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Speaker 1: Saturday is the worst, especially in December. I never see

2
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the floor from a bevy level unless I'm standing on

3
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the ancient step ladder, buried under piles of crushed display boxes.

4
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Today shoulders tight. Next Dickie with sweat in a cheap

5
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polyblant shirt. I try to clear a path from the

6
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entrance match to returns before the backup. A check up

7
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boils over ten registers. Six open the line, looping back

8
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into small appliances and have round the cardboard tower of

9
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air friars. Half my team moved twice for no reason.

10
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There's always that low humpfulorescence music on hold ostritions bark

11
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had guns droping why badgeitch is on mystonum. I find

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myself speed walking, sidestepping stacks of cut open shipping boxes.

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Four smiles at regulars, giving Ethan a hand signal to

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cover the service desk. The place runs on caffeine, retail antibiotics,

15
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and the sheer energy of complaints. It's always the angry

16
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ones who want a manager. We track the steel online

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and mansays face flush, slapping a print out on to

18
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the glass counter at Electronics. Nervous tempt, Marika shifts her

19
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weight behind me mouthing sorry as bag as quarters. I

20
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scan the SLP, biting the side of my cheek. Let's

21
00:01:11,359 --> 00:01:13,560
see what's going on. But before I can finish, there's

22
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a tug on my sleeve. Alexa Marka's voice breaks. It

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smells a weird sorry in the brick room. I want

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to wave her off, no time, not now what kind

25
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of weird But she's shaking. My feet are already moving, Dan,

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give me five minutes, I tell the customer, though he

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follows my retreat with glowering eyes in a comment about typical.

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The back hallway is a relief from the sails floor

29
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for a moment. I key into the break room. Harsh

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refrigerator hum, the flicker of an old vending machine, light,

31
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faint wreak. I caught circuit boards in something musty underneath.

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It's stronger by the coat hooks. Marek stands just inside

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the door, staring at the cinder block wall, shifting her

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back back higher on her shoulders behind the third hook.

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Something's off the pannelless lightly ajar, yellowed at the edge,

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not flushed with the wall. There's a draft. Mareka mentioned

37
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a tiny exhale of coal there into the stuffy room,

38
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did someone mess with this? I ask? She only shrugs

39
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nearly whispers I haven't touched it. I just noticed it

40
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takes a box cutter to nudge the border side behind it.

41
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Three shelf brackets have been whitched, in forming a deep

42
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narrow cavity. My phone fastlight picks up shrink wrapped tabits

43
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too missing from last inventory, a green label smart watch,

44
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a mesh bag with tiny power banks, all Laurberd missing,

45
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all supposedly written off. A slip of paper rest atop

46
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this dash, curling up at the corners. I don't recognize

47
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the handwriting, shop looping capitals, blueing, clossy indew nines, numbers.

48
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My hot skips the first Leesa, then tyrone shall be

49
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no matches from pirol, not this year, lower down another

50
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sequence of initials in five digit coats Like times, there's

51
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a lingering permanence, as if the names press out of

52
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the paper. I don't REGI to the brick room, door

53
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creaking open, not until the chill raisees hairs on my arms.

54
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I turn the door sway on nothing and the halways empty.

55
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Mareka is already backing away, hand shoved into her jacket.

56
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Can I go on register Alex, Please, She keeps her

57
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eyes far from the cavity, won't even face the stash.

58
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You didn't put this here. My voice is too loud

59
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in the toweled room. She shakes her head, hart mouthit.

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I just need to go gone Before I can say anything.

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The floor essence buzz, the cold draft sighs out as

62
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I pressed a panel shot again, fingers tingling. I pocket

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the slip of paper, wishing it hadn't. In that moment,

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I feel as if something listens from inside the wall,

65
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just beyond the concrete, holding its breath. Sunday's coffee is

66
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always too hot. I scud my tongue on the first

67
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anxious sip. By eight, I'm in the office, perched on

68
00:03:39,319 --> 00:03:41,719
the crack full leather strawl, double checking their coming week

69
00:03:41,719 --> 00:03:44,080
on the schedul or ab. I try not to think

70
00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,400
about yesterday at the stash order list, burying it beneath

71
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the churn of tasks. The store wakes slow, four essence

72
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flick on him Rau's I check the phantom register, always discrepances,

73
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always in my lap. Kyle is at the front, wrangling

74
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the early openers, already laughing with Ruby from Housewares. Dennis seniors.

75
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O Sate sits on the base of an empty Dolly,

76
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hands in his pockets, silent as ever. I catch a

77
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glimpse of Mick the overnight stocker, a ghost shifting through

78
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the loading bait, scrolling something on a crumpled receipt. Kaylea's

79
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emails are caustic and quick. She really hesitates, Alex, I

80
00:04:15,719 --> 00:04:17,480
can't get the damn app to load all my edits,

81
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she mutters, showing me her phone. The schedule is bloated, laggy,

82
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full of overlapping shifts, half the names in gray italics.

83
00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,759
Did you double up some IROs last week? She asks,

84
00:04:27,439 --> 00:04:30,279
I didn't touch those. Some one's tempering. I mean it

85
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as a joke, but it lands badly. Kayla tucks her

86
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hair behind one ear, eyes tied, but gives me a

87
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half smile. Dennis stays always five feet away from the

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center of anything. He's old school stubborn. He tells Fridays

89
00:04:41,399 --> 00:04:43,439
from every other day by whether the produce order comes

90
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on a blue or a white van. People trust him

91
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when they need loose advice, then talk about his strangeness.

92
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After he leaves. Kyla and he have some running jerk

93
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about ghosts, and sometimes I hear laught trailing from the

94
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break room late at night. Mix another story, plee, broad shouldered,

95
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perm scowl, he mutter and stacks and code. People say

96
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he knows what everyone makes, who hooks up with who,

97
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,240
and who's more likely to drop a box on your foot.

98
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New hives are gone within days, either transferred by mixed

99
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,439
rumors or left rattled by the eyres. I stare at

100
00:05:12,439 --> 00:05:17,160
the staff sign in another near higher towny terry didn't

101
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stick four days, skip the last shift. The rotating door

102
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attempts is worse than last year, and I can't remember

103
00:05:23,759 --> 00:05:26,519
more than two conversations with any of them already. My

104
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memory skips, blurring faces and voices. It's the pressure or

105
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the store swallowing details above the door, a sign we're

106
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all a team, keep it clean and friendly. The vary

107
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definition of a lie. Corporate always wants more. A tumble

108
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of emails, distant and insistent regional's voice while it is

109
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in three weeks, shrink needs to be under zero point

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two percent, or consequences will be scathing. Any anomalies must

111
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be surfaced immediately. I imagine the word skating echoing down

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the stock from miles. I never know if they mean

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lay offs or demotions, or just public shaming. The stuff

114
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lune hums with over caffeinated bodies. Schedules get swapped, shifts

115
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for sun the new ones joke grumbled, side eye and

116
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poke a face retail survival, but in the back corners

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voices drop. Last week, a Cockkailer and Dennis huddled over

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a s mere time sheet, whispering until they spotted me,

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then bursting into easy laughter. You have to keep your distance.

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You have to pretend you don't notice the odd silences.

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I think of the names on the slip tucked in

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my pocket during every walk through. There's nothing outwardly wrong,

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just enough bessin to put my nerves. A missing box

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of head funds discovered, shipped and error, an extra shift

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scheduled and erased. Mike's voice echoing from the freezer. Don't

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fall behind, or the system will catch up to you.

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Most days, routine danger is just that routine. To day,

128
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it feels like a margin has been crossed, but I

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don't know which. One Monday night, after close, I try

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to get clear of paperwork. I do my own counts

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at the Pilbrick's table. Two tablets, three smart portches never

132
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signed out of inventory and now another freshole a display camera,

133
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no one checked out and two year readers missing from

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delay very manifests. Each call to the vendor is met

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with polite, plausible denials. Each internal email cycles into a loop.

136
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I print the shift logs. Someone's added an extra morning

137
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stock shift to last week. Initials are l written in,

138
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but we've never had an r L. The clock and

139
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is uploaded on the app, but there's no one on

140
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the register for that. Eye or Cayle messages me after seven,

141
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her name blinking in blue. Why does the Thursday amslot

142
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say dune I never signed off on it. Her phone's

143
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green shot shows a shift. Bye Tea Grady. I check

144
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the staff photo gridin no Tee Grady ever hired. She

145
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comes into the office, leans against the battered desk lamp,

146
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peels her gloves off and tosses them. Is this a

147
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glitch or are they pushing extrayers on us again? It

148
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doesn't look like a corporate override. I'll email Lighty, I say,

149
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neither of us believes that'll change anything. That night, I

150
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,319
get a single text from Erica, just sorry, no explanation.

151
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SENDET two seventeen a m. She doesn't come in Tuesday.

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By noon, Perro confirmed she's requested to transfer to another store.

153
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I try calling, but her voicemail is full. I wonder

154
00:08:03,399 --> 00:08:05,920
what she saw or what she thought she saw back there.

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Half Way through Tuesday night, I slot into the camous

156
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system of my override. There's a five minute stretch of

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statica in the east hallway cam after midnight. On the

158
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next clip, someone's moving through the electronic section company shirt genericrest,

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head turned from the lens, badge, just a white oval.

160
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They walk with a purpose, disappear behind the gaming cases.

161
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No one was scheduled on that side, no report, no logs,

162
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but the motion sensor tacks them in three frames. There's

163
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always an explanation for any one thing. Taken together, things

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00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,480
don't fit. By Thursday, my own order begins to spiral.

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I can hear corperate in the back of my mind,

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catastrophe on the tip of every reply all. Dennis is

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up front, organizing a duffel bag display loosely efficiently, as

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if auditioning for a stage. A hen roll, first roll,

169
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he mutters, without looking up, leave things where you find them.

170
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Ye never know who's keeping track. He catches my eye

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and his smile is a slit, teeth too white. I

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slip into the office, lock the door. I lay up

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the list on the faux wood desk. Inventory locks the

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mystery paper. A grid starts to take shape some of

175
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these names. I pull up an old pyrol lockave Yes

176
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says she quit a year ago, disappeared, Tyrone fired for time.

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Carter irregularities shall be a DEMI recal her tempt during

178
00:09:15,919 --> 00:09:18,960
the last Black Friday, come before December. Others are not

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in any system I can access. The last third of

180
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the page is written lighter, as if the pen was

181
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running dry. Half the letters mudge or half formed yet

182
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near the very bottom, and faded blue ink barely illegible.

183
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Kalas seven minutes eleven betwil. My stomach drops. I call

184
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her back half the clothes. She arrives, with a scarf

185
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over her nose, red eyed, clutching her battered phone. You

186
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see this, she says, shoving her device in my hand.

