Night Shift
A Collection of Horror  Short Stories
by Lisa Marie Brennan

Night Shift

 Richard sat all alone, working the night shift in the electronics shop.  His job consisted of cleaning the building and doing the weeks accounting work.

The storm was getting worse.  The sound of the crackling thunder sent a shiver down Richard’s spine.

He sat at his desk, which was also another employee’s desk during the daytime, with a pencil in hand.  He was to record each of the business transactions on a balance sheet.  Next, he was to calculate the weekly expenses and income on an adding machine.

His eyes were beginning to water, and his eyelids felt very heavy.  For he had already been there nearly five hours.  The time was 3:00 a.m.

The lights blinked on and off, and Richard prayed that the electricity would not shut completely off.  For then how would he be able to do his accounting work?

Richard stared at the loose blinds which hung across the front windows.  The windows were covered by these large white blinds which dangled about them.

 There was one problem, though.  Some of the blinds had broken and fallen off the frame.  So there were several slits through the window from which Richard could see through at a distance, and a stranger could easily see in.

 The lights flashed one more time.  Richard stood up and got a very frightening feeling that someone was watching him.  He looked once more at the front windows.  

 Suddenly, what Richard had hoped wouldn’t happen, happened.  The electricity shut off.

He stood up and dragged his heavy feet toward the front blinds.  He went to an area of the blinds in which he had to peek through in order to see out.

He swallowed and peeked through the large blinds.

“Ah!” screamed Richard.  He opened the blinds to find a man standing directly in front of him outside the window.  The man just stood there and stared back at him with bulging eyes.

Richard was shocked.  He quickly closed the blinds and gasped for air.  Working the night shift, he often felt as if someone was watching him, but he had always thought he was just letting his own imagination get the best of him.  Never could he have imagined someone actually standing there staring in at him through the open spaces in the blinds.

 Richard had always been a brave man and had worked the night shift many other times.  Actually, he preferred to work the night shift.  The peace and quiet of the night gave him comfort.  Although many of his friends thought he was crazy for thinking this way, he knew he had nothing to fear, or so he thought.