devin noticed me looking at the bottle.

“Soooo. Do you wanna try some? The others love my blueberry smoothies. If you’re a germaphobe, we got some in a pitcher in the fridge. Sooo good, man.”

“Nah I’m good.”

“You sure, bro? I mean-” 

Suddenly he stopped talking. They all stopped talking. The other employees had that empty expression on their faces, just like last night. I stepped back as they all turned to look at me. What on earth did he put in that ‘blueberry smoothie’? I ran to my former boss’s office hoping to hide until the effects of that drink wear off. But I tripped. One of the cushions from the sofa was on the floor, causing me to fall face-first into the carpet floor. Ouch. Devin slowly approached me with a rocking chair in his hands, attempting to beat me up to death like he nearly did the previous evening. 

I heard footsteps coming from the other direction. And then a zap. He was on the floor. I saw Mr. Johnson clutching a taser in his hand. We expected the other zombie-like employees to try and attack us as well, but they just stood there. 

“I can’t believe this. My son... “ my former boss dropped to his knees.

“I’m sorry Daniel for not believing you. I should’ve taught my son better. Who would’ve thought he would do something shady like putting drugs in a damn smoothie. I spent every day trying to earn enough money for his college and I-”

“We should head back to your office before the others start attacking us. Save your speech later.” I called, already walking over to his office. 

I turned around to see if he would follow me, only to see him lying unconscious on the floor. I saw Crystal and Harold beating him up with dining chairs. They didn’t stop. Then, his head was bleeding. I was outnumbered, it wouldn’t be smart to approach them or I might end up with the same fate. The taser that was in his hand was flung a few feet away. Thankfully, they seemed to be focused on beating his body to a pulp so I took the opportunity to grab it. I went up behind them and zapped Harold. He dropped the chair as he fell to the ground. I quickly dragged Mr. Johnson’s unconscious body to the office and moved his desk to block the door. I checked his pulse. He was still alive, but his head was bleeding very badly. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around his head.

The next time I called the police, we managed to put Devin in jail while the police investigated what sort of drug did he put in those blueberry smoothies. Mr. Johnson was in the hospital, but still upset that he was unable to be a good father. I don’t think I’ll be working again any time soon. Mr. Johnson’s business ended up closing down after people heard the news of what happened and decided not to shop there anymore. I’ll just focus on school and try my best to avoid all of these reporters trying to chase after me. 

I had gotten paranoid of blueberry smoothies now. I still haven’t received news of what exactly was in those smoothies Devin made, but hopefully, I won’t end up encountering that sort of drug again.

Or will I?