187
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The scheduler app her version looks wrong. Half the names

188
00:09:47,159 --> 00:09:49,960
are spelled shifts overlapping, some logged at three forty two

189
00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,360
a m long eyres after closing, sometimes before the store

190
00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,200
even opened for business. I didn't put those in look

191
00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,799
at Friday n g r L. Even my owner spel

192
00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,320
wrong and the app says A signed them digitally. I nod,

193
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,200
it's the same on my end. We cross reference with

194
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:10,559
the recent inventory discrepancies patterns emerge. Nearly every unexplained loss

195
00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:13,960
happened on or just after these extra hours. Yet the

196
00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,759
log shore receipts Sigature's products signed up by people who

197
00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:21,000
don't exist. Do you think someone's spoofing the system, Kyle asks.

198
00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:23,519
She perches on the edge of the tea meeting table,

199
00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,000
picking at the corner of a sticky note. I pass

200
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,200
her the list. Tell me which ones you know? She

201
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,720
runs her finger down. Leesa, Yeah, Tyron shall be this

202
00:10:32,799 --> 00:10:35,559
middle chunk. I swear there aren't even real names. But

203
00:10:35,639 --> 00:10:38,559
there's your name too. I show her the faded line

204
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,159
at well, what does that mean? Kayla leans back, biting

205
00:10:42,159 --> 00:10:44,840
her lip. Maybe it's a joke. God, I hope it's

206
00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,320
a joke. That night, I search for more footage. I

207
00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:52,399
come fore the overnight tapes. The uniform figure reappears again

208
00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:56,559
and again, no time, stumps, sometimes blurred, sometimes sharply outlined.

209
00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,799
In one footage loop, Dennis stands near the vending machine,

210
00:11:00,039 --> 00:11:02,879
arms folded, chatting with someone out of frame. It's as

211
00:11:02,879 --> 00:11:05,399
if the second person's face has been wiped away, nothing

212
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,480
but a smudge the voice, as if any earned on audio.

213
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,480
At the end of each exchange, Dennis turns, makes a

214
00:11:11,519 --> 00:11:13,600
sign toward the brick room wall and the feet cuts.

215
00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,120
I find Mick at five a m. Sitting in the

216
00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,799
freezing back corridor, arms cradled in his laps, mudges of

217
00:11:18,799 --> 00:11:22,200
black and coiling down both wrists. Can't sleep, he mutters,

218
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,559
not meeting my eyes, bad dreams, can't get the block off.

219
00:11:25,639 --> 00:11:28,240
Did I write something last night? I look his skin,

220
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,679
the street with block letters, random men, l dots and dashes,

221
00:11:31,799 --> 00:11:35,120
no meaning. Dennis wings by before opened eyes, glassy shirt,

222
00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:38,320
untapped coffee from the drive through, wafting vanilla. The living

223
00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:40,879
goes right, Boss, he says lightly, as if it's the

224
00:11:40,879 --> 00:11:43,240
punch line to some running gag, but refuses to meet

225
00:11:43,279 --> 00:11:45,919
my gaze. More nights than I want to admit, I

226
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,120
patrol the break room, feeling watch. There is a cold

227
00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:51,840
spot by the wall, always slightly different enough to catch

228
00:11:51,879 --> 00:11:54,279
your breath. I close my eyes and swear I can

229
00:11:54,279 --> 00:11:56,559
hear dicking just under the cinder, blocked a quiet countendown

230
00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,919
of something no one's owned. Are managed in Deares Friday evening.

231
00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:02,240
I called Dennis, ask him to stay late. Out of

232
00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,279
the blue. He arrives on time, posture relaxed, half grin

233
00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,039
in place, something up. He settles into a folden chair.

234
00:12:09,159 --> 00:12:12,279
Aren't crossed? There's a recent shift locked midnight to chew

235
00:12:12,279 --> 00:12:14,480
ay and with your ideas a co signer. But the

236
00:12:14,519 --> 00:12:17,080
other employee doesn't exist. The logs say, are rell again.

237
00:12:17,639 --> 00:12:21,759
Dennis's grin never wavers, rosters always longer on paper, Alex.

238
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,879
Maybe the system's getting creative. He drums his fingers on

239
00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,960
the table. Look, I say, we have to get ahead

240
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,159
of this. If someone's clock and go shifts made covering

241
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,159
theft or worse, regionals will leap me alive. He looks

242
00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:37,039
suddenly tired, face SAgs, skin gray, and the stale breakroom light. Alex,

243
00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:40,840
there's silence. He glances at his own reflection in the

244
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,759
crack wall clock. You ever feel like someone else is

245
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,080
using your skin during these long shifts? The wounds he's gone.

246
00:12:47,159 --> 00:12:50,440
His tone is bleak, like your watching yourself work, but

247
00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:52,879
only from the inside up. I try to say no,

248
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,879
but my mouth ris over the denial. He stands, that's

249
00:12:56,919 --> 00:12:59,720
why the regulars drop. You will see. He leaves before

250
00:12:59,759 --> 00:13:02,759
I get other follow up question. The office is colder

251
00:13:02,799 --> 00:13:06,320
for his absence. At midnight, Kayla texts from the back corridor.

252
00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:10,240
Found something. She's sweating, breeding hard, kneeling on a folding

253
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,120
chair below the breakrooms drop ceiling. She hands me a

254
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,080
batted phe maybe four or five years old, smeared with

255
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,080
dust tape over the mic. But the storage is full

256
00:13:19,159 --> 00:13:23,879
audio memos. Listen, dozens of recordings, flips of voices, some females,

257
00:13:23,879 --> 00:13:27,440
some male, clipped in slow, all reciting day schedules, inventory talas,

258
00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:30,480
employee names. None of the dates all list match up

259
00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,240
with each other, with the current system. Several echo with

260
00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:36,440
low static under their voices, my handshake as I swiped

261
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,919
through files halfway down. Hidden among the chatter, there is

262
00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,120
a fragment tact night roster Alex approved, I hit play

263
00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,039
my blood runs cold a voice, my voice, same cadence,

264
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,120
faint accent, clip like when I'm heard on the floor

265
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,240
reading ten for early open or star Cape break them

266
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,039
seven to close, list shell be LESA R L Kayla,

267
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,039
Alex then almost as misied if lost, returned to wall

268
00:13:59,159 --> 00:14:01,879
keep counting, keep counting, keep counting. Of the last two words,

269
00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:05,000
leaped three times, growing faint with each echo. I don't

270
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,320
remember ever saying any of this. The sentence makes no sense.

271
00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,600
Shall be never work nights with lesa and ourrilla is

272
00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,799
in real We listen to half a dozen more in

273
00:14:13,919 --> 00:14:16,480
niche a different voice, a different ear, but always that

274
00:14:16,519 --> 00:14:20,440
closing line. If loss, return to wall, keep counting the forescent.

275
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,759
Bull pops overhead, We jump phones clattering, something rattles to

276
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,759
drop ceiling tile above us. Kle wipes her eyes. We

277
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,960
need to quit, just walk out order to can eat

278
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,679
the loss. I can't talnza. My legs won't take my weight.

279
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,600
A sense sharp is pain that there is nothing outside

280
00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:39,919
the store, the parking lot and world only exists while

281
00:14:39,919 --> 00:14:42,639
we're inside working the shift. A crash from the front

282
00:14:42,679 --> 00:14:45,720
of store, A mop bucket overturned, water streaking. A crystallolim

283
00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,720
make emerges, wide eye jacket tangled around his arms, muttering,

284
00:14:49,919 --> 00:14:51,960
we're all on the list, now, all of us. It

285
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:55,960
rights itself. He barrows past, slams the crash door behind him.

286
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,480
His punch caught skitters to the floor. Blocks sharp by

287
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,840
scribbles obscuring half his name, a hollow, itchy dred titans

288
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,279
behind my sternam The silent settles again, but it's not silent.

289
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,000
Behind the break room wall steady where m knocking begins

290
00:15:08,639 --> 00:15:11,600
three beats, then too, then free again, echoing like moss coat,

291
00:15:11,799 --> 00:15:14,639
never quite keeping a pattern. My phone flashes with the

292
00:15:14,679 --> 00:15:17,519
new email increased anomally risk see to it immediately, or

293
00:15:17,559 --> 00:15:21,200
risk cascading consequences of regionals in mound. The monitor buzzes,

294
00:15:21,799 --> 00:15:25,600
The air in the room feels plush, suffcating Kala stifles

295
00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:27,679
a SOB, shoves the phone into my hand and backs

296
00:15:27,679 --> 00:15:31,120
toward the corridor. I'm serious, Alex. If my name's next

297
00:15:31,159 --> 00:15:35,120
to the knocking resumes louder. I brace myself against the

298
00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,320
edge of the meeting table, surface sticky with old gummy

299
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,039
label residue, index finger tracing the name down the list

300
00:15:40,039 --> 00:15:42,399
of my own kalas there, sir, The initials will ral

301
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:44,480
every one, pressed into cheap blue ink like a brand.

302
00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:49,080
The store is too quiet. I feel watched. This isn't theft,

303
00:15:49,759 --> 00:15:52,600
this isn't corruption in the system. This is something else,

304
00:15:52,639 --> 00:15:56,080
something using us, re arranging us, even our own memories.

305
00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,960
The air tas shout like ozenin dust. The knocking slows

306
00:16:00,799 --> 00:16:04,000
saw Alen's Every shadow in the stuff lounge feels wrong.

307
00:16:04,639 --> 00:16:07,000
It's not over a no, with grim certainty that it's

308
00:16:07,039 --> 00:16:10,039
only just begun. In the murky glass of the vending machine,

309
00:16:10,039 --> 00:16:13,759
our double reflections merge multiply for a moment. I see

310
00:16:13,799 --> 00:16:16,159
not just Keyla in myself, but Denis Mick and some

311
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,080
one else's face shadow but gleaming lit's moving in silent

312
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,559
count I jerk away, keys in hand, lock jangling. Kayla whispers,

313
00:16:23,639 --> 00:16:26,799
almost to herself. Something's coming off the wall. The store

314
00:16:26,879 --> 00:16:30,279
feels smaller than ever. The break room is colder. We

315
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,799
gather our bags, phones, nervous breath. There's no plan, but

316
00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,240
has no meat left on denial, the patterns of drawing tight.

317
00:16:36,919 --> 00:16:40,399
The audit is coming, so is something else crawling in

318
00:16:40,399 --> 00:16:42,639
from whatever space crew In the seams and shadows of

319
00:16:42,679 --> 00:16:46,000
the store, all of us are already written down. All

320
00:16:46,039 --> 00:16:48,519
of us are on the list. Kayla doesn't speak. In

321
00:16:48,559 --> 00:16:51,000
the way to her car. The lot is mostly empty

322
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,720
except for Denis's faded civic in two delivery trucks aiding

323
00:16:53,799 --> 00:16:56,840
under sodium lights that make every shadow look sunburnt. I

324
00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,360
wait with her by habit, expecting something. She fumbles with

325
00:16:59,399 --> 00:17:02,080
her keys, eyes flicking over the snowy asshole, and when

326
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,279
she gets in, I half expect her to drive straight

327
00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:07,279
through the fence. Instead, just a wave text me when

328
00:17:07,279 --> 00:17:11,039
you get home, please. She rolls away. I stand by

329
00:17:11,039 --> 00:17:12,960
the door, not wanting to go back in, but I

330
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,599
can't leave the place in Alarmed, I thump back into

331
00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:18,519
the side entrance. The familiar rattle of my key suddenly strange.

332
00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,960
Every step is hollow. There's a slow pocket tipped over

333
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,960
by the compactum ex stewing, probably, but the water has

334
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,160
pulled into the exact shape of a footprint, as if

335
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,519
someone stood in the middle of the spell and vanished.

336
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,160
I shuffle around it, unwilling to distove the line forcibly,

337
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,519
telling myself it's just a trick of the light. I

338
00:17:35,559 --> 00:17:38,960
reset alarms as usual, fingers automatic, not even thinking through

339
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,599
the password. For a moment, nothing happens, unjust Alec's store

340
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,799
manager final walk around. Yet, as I passed the brick room,

341
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,319
something old is the faint, steady scent of burnt plastic

342
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,119
lare over something sweet, fungle and sire sharp at the

343
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,680
back of the throat the panel sticks out a fraction

344
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:56,599
the paper in my pocket achs where it touches my skin.

345
00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,640
I almost opened the wall again, but the thought absurdly

346
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,599
crosses my mind. If I see more names on my handwriting,

347
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,359
I'll lose all track of myself. Instead, I check the

348
00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,880
door twice, lingering in the corridor making excuses, I go

349
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:10,839
to my car, and by the time I'm half way home,

350
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,799
the AA seems clearer, but I don't sleep, not for real.

351
00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,960
The next morning, I wake to a staff updates emails

352
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,319
send at two forty one a m. The body is

353
00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:21,799
blank except for a signature. The chart's system sorted in

354
00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:24,480
a lawn and broken string of employee ID numbers and

355
00:18:24,519 --> 00:18:27,319
initials that don't match her rasta. Some of them look

356
00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:29,359
almost like words if you tilt your head. Others are

357
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,000
just strings k whiely our, zero, zizier, d threeness with

358
00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:36,359
strange capitalization. I forward it to Kayla and impulsively Dennis.

359
00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:39,279
Her reply, weird, I got it to you, but half

360
00:18:39,279 --> 00:18:42,359
the names are reversed. Attached is a screenshot that isn't

361
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,440
identical to mine. Her list is just different enough, all

362
00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:47,799
the right numbers, but the order is often three of

363
00:18:47,839 --> 00:18:50,920
the idea are missing. She's underlined one Clive seven p.

364
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,680
You see this that's almost my name, just scrambled before

365
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,279
I can answer. Denis hits reply all just another migration

366
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,880
bog happens every update. But he see me privately a

367
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,519
minute later. You want to see something coming early? Bring coffee,

368
00:19:04,599 --> 00:19:07,839
dun dust the others by sunrise and dragging myself into

369
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,200
the buildings, garding hot travel mug in hand, feeling the

370
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,200
cold like a slap on my cheeks. The store is silent,

371
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,279
except for a distant rumble from the vents. Dennis stands

372
00:19:16,319 --> 00:19:18,640
waiting by the front windows, hands and pockets, looking out

373
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:22,359
into the dawn watch, he says, not turning. A walker's

374
00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:24,839
shadow glides across the strip mall pavement, and then just

375
00:19:24,839 --> 00:19:28,359
before sunrise, Adier Chiltrup pulls up, not hires, not scheduled.

376
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,359
The driver doesn't get out. Dennis turns, face gray. That

377
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,400
truck's been pulling up there, twice a week at dawn

378
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,559
for months, never unloads, never takes anything, saying, guy driving,

379
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,759
but you never see his face. I blink. Did you

380
00:19:40,839 --> 00:19:44,960
call regional? Dennis snorts, I used to you, Now if

381
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,920
I do, it vanishes from the security tape watch. He

382
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,920
pulls his phone skulls. We look at the outside camp

383
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,759
for to aid. The truck isn't there? Just the empty strip.

384
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,839
See his hand shakes as he sits my coffee. Some

385
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,160
things don't want to be clocked. They only exist if

386
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,240
you're looking at them. But not in playback. Ye get

387
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,160
what I mean? I don't, not really, but I not anyway?

388
00:20:05,759 --> 00:20:08,079
Why are you telling me? He looks at the gray

389
00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,440
snow outside. YE need allaies. Don't trust everything with your

390
00:20:11,519 --> 00:20:13,759
name on it, Alex, not in here, not any more.

391
00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,880
He walks back inside, and I tell myself this is

392
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,400
just read. Too many night shifts stacked and not enough sleep.

393
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,279
But the moment he leaves a lights overhead flucker, not

394
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,240
in the stuttering way of a dying bulb, but once

395
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,200
rhythmically three then two, then three at ten sharp regional's

396
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,440
dials and for a routine inventory progress call. My answer

397
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,599
is a hollow. My planned talking points scatter. I catch

398
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,000
myself blanking out on names. I almost say it Trown

399
00:20:37,039 --> 00:20:39,920
instead of Trevor above long gone. The person on the

400
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,119
other endrones on about shrinkage percentages, puluses. When a faint

401
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,359
ticking noise penetrates the background. I start to say something

402
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,640
and stop on the corner of my laptop's screen. The

403
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,480
cursor is dancing in putting letters. I try to stop typing,

404
00:20:52,519 --> 00:20:54,680
but the string continues, spelling out K Y L A

405
00:20:54,759 --> 00:20:57,839
seven P L I S T. I minimize everything, shut

406
00:20:57,839 --> 00:21:00,559
the laptop, try to ignore the cold, sweat rising. I

407
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:02,839
resolve again that to night i'll drew another camera review.

408
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,920
I decide, in a moment when I feel particularly resolved,

409
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,680
to bring caline for the audit. Whatever this is going

410
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:13,200
alone seems pointless, but the morning is mercifully busy, orders,

411
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,039
shipment tissues, flu seas, and staff shortages. For a few hours,

412
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:21,160
the grinding retail machine overrides anything supernatural. Yet several times

413
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,440
I catch Dennis looking at the scheduled print house quinteing

414
00:21:23,519 --> 00:21:27,319
lines wrinkling deeper around his eyes. At lunch, Mick Amble's

415
00:21:27,319 --> 00:21:30,359
in cursing at his shoes, rustling a bag of chips.

416
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,440
He's less early than usual, more quiet. He stares at

417
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,559
his hands, turning them over, then opens his pomp to

418
00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:38,640
show me a faint patch of black pen or looping.

419
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,079
Irow glass or may be just two zeros interlocked found

420
00:21:42,079 --> 00:21:44,440
this when I woke up on the loading couch. He grunts,

421
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,519
didn't do it? Wash three times? Still there. He think

422
00:21:47,559 --> 00:21:49,720
he can get sent home for falling asleep on your break.

423
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,119
I swear I heard some one. He breaks off. Never mind.

424
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,720
He slumps down at the end of the table, checks

425
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,079
his phone, scrolls, head jerking up every few seconds, like

426
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,799
he thinks some one's watching from the kitchen. I ask

427
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,960
you ever write those numbers in your sleep? Bad joke,

428
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,640
he winces, not amused. Nightmas, he mutters, always numbers in

429
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,519
a row, sometimes names I don't remember. Store, all empty,

430
00:22:12,559 --> 00:22:15,400
flickering lights like some one's counting backwards. Creepy as hell.

431
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,119
Kayla shift hits at two zero. She arrives in oversized

432
00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:21,920
headphones and fingerless gloves, dressed written in every small movement.

433
00:22:22,519 --> 00:22:25,119
She clocks in, then pulls me aside, voice low, can

434
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,160
you meet to night? I think the APT just message me.

435
00:22:27,839 --> 00:22:31,599
She flashes a phone notification system. Your shift begins at

436
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,519
seven zero opum. She is not scheduled till five, but

437
00:22:34,559 --> 00:22:36,599
the at back ground shimmers strangely, as if an image

438
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,440
is layered underneath. She can'ts green shut. I take another

439
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,519
look at the printed shift logs for that night seven

440
00:22:42,559 --> 00:22:46,599
minutes eleven kaylap proved by a R my initials, but

441
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,799
I never ended that? Where did I? We go through

442
00:22:49,839 --> 00:22:52,640
schedules again, this time cross referencing with hand written time

443
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,920
off requests and the old battered shift change bander. Every

444
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,079
column is right on pyroll, but the times were written

445
00:22:58,119 --> 00:22:59,880
in the margin, sometimes ick of those on the papers

446
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,359
up from the wall. The names rotating in different angles

447
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,799
and dates sold. Employees shall be tyrone the esamt a

448
00:23:04,799 --> 00:23:08,079
cross time slots that don't match their tenure. Kala blows

449
00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:11,920
out their shoulders, tentsed. It's like someone's running a second schedule,

450
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:16,640
overlapping IROs. She pulls out the battered phone she found. Listen.

451
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,240
There's another Alex memo, dates from last year before I

452
00:23:19,279 --> 00:23:23,200
transferred in listener, She thumbs it on my own voice

453
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,839
tired broken with static Friday roster Alyx Dennis r L

454
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,680
Kala seven to close, if loss returned to wall a

455
00:23:30,759 --> 00:23:34,359
frit and Brusum counting the words slide together, pays unsteady.

456
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,799
I can't remember ever recording something like that, not even

457
00:23:37,839 --> 00:23:41,680
as managerial filler. Kela claps the phone shot breeding fast.

458
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,480
There's a brassy hush in the break room. Everyone gone

459
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,119
for the ire, she whispers. If they're running a phantom shift,

460
00:23:48,319 --> 00:23:50,119
what happens if all the names on the wall match

461
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,519
the staff inside? The question sits between us too large.

462
00:23:54,079 --> 00:23:56,680
That night, before lights out, the schedules printed again, this

463
00:23:56,759 --> 00:23:58,839
time with the whole row of one call, alternates everyone

464
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,799
a name from the mystery less r L and hughes

465
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,640
lesa a T Grady. The lines are lighter gray, almost

466
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,680
invisible unless you squint. But when Kayla logs in from

467
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,079
her own device, hath the slot's flip over now shall

468
00:24:11,079 --> 00:24:14,079
be entire on a scheduled donhouse green not mine. In

469
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,440
the camera playback for midnight, just as Dennis warned to

470
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,960
shape moves through electronics, they pause, turned toward the lens,

471
00:24:20,079 --> 00:24:22,440
face perfectly widded up by a flicker of tape static.

472
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,759
The hand lifts a single clip or held high pointed

473
00:24:25,759 --> 00:24:28,960
at the break room wall. Afterward, the time stump glitches,

474
00:24:29,039 --> 00:24:32,319
rolling back four minutes, then lurching forward again. I freeze

475
00:24:32,319 --> 00:24:36,279
in the clip, muzzle stiff. A compressing sense presses inside

476
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,279
my chest. Not panic, more like a kind of suspended

477
00:24:39,319 --> 00:24:43,000
frozen dread. A system error repeating is written. There's no

478
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,240
option left. I text Kayla and Dennis for a late

479
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,720
night review. The air is tense enough to share. They

480
00:24:49,759 --> 00:24:52,400
show up together, each bringing grease, stain, take up bags,

481
00:24:52,599 --> 00:24:55,720
nervous hunger. We cluster in the brick room door locked,

482
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,200
the cheek, clock ticking. Dennis sitsdale coffee, rolls a quarter

483
00:24:59,279 --> 00:25:02,680
over his knuckles, stares at the patch tile for truth told.

484
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,000
He murmurs, I've been here longer than my memories. Sometimes

485
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,920
I look at a staff photo wall and swear half

486
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,240
those faces aren't just gone there, erased like the walls,

487
00:25:10,279 --> 00:25:13,440
using new faces to fill in the gaps. Kayla, trembling

488
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,079
a little, laughs dryly. I knew this job would eat

489
00:25:16,079 --> 00:25:18,359
me alive, but I thought that was just retail metaphor.

490
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,799
She runs her hands back through tangled hair. You ever

491
00:25:21,799 --> 00:25:23,720
feel at Alex like you are not really yourself? On

492
00:25:23,759 --> 00:25:26,119
the late shifts, I get this float like im behind glass.

493
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,720
Are the names drift in? Sometimes I almost answer to them?

494
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,839
I almost answer, but Dennis cuts in, voice laden. Don't answer. Ever.

495
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,240
If something calls a name you've never used, don't turn

496
00:25:35,279 --> 00:25:40,119
around a pause. Katya tips her phone, showing her notification again.

497
00:25:40,319 --> 00:25:43,559
Your shift begins at seven zero upum confirm or lose eligibility.

498
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,160
The message pulses even after she clears it. The silence

499
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,440
in the break room denser than the hum of the refrigerator,

500
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,079
of the buzz of bad wiring. Dennis glances at the

501
00:25:52,079 --> 00:25:55,799
cinder block wall. We all hear the knocking right. No

502
00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,000
one answers. I can't my limbs feel electrically numb. Suddenly

503
00:26:00,039 --> 00:26:03,079
the steady not comes again. Three paws, two paws three.

504
00:26:03,559 --> 00:26:07,799
It's wrong, somehow purposefully off. Dennis doesn't move, face ashen.

505
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:13,200
Kayla hunches forward, covering her ears. Something scuttles overhead. The

506
00:26:13,279 --> 00:26:15,839
ceiling tall SAgs for a second, then writes itself like

507
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,400
an animal calling above. I freeze hann halfway to my keys.

508
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,519
Cayla finally stands, I'm not doing this any more, Alex.

509
00:26:23,559 --> 00:26:25,880
If you want to lose yourself, fine, but I'm going home.

510
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,960
But she doesn't make it far. The panel by the

511
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,920
coat hooks by rate is at the vent or something else,

512
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:33,839
and a slip of paper inches out, unfolded as if

513
00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:38,480
by invisible fingers. Kayla shrieks, jumps back. Dennis scrambles away

514
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,640
to the tough Man act cracked the paper lands flat

515
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,480
and new list with four names, this time at the

516
00:26:44,519 --> 00:26:47,960
top Alex, Kayla, Dennis, rl Al turn at seven, penclose approved.

517
00:26:48,559 --> 00:26:52,480
All three of us stare. The time is now, Dennis says,

518
00:26:52,559 --> 00:26:55,319
barely audible. It's not just the lists, its Russers calls

519
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,640
us in bit by bit into whatever's on the other

520
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,920
side of that wall. The knock resumes louder, paired with

521
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,319
a cold wind that seems sus from the seam. The

522
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,160
sound of voices close, muffled, not quite our own, chanting

523
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,039
numbers backwards. Temperature drops so fast my breath fogs the

524
00:27:10,039 --> 00:27:13,519
glass of the vending machine for a beat. Reality glitches.

525
00:27:13,599 --> 00:27:16,200
The reflected break room is packed twelve bars in uniform

526
00:27:16,319 --> 00:27:18,359
and then matching the faces I know, all moving in

527
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,200
a leaped, silent ballet of stalking, logging in, clocking out,

528
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,519
endlessly repeating, heads bowed, some with faces blurred, others are

529
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,559
right shadowed. Then the vision is gone. Only myself Kayla

530
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,960
Dennis left. Something presses from the inside of my skull.

531
00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:35,720
I squeeze my hands, fighting to keep the names my own, Kayla's.

532
00:27:35,839 --> 00:27:38,599
Dennis is anchored, refusing the ouch dancer and endless roll

533
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,480
call that threatens to tumble from my tongue. Dennis moves

534
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,880
toward the door, but the handle won't turn. He yanks harder.

535
00:27:45,519 --> 00:27:48,839
It's locked, Alex, it's locked. We're not supposed to A

536
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,079
burst lace cut absolute blackness save for a pocket of

537
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:56,000
phone glow. The air vibrates from the panel. Our shape

538
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,160
presses outline of a hand, fingers too long, nails missing,

539
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,720
tracing the seam. Kayla cries out in the pallid light

540
00:28:02,759 --> 00:28:04,759
of her phone. Her face flickers between her own and

541
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:08,599
something older, sadder, hollow, cheeked. I see myself in hers

542
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,519
green reflection, hammered, colorless, fading out for a moment, Denis

543
00:28:12,559 --> 00:28:15,240
is just a pool of gray, not quite resolved. The

544
00:28:15,279 --> 00:28:19,200
shape behind the wall knocks again, slower, one two, one, two, one,

545
00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:22,839
until the rhythm twists. A voice hissing through the vent whispers,

546
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,279
keep counting, keep counting, add your name. Kayla grabs me

547
00:28:26,319 --> 00:28:28,640
by the sleeve, voice steady despite the trembling. We have

548
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,039
to break the cycle, unplug everything, wipe the lists. My

549
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,799
own thinking is blunted, clawed with static, but I follow her,

550
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,759
snapping on the main breaker, severing the computer's power strip.

551
00:28:39,319 --> 00:28:41,920
The back up generator's daughters. But the lights do not return.

552
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,119
The only changes the sudden course of static from every

553
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,000
unplugged device, snatches of half hood schedules the echo of

554
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,960
my own voice, and end the sloop cut off mid

555
00:28:49,079 --> 00:28:52,519
entants Denis wild eyed, slants his palm on the break

556
00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:56,759
room wall. Stop writing us down, He yewls there, shakes.

557
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,440
The panel, rattles and pops, nudging open just enough for

558
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,119
me to glimpse the crossbis inside and possibly deep, thinly

559
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,759
lit by the same flickering fluorescence as our own brake room,

560
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,720
but running backward into dark. The new slip of paper

561
00:29:08,759 --> 00:29:11,599
launches itself from the void, hitting my chest and sliding down.

562
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,480
I refuse to read it. Not even a scale picks

563
00:29:14,519 --> 00:29:16,960
it up, folds it, crams it in her pocket. We

564
00:29:17,079 --> 00:29:21,160
gather our coats by and spoken agreement. Dennis, shaking whispers,

565
00:29:21,279 --> 00:29:23,720
if you stay past close, you'll lose your place. Schedule

566
00:29:23,799 --> 00:29:25,559
keeps you and off, schedule lets you out. But if

567
00:29:25,559 --> 00:29:28,640
there's no schedule, there's nothing to return you. The cock ticks,

568
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,599
then glutches, skipping forward three hours. It's suddenly two four

569
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,400
a m. The knocking has stopped the screen's reboot. Dennis

570
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,960
is already half way out the emergency door, not bothering

571
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:43,359
with alarms. Kayla pauses her phone, blinking. The shift app

572
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,799
now reads flatly. Next Shift Alex seven minutes eleventh at weel.

573
00:29:47,359 --> 00:29:50,200
She pushes it into my hand, whispering, don't open the

574
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,440
wall again. Promise me if you see your name onalist

575
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,079
you never touched. Do not answer. They leave. I stand

576
00:29:56,119 --> 00:29:59,240
in the empty break room, Aloham returning, wondering his hand

577
00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:00,759
just for up my future on near the side of

578
00:30:00,799 --> 00:30:04,160
the cinder block. My keys are damp with sweat. No

579
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,440
one explains. The extra ire is logged on pay All.

580
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,039
The next morning, the list on my phone in Kayler's

581
00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:11,599
finally match, but half the shifts are ghosted out, gray

582
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,039
on black marked retired Keyla arrives two hours late, eyes red,

583
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,119
and spends her break starring at path rosters cross checking

584
00:30:19,119 --> 00:30:22,880
every line for her name. Dennis, meanwhile doesn't show. I

585
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,119
can't get him on the phone. His mail box is full,

586
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,160
and the only message I get is a single garble

587
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,160
for smail, a half second of an ittllic liang and

588
00:30:29,279 --> 00:30:32,519
what might be Keep counting. That afternoon, the district officers

589
00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:35,279
emails to remind all staff reviewing overnight shift compliance is

590
00:30:35,279 --> 00:30:37,839
critical in the run up to ordit. The notice signed

591
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,119
HR system's order, followed by a new strain of ID

592
00:30:40,359 --> 00:30:43,160
all familiar. At mine Kala's a half dozen past employee

593
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:47,160
cucle from the mystery lists. The building feels crowded with absences,

594
00:30:47,839 --> 00:30:50,519
even during busy hours. I sense the pressure of unseen

595
00:30:50,519 --> 00:30:52,880
bodies jostling for space in the margins of the scheduler,

596
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:54,720
and a crawl up of the drop ceiling behind the

597
00:30:54,759 --> 00:30:58,440
flickering lights and polyscope lunch table. Kayla barely makes eye

598
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:02,799
conduct You get then anything from Dennis? I shake my head.

599
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,559
She purses her lips, and in an impulsive moment, pulls

600
00:31:05,559 --> 00:31:08,839
me aside, whispers to night. She rolls up her sleeve,

601
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,160
revealing a faint blue ink name just above her elbow.

602
00:31:11,279 --> 00:31:14,079
Kill it while seven P minutes eleven P. It's written

603
00:31:14,079 --> 00:31:16,440
in my script, but I never use that pen. I

604
00:31:16,519 --> 00:31:19,279
woke up with it, she says, voice, tiny wash, but

605
00:31:19,319 --> 00:31:21,839
it won't come off if I see another shift. I'm leaving.

606
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,640
I don't care if I never work again. We both laugh,

607
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,599
brittle and small, as if a light a flame could

608
00:31:26,599 --> 00:31:29,359
bone us out from the inside. By four, I start

609
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,200
to experience strange gaps. I forget an entire conversation with

610
00:31:32,279 --> 00:31:35,400
Ruby from Housewares, realize my schedule is off by two days,

611
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,200
and find myself for filling the sanitizer dispenser with no

612
00:31:38,279 --> 00:31:41,119
memory of picking it up. I pass the security mirror

613
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,640
and catch for a fragment my own reflection reaching for

614
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,519
me before my arm moves the lock up. That evening,

615
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,519
I do everything twice, triple checkal ons, count patty, cash,

616
00:31:49,799 --> 00:31:52,680
verify the locked inventory. Yet I still miss things. A

617
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,400
box of display headphones, another e reader gone, no logs,

618
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,400
no camera footage. A new slip of paper waits by

619
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,599
the register, folded neat this time with just three names, Alex,

620
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,000
Kayla orrel seven to close, return to wool, I flick

621
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,160
it away before reading more. Crumpele it, pitch it deep

622
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,400
in the trash. The ticking resumes softer, more patient, as

623
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,160
if the store is weeding me out back outside, street

624
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,200
lights buzzing overhead, a fumble for my car in the

625
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,440
half I slot. Every reflection in the glass door shows

626
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:21,759
too many figures, un fading as I watch some half

627
00:32:21,759 --> 00:32:25,079
familiar in their green vests, heads bent to registers, arms

628
00:32:25,079 --> 00:32:28,799
moving repeating the endless choreography. Kle is compacted, rolls by

629
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,839
window cracked. I catch her eye. She mouths, quit to night.

630
00:32:33,599 --> 00:32:36,759
I want to say yes, but the word sticks behind me.

631
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:41,039
The break room door clicks, light glows briefly, then jut.

632
00:32:41,599 --> 00:32:44,160
The others leave. The store is enter than at any

633
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,599
look up before. Every cough of the old etjack overhead

634
00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:49,599
an interruption, I feel in my jaw. I set the alarms.

635
00:32:50,279 --> 00:32:53,480
Each beep is sharper. The smell by the koat hook's lingers,

636
00:32:53,519 --> 00:32:56,680
that hot sweat rot like wires and meldew. I'm supposed

637
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:58,599
to be home. I should go. Routine is the only

638
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,640
shield the keys and my palm. As I cross the threshold,

639
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,720
the steel side doorschill doesn't wake me up, doesn't snap

640
00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:07,519
me out. My mind won't stop replaying the numbers and

641
00:33:07,559 --> 00:33:10,400
the way Kyle's name and my own crawled up the page.

642
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,000
The parking lot is a black sea, dotted with yellow

643
00:33:13,039 --> 00:33:16,799
puddles under the sodium lamps. Kyle A's compact has disappeared.

644
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,079
Denis's civic too. Mine sits alone, dusted with eyes, the

645
00:33:21,119 --> 00:33:23,880
interior fogged with my own breath. My hands fumble the

646
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,240
ignition my knuckles white. I watch the stillness, waiting for

647
00:33:27,279 --> 00:33:30,039
something to shut her back to life. Nothing moves except

648
00:33:30,079 --> 00:33:32,680
a grocery bag blowing across the empty row of carts.

649
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,880
My phone buzzes system push alout a night entry logged

650
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:40,480
seven DREAP Manager Alexander ramsay, I gripped the steering wheel already,

651
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,039
Sure I haven't clocked myself in the app won't let

652
00:33:43,039 --> 00:33:45,799
me sign at No matter how I swipe over start,

653
00:33:45,839 --> 00:33:48,480
my shift remains open. Great out timers only as sire's

654
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,480
stretching across the weak Sunday comes and goes. I watched

655
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:54,720
the sunrise from the wrong side of sleep, replaing the

656
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:57,680
echo of Kayla's voice. The scheduler app on my phone

657
00:33:57,680 --> 00:33:59,519
won't update despite the call under a date. My next

658
00:33:59,519 --> 00:34:03,400
shift reads is current. I took Kayla no reply. I

659
00:34:03,519 --> 00:34:06,119
leave a voicemail for Dennis and get a fast, busy tone.

660
00:34:06,599 --> 00:34:08,880
The only thing in my inbooks is another autogenerated a

661
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,320
charr email schedule autopropagation in progress. All team leads to

662
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,360
confirm assigned blocks by end of business. If I listen,

663
00:34:15,519 --> 00:34:17,440
I hear the ticking in my ears, sometimes loud enough

664
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:19,840
to fool my heart beat. I show up Monday light.

665
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,480
Nothing's changed. The morning is great, airshop with thought salt.

666
00:34:24,119 --> 00:34:26,960
I walk in on the skeleton crew, nobody joking, nobody

667
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,400
even giving the perfunctory has a going Ruby avoids my eyes.

668
00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:33,039
Mac hasn't been in since Friday, but he's on the

669
00:34:33,079 --> 00:34:35,960
schedule in half. The shift's posted as if his body

670
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,920
could be anywhere at once. Keila is nowhere to be seen.

671
00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:42,880
Her location in their perpetually active on break. Both phone

672
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,280
and store system refuse any attempt to swapper or delete it.

673
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,480
The back corridor smells worse over the industrial soap. Theres

674
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,039
the ropey edge of mole, thinner than before but unmistakable.

675
00:34:52,599 --> 00:34:54,800
The panel by the coats is flush, but the seams

676
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:58,679
look firstly scored. I look for Kayla all morning. Her

677
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,519
phone rings, no answer, but there is a message on

678
00:35:01,559 --> 00:35:03,920
my desk, a slip of registerer tape folded twice with

679
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,519
the note and clip block capitals. Don't stay late, don't

680
00:35:06,519 --> 00:35:10,400
answer new names. It isn't her handwriting. Auditor is coming

681
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,280
to day Regional said Monday and the district a char

682
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,800
rap is due to follow, but nobody shows up by

683
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:21,639
nine nor ten nornon phones, rain radors go wrong. Dennis,

684
00:35:21,679 --> 00:35:24,280
his replacement, a skinny older man called Gregg, asks if

685
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,400
I have any advice on ghost time punches are joking,

686
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:29,320
but not quite, he says, does the clock run this

687
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,920
slow every December in a way that prickles my neck?

688
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,440
By two p m? I feel shaker? Did I have lunch?

689
00:35:36,199 --> 00:35:39,039
I check receipts, thereto from the same register, same total,

690
00:35:39,079 --> 00:35:42,199
two minutes apart, need assigned by staff. I know the

691
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:45,519
office poses with nervous energy. Ruby snaps at me from

692
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,239
misplacing signage, thin back bittals. I check the brake groom empty.

693
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,159
Everyone seems allergic to the space. The wall panel's edge

694
00:35:53,159 --> 00:35:56,000
is outlined by reddish black, like dust or burnt canvas.

695
00:35:56,639 --> 00:35:59,119
I press my hand near it. It's coal, but the

696
00:35:59,199 --> 00:36:01,119
draft all my palm was warm. For the first time,

697
00:36:01,639 --> 00:36:06,280
an oca gentle as if asking permission. They then two,

698
00:36:06,559 --> 00:36:10,360
then three. The phone rings. I answer it without looking

699
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,199
a color id, expecting regional, but there's only breathing on

700
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,599
the other side, slow and close, then a muted scraping

701
00:36:15,639 --> 00:36:18,639
sound and hang up. I call Cale again. Her voicemail

702
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,960
is hers, but the clip is old. Her voice hollow

703
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,920
and tight, as if left when she was some one else.

704
00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:26,280
Four p m. The day staff begin clocking out. The

705
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,280
night team on the schedule is five people, but only

706
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,440
three show up. Gregg, a nervous knew how I called

707
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,199
abdey Ane. Kayle's name sits at the top of the

708
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:37,320
registered tape scheduled pending confirmation. I try to overwrite, but

709
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:41,039
it snaps back every time. Gregg watches the clock. You

710
00:36:41,119 --> 00:36:43,159
want me to shed it early at Alex's place, gives

711
00:36:43,199 --> 00:36:46,599
me the creeps. I nod. Just make sure the deliver

712
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:49,039
is a squared don't go into the break room. He

713
00:36:49,079 --> 00:36:51,719
gives a sharp look. Heard you had a kid quit

714
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,519
last week. Said something was living in the walls. I

715
00:36:54,559 --> 00:36:56,480
can't tell if it's a test or if he knows.

716
00:36:57,199 --> 00:36:59,079
I say nothing. Busy myself with the left of her

717
00:36:59,159 --> 00:37:02,000
valley signage from bla Black Friday. My hand shake less

718
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,719
when I don't pause. The break room is empty when

719
00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,800
I pass, only it doesn't feel empty. The shadows are

720
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,039
blue black breaking from the overhead as if the light

721
00:37:10,119 --> 00:37:13,159
is chewed through. The wall is bare, no panel yet,

722
00:37:13,199 --> 00:37:15,840
I swear. I hear the rustle of paper inside. I

723
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,920
hold my badge breeding so thin, I almost faint. The

724
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:23,960
ticking comes larder now and less. Patient escalation brings a pressure,

725
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:28,079
hard and unrelenting on return calls, schedules that ride themselves

726
00:37:28,119 --> 00:37:31,880
every hour, my own routine thickening with repetition. Impossible slips

727
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,280
of paper appear wherever I go by the copy machine

728
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:37,000
tucked into the stockroom rack take beneath the manager offers

729
00:37:37,039 --> 00:37:40,119
mauser pad. Each one bears fragments of name colst Is,

730
00:37:40,159 --> 00:37:42,519
old ones, some I half remember, and some that don't

731
00:37:42,519 --> 00:37:45,360
belong anywhere except here, written in the spidery print, I've

732
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,280
grown to dread. Tuesday Corporate finally reaches me. Orditor is

733
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,000
delayed by unforeseen routing. Hold all records ready and the

734
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,760
abnormal shrink Great warrants escalation purrs so p thirty three

735
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,559
minutes five. The email includes a new list of staff,

736
00:37:57,639 --> 00:38:01,719
half unrecognizable, Lorealty Grady, the Essa, Shelby, Kailer Alt. I

737
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,280
snatch my phone and check the camera feed to seven PUM.

738
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:06,840
The sales floor is nearly deserted. At gregg Somewhere near

739
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,079
appliance is outer as re stocking headphones in the staff

740
00:38:10,119 --> 00:38:12,960
Forgio griared. Half the face is shimmer, their badges flickering

741
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,000
between two or three names, all half matching the walls lists.

742
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,920
I text Kayla. The message is delivered, read, then a

743
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,119
reply stayed by the wall. Don't let them lock you out,

744
00:38:22,159 --> 00:38:24,880
coming soon. The knock at the break room starts again.

745
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,679
It's slower now, farther apart, as if for devas behind

746
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,960
a walls, conserving energy or anticipating entry. I hear my

747
00:38:31,039 --> 00:38:33,519
name whispered from somewhere behind the vending machine, caught on

748
00:38:33,559 --> 00:38:36,119
the edge of the compressor's hum. I try to leave.

749
00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:39,960
The register, won't balance. The system claims I took out

750
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,079
two deposits at eight seventeen bum, but I've been in

751
00:38:42,119 --> 00:38:45,159
the office in six Receipts pile up on the keyboard,

752
00:38:45,199 --> 00:38:47,639
some for legitimate sales, others with no record in the

753
00:38:47,639 --> 00:38:51,400
product logs. The clock lurches forward. I stare at my

754
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,119
own photo on the wall. Faintos of static around edges,

755
00:38:54,599 --> 00:38:57,280
and nine of them. Gregg is gone. No goodbye, no

756
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,320
clock out. I check the parking lot. No sign of

757
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:05,719
his truck. The app says Gregg Transfer completed. Avde emerges, pale, fidgeting,

758
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,199
asking if he can cover register just for a few minutes.

759
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,000
I say yes, then lose track of him Entirely. I'm alone.

760
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,159
The store feels hollow and anchored. I do my rounds

761
00:39:15,159 --> 00:39:18,199
electronics home seasonal, watching for any one out of place.

762
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,480
What does that move on their own? Nothing but every

763
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,199
mirror I catch flickers for heartbeat, shells fill and empty,

764
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,880
familiar shapes echoing the edges of uniforms I recollect but

765
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,880
don't own. The back hallway stretches seems longer as I

766
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,719
walk it. At the break room, just before too, I

767
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,280
see Kila, at least someone with her walk her old shoes,

768
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,320
hands shoved and pockets, hair frayed. She hacks her chin

769
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:41,440
as she steps inside. She doesn't say hello, but just

770
00:39:41,559 --> 00:39:44,360
they're running doubles now schedules in parallel. Sometimes I wake

771
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,440
up and I'm already clocked in for the week. Sometimes

772
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,599
I don't even open my eyes, and my hands are

773
00:39:48,599 --> 00:39:51,960
signing in. Her voice is hoarse, too hollow. We need

774
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,840
to shut it down, I murmur. Her eyes flick over

775
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,480
my shoulder. They won't let us. The wall's too full.

776
00:39:57,559 --> 00:40:00,679
We're on the list, Alex. We can't erase ourslves. I

777
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:02,880
want to tell her about the schedules. The way my

778
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,000
own memory snags and slips. I want to ask her

779
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:07,800
how to pull out, to disappear, to be let go

780
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,960
by forces the hard corporate aren't even human. Instead, I

781
00:40:11,039 --> 00:40:14,639
man inch. If we don't go in, what happens? She shrugs.

782
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,559
Then it pulls some one else. I watch it with Denis.

783
00:40:17,599 --> 00:40:20,239
If you remember him right the way she says it,

784
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:22,559
I can't be sure I recall him at all. The

785
00:40:22,639 --> 00:40:25,000
face is fluid in my mind, pixelated and relicting, the

786
00:40:25,039 --> 00:40:26,960
glimmer of a staff photo that may be never hung.

787
00:40:27,679 --> 00:40:30,280
She presses a fallen into my hand, not her regular one,

788
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,840
the battered, anonymous brick from before. Charge this at night.

789
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,199
Listen sometimes you'll hear yourself in the loop before it

790
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,440
finds you for good. Don't answer any new names. If

791
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,760
you hear your own, hang up. If you see your writing,

792
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,599
don't read it out loud. She turns for the door. Wait,

793
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,119
I grab her arm. Does it want something? Is it

794
00:40:47,199 --> 00:40:50,599
just feeding off the routine? The words come out, thick, uncertain.

795
00:40:51,159 --> 00:40:53,719
She freezes ice, glittering with that edge of tears or fury.

796
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,679
It wants a roster that never ends. It wants everything

797
00:40:56,679 --> 00:40:59,159
always open, always covered. They want all the names to fit.

798
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,880
She twist free. Then just before she's gone, night shifts

799
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,199
coming up. Don't let them schedule both of you at once.

800
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,679
Then she's gone too quick, swallowed up by the dark hall.

801
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,760
The next eyro is a blur. I sit alone at

802
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,159
the manager's desk, with the old phone charging, clicking through

803
00:41:14,159 --> 00:41:17,400
emails that won't clear, schedule lines that beset themselves. The

804
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,400
clock ticks and jumbe erratic beats. The wall by the

805
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:24,119
coach remains flush, but something pulses beneath it alone em

806
00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:26,840
I count the minutes, watch the second hand Paul's skip

807
00:41:27,199 --> 00:41:30,679
roll backwards. I try to write notes, remind us, but

808
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,960
every attempt comes out in a loop. Signatures form in

809
00:41:33,039 --> 00:41:34,719
my own name on top of itself, until the ink

810
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:38,320
bleeds a ring at the office phone, no collar, I

811
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:40,960
d but the voice that hiss out is unmistakable mine,

812
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,800
except drawn out, flat, choking on static roster open, seven

813
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,440
to close, if loss, return to wall, if written, resume counting.

814
00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:53,119
The phone drops my teeth ache. I almost master the thing,

815
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,000
but the list repeats from the speaker until I pull

816
00:41:55,079 --> 00:41:58,320
the plug at close. The alarms long after midnight, I

817
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,039
find a slip under the doornose ender just names Alex

818
00:42:01,199 --> 00:42:03,920
or el Kayla at well below it a scrawled question

819
00:42:04,199 --> 00:42:07,559
count again. I try not to hyperventilate, but Night is

820
00:42:07,599 --> 00:42:09,920
breeding down deep. For every crevis in the cinder blocks,

821
00:42:10,599 --> 00:42:15,119
I barely make it home, sleepy, shallow, staggered numbers. The

822
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:18,000
schedules appeared behind my alleys. I recite my own name

823
00:42:18,039 --> 00:42:20,559
backwards in hope of breaking the chain. In the shower,

824
00:42:20,679 --> 00:42:22,920
blueing trickles from my left us. Even though a scrub

825
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,079
Alex seven pet close spirals beneath the skin, as of

826
00:42:26,159 --> 00:42:29,400
press from inside, no amount of soap takes the riding away.

827
00:42:30,039 --> 00:42:31,920
Back at the store, new damage, A lock in the

828
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:35,119
break room looks snapped panel push wide open. Nothing has

829
00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:38,320
been physically stolen, if anything, more inventory than ever appears

830
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,639
on the shelves, as though product left is being quietly

831
00:42:40,639 --> 00:42:42,840
replaced by hands that know the codes better than any

832
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:46,559
one living. HR emails congratulate me on my rapid correction

833
00:42:46,599 --> 00:42:50,760
of loss. New stocklests show items never previously cataloged identical,

834
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:52,960
but off by a single number. Every barkerd not quite

835
00:42:53,039 --> 00:42:57,400
matching ABDE is gone transferred in the system. No one replaced.

836
00:42:58,079 --> 00:43:01,039
The night roster now reads only two names, mine and Kala's,

837
00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:03,239
but with the shadow Darrell still at the bottom. Great

838
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:07,679
but stubborn. Every time I delete that block, it returns denial.

839
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,480
Is no room, the hallways cold. I force myself to

840
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,239
face the panel at seven while up almost on the

841
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,159
dots are cold. Wind bursts and the wall shutters. The

842
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:20,559
panel swings back. This time does no mistaking. The space

843
00:43:20,559 --> 00:43:23,760
of crawl space narrower than any plausible gap, yet swallowing

844
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,239
sun and light. The scent of mildew electronics and faint,

845
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,559
meaty copper floods out in sight. The crawl space impossibly

846
00:43:30,559 --> 00:43:33,679
stretches in each direction, past a cluster of shrink wrapped

847
00:43:33,679 --> 00:43:36,119
tablets and tethered power banks. The walls are papered with

848
00:43:36,159 --> 00:43:39,320
old time cards, hand written notes, fragments of uniforms pinned

849
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,559
up at odd angles. Some are ancient, faded and torn.

850
00:43:42,639 --> 00:43:45,360
Others look impossibly crisp. Names. I don't remember it except

851
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:52,880
my own Alex, r L, Kala, Dinis, then Shelby, terrun Leessa,

852
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,239
circling in endless order. I breach Alloh forgetting the weight

853
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:58,079
of my body. As I pull myself into the space,

854
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:01,039
the light is wrong. Edges blows ring seeming too low

855
00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:05,079
behind me, footstep scrape, KLESSI wet looms PANICI sing her voice,

856
00:44:05,599 --> 00:44:08,280
don't go too far. If you see yourself, don't answer.

857
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:11,199
I reach a trembling hand back, and she grabs my wrists,

858
00:44:11,199 --> 00:44:14,920
reluctant but real. We crawl deeper. The air is muggy,

859
00:44:15,559 --> 00:44:18,960
The rows of lists become denser, stacked, looped, names have

860
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,000
been written, stamped, crossed were written, Everything doubled and tripled

861
00:44:22,039 --> 00:44:25,320
until paper crumbles under our hands. Some enters echo from

862
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,199
last years, some from shift patterns that couldn't ever have overlapped.

863
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:30,679
But there they are all joined, And at the end

864
00:44:30,679 --> 00:44:33,599
of the passage there stands a mirrored alcove, just enough

865
00:44:33,599 --> 00:44:36,679
space to kneel against the warped silver. Is a figure,

866
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,480
uniform shop as eyes, but flickering, a multi face presence

867
00:44:40,199 --> 00:44:42,159
in its chest is in not of all name badges,

868
00:44:42,199 --> 00:44:45,559
every one occluded by shadow, their letters, jumpy, bleeding running

869
00:44:45,559 --> 00:44:48,840
at the corners. The figure watches, but says nothing. At first.

870
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:52,559
The air press is hard, like being under water. Kayla

871
00:44:52,599 --> 00:44:55,519
tries to pull back the merrid oc of fogs and

872
00:44:55,559 --> 00:44:58,800
in flashes I seed us but warped working registers together

873
00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:01,480
stocking shells and high speed pe blair re setting the ladders,

874
00:45:01,559 --> 00:45:04,039
repeating gestures as if by a s grip written at iamziko.

875
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:07,880
The figure steps forward, its phase phases between my own

876
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,599
kalas and others. We must have known, lips moving in

877
00:45:10,599 --> 00:45:14,199
a polyphonic echo, shapes of ruined vowels. Roster must be full,

878
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:17,039
lis must be kept. The work is always yours. Its

879
00:45:17,039 --> 00:45:19,280
hand flicks a duplicate of my own offering as a

880
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,199
slip of paper, trembling with fresh inco names the latest schedule,

881
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,400
reading Alex Kayla r l Night at twelve, It continues,

882
00:45:26,519 --> 00:45:28,719
you may forget, but not scape. Ye may go, but

883
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,519
you'll be returned. No name unwritten, no shift, un covered,

884
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:35,960
identities rostered, time repeats. Kyla's knees give, she crouches paralyzed.

885
00:45:36,599 --> 00:45:38,519
I feel the tug in my own mind, the desire

886
00:45:38,559 --> 00:45:40,840
to surrender, to slip away, to let the routine drawn out,

887
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:44,400
whatever self remains. I stammer, It's not thus, not just us.

888
00:45:45,079 --> 00:45:47,679
My voice is little more than a crack whisper. The

889
00:45:47,679 --> 00:45:50,920
figure spreads it hands. You are the present others of

890
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,559
the memory, All are the lists in the flicker of

891
00:45:53,559 --> 00:45:56,280
its eyes. I see images. Denis pacing a void, counting

892
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:59,639
inventory over and over, never leaving, mix, shuffling the seats

893
00:45:59,639 --> 00:46:03,000
for ghosts. The yess at the register lips, moving in silent,

894
00:46:03,079 --> 00:46:07,119
endless script. Kela too, her face blank, reciting schedules. She

895
00:46:07,119 --> 00:46:10,480
doesn't remember, making my own body reflected, infinite clocking in

896
00:46:10,639 --> 00:46:14,440
forever choose, the figure says, remember and remain or join

897
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,920
the roster. One's written, never unwritten. The alko fills with

898
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,320
impossible reflections, faces, motions, versions of me, all stuck in

899
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,880
some maternal recursive inventory. My grip tightens on Kayla's hand.

900
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:28,679
We're leaving, I say, meaning it or not. The warmth

901
00:46:28,679 --> 00:46:31,400
of her hands dead is me. Kela closes her eyes.

902
00:46:32,119 --> 00:46:35,519
Don't answer. Don't let them copy your name again. Behind us,

903
00:46:35,599 --> 00:46:37,840
the passage begins collapse in, folding over with a rush

904
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,920
of cold air, sucking backwards like a receding tide. The

905
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,880
figure leans in. His voice is overlapping. You will come back.

906
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:46,880
The shift always returns. The list is never gone. I

907
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,719
wrench myself backwards, dragging Kaillo with me. The tunnel turns off,

908
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:52,920
as if is folding clothes behind My crawling is desperate

909
00:46:53,039 --> 00:46:56,079
colough tearing on my pants, hands scraped and raw. We

910
00:46:56,159 --> 00:46:58,119
spill out into the break room, gasping for air. The

911
00:46:58,159 --> 00:47:01,519
panel sliming, shot with explosive force. For a second, I

912
00:47:01,559 --> 00:47:04,719
clutch Kila's arm as if we're both drowning. She coughs,

913
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,400
hand shaking, wiping dust and holding from her skin. Above

914
00:47:08,519 --> 00:47:11,679
The ceiling tiles are quiet, the air smells of ancient soap,

915
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:13,920
and a panel is flosh seamless, pre seen. The crawl's

916
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,920
face already raised. We stagger into the corridor. The lights

917
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,239
are back, steady, harsh and sippic. My chest heaves like

918
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:24,039
evern a mile. Kayla finds her phone. The shift up

919
00:47:24,079 --> 00:47:26,440
is blank, except for a new blockingecks alyx seven to

920
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,840
close or twelve. My own device buzzes conformation alout, pinging

921
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:33,039
for silent halls. Night entry confirmed, badge one name Alex

922
00:47:33,079 --> 00:47:36,360
active roster behind me. Something slipped on my sure collar

923
00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:39,559
a faded name tag scuff but still mine. It reads

924
00:47:39,599 --> 00:47:43,199
simply Alex KnightShift pressed inside the plastic is a faint

925
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,519
backward orrel We eggit the break room on legs like paper,

926
00:47:46,599 --> 00:47:48,480
silent but for our breath and the faint hum of

927
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:52,320
a compressor Kayla's faces pinched, tears not quite forming the

928
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,639
building hums of the patient, endless energy. In the office,

929
00:47:55,679 --> 00:48:00,239
the main computer pings. The inventory has zero discrepancies. Lost

930
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,480
levels are flawless, shrinkitch has reversed more stock than accounted

931
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,400
for new shipments, lowbered as recent hires. The system is satisfied.

932
00:48:09,079 --> 00:48:10,960
The front doors and lock for the auditor without me

933
00:48:11,039 --> 00:48:14,239
touching the key. He's young, crisp, trimmed blazer, too tight.

934
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,159
He scans the aisles, nods at the numbers, clicks through locks.

935
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:21,119
You really brought things under control, he says. Best in

936
00:48:21,199 --> 00:48:25,239
district retention, immaculate. He eyes the shift locks, no ghost entries,

937
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:29,440
every column tight. Looks like he worked overtime. Alex Keela

938
00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:33,039
doesn't linger. She corners me before walking out, her resignation

939
00:48:33,079 --> 00:48:35,400
in hand, backpack over her shoulder, eyes trained on the

940
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:39,000
black midday light through the glass. I'm out, Alex for good.

941
00:48:39,159 --> 00:48:42,239
You should be two, she murmurs. Just don't be here alone.

942
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:44,960
Don't let them schedule you. It's never just you. I

943
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,039
won't beg her not to go. Fred fills me heavier

944
00:48:47,039 --> 00:48:49,960
than gilt, thicker than exhaustion. I pick up the staff phone,

945
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,639
consider pretending nothing happened, but I can. Dennis never reappears

946
00:48:53,679 --> 00:48:56,440
on staff locks. His picture is gone from the wall,

947
00:48:56,519 --> 00:48:59,280
no empty space where it hung, just another nearer name

948
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:02,880
in his place. H R. New High paperwork arrives that afternoon,

949
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,840
clean and digital, the registerless cycle, names changing by the day,

950
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,280
the week, but the rhythm remains. Always an Alex near

951
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:12,880
the top, always in our rail, underneath gray, always that

952
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:16,639
will around the edges, ghostly margins, kale As block continues

953
00:49:16,679 --> 00:49:19,840
to appear, pending approval. Once in the reflection of the

954
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:22,239
break room vending glass, I catch a fleeting shade at

955
00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:25,559
my back, just a shadow, uniformed badge glowing faintly. I

956
00:49:25,679 --> 00:49:30,079
turn and it's gone. Holiday seals explode, The isles fill

957
00:49:30,159 --> 00:49:33,159
with people, none of them familiar. The mills bend, vanish,

958
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:37,079
faces mudged even as they hand back receipts. Some days

959
00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:39,360
I feel I'm running the forward, hands not quite my own,

960
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,119
my voice twitching and unfamiliar throats giving instructions I haven't

961
00:49:42,199 --> 00:49:45,079
yet thought to say. Slips of register tape show up

962
00:49:45,079 --> 00:49:47,280
in my jacket, my car, under my pillow at home,

963
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:52,199
always lists, always the same round of names each time.

964
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,760
Alex night or alalt. Some lists are dated in the future,

965
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:58,639
some never. The night after Kale quits, I can't leave

966
00:49:58,639 --> 00:50:01,559
on time. The red sister won't close. The schedule were

967
00:50:01,599 --> 00:50:04,320
sets emails pink, non stop peach, with no action required.

968
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,480
I struggle with the app until half past midnight. Finally, alone,

969
00:50:08,599 --> 00:50:11,599
I shut down the lights on the wall behind a panel,

970
00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,599
I hear again the gentle patientnock three, then two, then three,

971
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:18,199
slower with ownership. The wall never buckles, but the tick

972
00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:21,440
remains steady, as if waiting for my confirmation. I moved

973
00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:23,800
down the back hallway, the distance now endless, every step

974
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:26,199
met with my own echo. The schedule on my phone

975
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:28,719
updates night, no time in slash out my block are

976
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,760
ready fill for weeks out. I swipe, trying again to

977
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,639
raise it, but the entry won't budge. Lights off. I

978
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:37,559
passed the break room. I pause again. Right at the

979
00:50:37,599 --> 00:50:40,599
reflective window of the vending machine. In the black glass,

980
00:50:40,719 --> 00:50:43,639
I see them rows of uniforms behind me, faces obscured

981
00:50:43,679 --> 00:50:46,880
by shadow. All had slightly inclined, as if keeping their count.

982
00:50:47,519 --> 00:50:50,400
Among them, two vases are clearer, Dennis's lean jaw, Kayles's

983
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,400
tired eyes, neither meeting line. Their mouths move altogether. We're

984
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:57,360
all on the list. Now I turn. The whole way

985
00:50:57,400 --> 00:50:59,599
behind is empty, nothing but the faint hum of the building.

986
00:51:00,199 --> 00:51:02,360
The glass holds the crowd half a second longer before

987
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:06,039
the reflection falls away. My own face remains fixed and silent,

988
00:51:06,159 --> 00:51:09,679
badge gleaming Alex's naetwoel. I breathed once slow, certain I

989
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:12,800
am alone again. I breathe once slow, certain I am

990
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,760
alone again. Except the lights in the corridor don't quite

991
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,000
die when I kill them. The break room door at

992
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,039
that ugly batter cut out with its gouged out handle

993
00:51:20,079 --> 00:51:22,360
and started pained, has a scrap of yellow tape stuck

994
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:25,599
above the gem, my own handwriting block letters angry and

995
00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:28,400
rush alecks arel at wool. It didn't exist when I

996
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,559
started my final check. I pick it off, sticky recidy

997
00:51:31,639 --> 00:51:34,360
left behind and stuff it into my pocket. My phone

998
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,639
glows night order to complete. Jeff remains open. The building

999
00:51:37,679 --> 00:51:40,400
has that inhale, muffled and huge, like a massive animal,

1000
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:42,159
waiting for me to check the lost box to sign

1001
00:51:42,159 --> 00:51:44,800
the last schedule away. Even the buzz from the old

1002
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,559
vending machine is gone, replaced by something almost hushed, the

1003
00:51:47,599 --> 00:51:50,280
hum of a server farm or a storm underground. I

1004
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,079
try to leave once more, pass security, fumble the keys.

1005
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:56,119
The key holereses just half a turn, shy of locking,

1006
00:51:56,199 --> 00:51:59,119
as if my own wrist isn't strong enough. A low knock,

1007
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:01,480
too light to be any real, comes again from the

1008
00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:05,400
break room wall, no rhythm, just a heartbeat. My shoes

1009
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:08,239
squeak as I crossed to the office. The plastic name

1010
00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,159
tag inside my show still itches in the staff in

1011
00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,639
bux another system message night personnel confirm roster by entry.

1012
00:52:15,159 --> 00:52:19,000
The schedule reloads itself, names populating and depopulating in jerky waves.

1013
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:22,400
O old half lived on the print up above the

1014
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,599
time clock. There's a new list at the top. Alex

1015
00:52:25,679 --> 00:52:29,199
knitch he relactive underneath four or five names blurred by

1016
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:32,880
dot matrix errors, holes instead of letters, like omissions. It

1017
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:35,480
occurs to me how easy surrender would be. I could

1018
00:52:35,519 --> 00:52:37,440
stay and let the weak roll into itself, Let time

1019
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:40,320
eat the scraps of what's left. But every member kills

1020
00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:44,320
grew aprile alive, resistant the way she said, don't answer

1021
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:46,920
new names, don't let them schedule both of you at

1022
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:50,960
once outside sleet slands down at the parking lot, engraving

1023
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:54,679
lines on already ruin pavement. The stower's emergency floodlike kicks

1024
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:57,039
on a stuttering blue white, making columns of mis through

1025
00:52:57,039 --> 00:52:59,840
the settling ice. I slipped my badge, scanned the door.

1026
00:53:00,519 --> 00:53:03,599
The system bings for a second. The glas goes block,

1027
00:53:03,639 --> 00:53:05,519
a hint of my own dock in reflection in uniform,

1028
00:53:05,639 --> 00:53:08,559
moutha moving, but the eyes watching. As I head from

1029
00:53:08,599 --> 00:53:10,719
my car, the sensation builds, the sense of the door

1030
00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:13,960
behind me almost closing, almost locking me in again, but

1031
00:53:14,119 --> 00:53:17,480
not quite. Inside the car, radio dead, heat is low.

1032
00:53:17,599 --> 00:53:19,599
The only sound is the frantic thumb of my own pulse.

1033
00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:22,920
My phone vibrates with a single push alert shift ended,

1034
00:53:23,039 --> 00:53:27,440
roster retained, confirm for future schedule. I don't. Instead, I

1035
00:53:27,519 --> 00:53:29,920
throw the phone in the glove box and drive. It's

1036
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:31,559
nearly three in the morning when I park in my

1037
00:53:31,679 --> 00:53:35,480
driveway engines stuttering relief only partial. The sky is black,

1038
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:37,760
but something about the clouds looks like there echoing the

1039
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:41,079
lights from the store pail grated always on. For two days,

1040
00:53:41,119 --> 00:53:44,159
I ignore every work notification. My own name kens in

1041
00:53:44,199 --> 00:53:46,880
the apt's home page. It sits gray and unresolved, with

1042
00:53:47,039 --> 00:53:51,119
active no time outlooping underneath human resources calls just once.

1043
00:53:51,199 --> 00:53:53,400
When I answer, all I get is the deadline, the

1044
00:53:53,519 --> 00:53:56,960
sound of distant paging tones, a suffrustation. Please confirm schedule,

1045
00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:59,559
Please confirm schedule. I sit on the edge of my bed,

1046
00:53:59,639 --> 00:54:02,119
flant by receipts and coffee cups, unable to sleep for

1047
00:54:02,199 --> 00:54:04,840
more than an hour at a stretch. Once I try

1048
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:07,239
to text Kayla, a blank reply bounces back instantly from

1049
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,800
some anonymous number. My phone number not register. The message

1050
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,679
reads though it's her voice on voicemail, but flattened, drained

1051
00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:17,519
food has no flavor. My hands are grainy, always tinged

1052
00:54:17,519 --> 00:54:19,639
with residue from paper, ink, and what I think is

1053
00:54:19,719 --> 00:54:22,440
dust from the cinder block walls. The third night, the

1054
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,840
store itself calls my landline. A pause, static, then a

1055
00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:28,880
slow chorus not voices not quite like a synthesized version

1056
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,880
of staff Callot's pipe for a juke books. The message

1057
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:34,880
store opening night, roster and complete, please present for completion.

1058
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:38,039
When I check my email in desperation, my inbox is

1059
00:54:38,079 --> 00:54:42,079
flooded with system generated forms schedule adjustment, night, chef, roster review.

1060
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:45,480
Every time I try to unsubscribe, another email replaces it.

1061
00:54:46,199 --> 00:54:48,119
A last forty eight hours before the summons in my

1062
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:51,079
veins outweighs my dread. That evening, I pull on my

1063
00:54:51,119 --> 00:54:54,320
battered uniform badge, cold and heavy. I drive the eyes

1064
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:57,280
at streets back to the store. Something drags me forward,

1065
00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:00,199
not just memory or worry, something rude, deeper, my own

1066
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:03,119
level compulsion engineered by a name on a list. I

1067
00:55:03,199 --> 00:55:05,079
park as far from the overhead lights as I can,

1068
00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:08,639
leaving my phone in ignition engine munning. It doesn't matter.

1069
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:10,599
As soon as I step on to the painted line

1070
00:55:10,639 --> 00:55:13,159
dividing the lop, another alert pops upon my wrist to

1071
00:55:13,239 --> 00:55:16,159
watch I don't remember putting on night Alex at will

1072
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:20,519
time ongoing at the side door. My badge unlocks the reader.

1073
00:55:21,159 --> 00:55:24,400
The panel blinks green in sight. The fourorescent lights are

1074
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:27,559
already stuttering in a familiar insistent sequence three two three.

1075
00:55:28,159 --> 00:55:29,880
The store is silent except for the soft click of

1076
00:55:29,920 --> 00:55:32,679
the heat pump. The corridor to the brick room is longer,

1077
00:55:33,119 --> 00:55:36,519
more labyrinthine that by exit signs that flicker in anemic cycles.

1078
00:55:37,239 --> 00:55:40,599
No staff, not single soul, but their registers are open,

1079
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:44,280
the screens logged into Dumay accounts. The displays are immaculate,

1080
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:46,840
over stalked, like a ground opening that never drew a crowd.

1081
00:55:47,639 --> 00:55:50,760
A faint shuffle draws my attention. I move, not knowing

1082
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:53,599
if I am drawn forward by choice or instruction. In

1083
00:55:53,679 --> 00:55:56,199
the brick room, the panel above the coat stands open again,

1084
00:55:56,519 --> 00:55:59,599
a wind spilling out, chilly and damp, scented with ozone

1085
00:55:59,639 --> 00:56:03,239
and inc. Inside the wall, the space breeds. I stepped

1086
00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:05,960
just onto the threshold, not crawling by crouch. Left hand

1087
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:08,039
on badge, right on the bat of thorn. Kala handed

1088
00:56:08,079 --> 00:56:10,920
back the endless shift to go it hums of charge screened,

1089
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:13,880
all but alive. The crawl spaces dim, but blows of

1090
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:16,599
movement shadow the walls. Thin chalk marks of old names,

1091
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:19,679
some slashed out, some doubled, some nearly erase, but coming

1092
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:22,239
back under the touch of an invisible pen. There's the

1093
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:25,199
list again, infinite recurse of my name, r L Kyla's,

1094
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:28,320
Dennis smeared and half lost. Others I don't want to remember,

1095
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:30,599
Others I never met, but whose schedule patterns I somehow

1096
00:56:30,679 --> 00:56:34,239
know by heart. A rhythm pulses under my feet, rising bonnward.

1097
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:37,320
I hear counting quite a recursive echo of the same numbers.

1098
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:39,679
I grew to fear, seven, to close, nine, to clothes

1099
00:56:39,719 --> 00:56:42,599
a twill, A twill always open. A figure awaiting the

1100
00:56:42,639 --> 00:56:45,320
merrod alco, just as before, every facet of its face

1101
00:56:45,400 --> 00:56:48,239
and echo of staff reel and imagined. The badge on

1102
00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:52,000
its chest flickers, data and pixelated clutch's alex r l

1103
00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:58,960
Kyla cholby Mick Lisa, all ghosting one after another. I

1104
00:56:59,079 --> 00:57:01,719
blinked for a second. It is just my own badge again,

1105
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:04,920
resolute and chilling. This time the figure looks tight, or

1106
00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:07,880
as tired as a static image can look, his lips moved,

1107
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:11,320
but the sound arrives, tangled to farrag of tones, age, gender, time,

1108
00:57:11,519 --> 00:57:14,639
all ben into something barely human. You came. The shift

1109
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:18,800
must not end, it says, its hand sharpening, stain stretches out,

1110
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:22,480
palm up roster continues. Thy identity is recycled. What must

1111
00:57:22,519 --> 00:57:25,199
go on to rest is to be replaced. I nearly

1112
00:57:25,239 --> 00:57:27,199
collapse under the weight, the ache burning in my knees,

1113
00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:30,920
a sensation like grinding teeth. What happens? My voice cracks?

1114
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:34,480
If I refuse the figure's head, bows splitting fractionally into three,

1115
00:57:34,639 --> 00:57:37,559
then six, then back to one, then another will answer.

1116
00:57:37,679 --> 00:57:40,800
The list is never empty, onlyredden your lines echo backward

1117
00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:43,320
absence is a shadow schedule. You walk. The foreign ghost

1118
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,880
shifts unremembered, but never out of rotation. I swallow, feel

1119
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:49,920
the badge pressed my collar bone, cold and absolute kill.

1120
00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:53,159
Steps close behind me, silent. I don't know how she's here.

1121
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:55,800
Maybe I knew the second I saw the coral open up.

1122
00:57:55,800 --> 00:57:57,880
Maybe she never left, or maybe part of me reeled

1123
00:57:57,920 --> 00:57:59,760
her in by row a name attached to mine, and

1124
00:57:59,880 --> 00:58:03,480
end this block print. She touches my shoulder. Don't let

1125
00:58:03,519 --> 00:58:06,000
it do both, don't let it double you the other me.

1126
00:58:06,159 --> 00:58:10,239
The figure grows more insistent, join, forget, repeat or remain

1127
00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:12,199
and remember and lose all shape. No one not on

1128
00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,719
the list. My knees buckle, half inside the shadow, half outside.

1129
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:18,440
Time watched the clustrophobic sense of a hundred of our

1130
00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:21,199
lapping eyos, every closing shift of staggered through, eating at

1131
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,679
my heels. I listen, hold on to the one thing

1132
00:58:23,679 --> 00:58:26,320
I've managed to call back. My name is mine, not theirs,

1133
00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:29,199
not the rosters. I won't let it, I say. Or

1134
00:58:29,239 --> 00:58:32,079
maybe it's Kayla or grip burning on my sleeve. We

1135
00:58:32,159 --> 00:58:34,760
don't answer, We don't cover both shifts, no new names,

1136
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:38,599
no doubling. The figure snaps unreceds, the mirrored walls folding

1137
00:58:38,639 --> 00:58:41,480
in on themselves, the lists and cause culling up, crumbling

1138
00:58:41,519 --> 00:58:44,840
at the corners. The crowls based contracts cold when snapping

1139
00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:46,559
me back through the panel and out into the bare,

1140
00:58:46,679 --> 00:58:49,920
humming brick room. Immediate fall out hits with a hard slap.

1141
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:52,679
The panel won't budge, phoned out, badge, rigid as a stone.

1142
00:58:53,239 --> 00:58:56,320
The store lights up like morning, harsh and empty. I'm

1143
00:58:56,360 --> 00:58:59,679
sprawled on the scufflinoleum, Kayla gasping beside me, both of us,

1144
00:58:59,679 --> 00:59:02,199
scraped and bruised, hands marked, buying that now runs in

1145
00:59:02,239 --> 00:59:05,119
tear shaped rivulets. I help her up on uncertain feet.

1146
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:09,119
She breathes ragged. We did it, she mutters, but doesn't

1147
00:59:09,119 --> 00:59:13,079
sound sure. Behind us, the register pings an automatic system update.

1148
00:59:13,320 --> 00:59:16,559
Nothing more. I crossed the floor to check. No schedule enters,

1149
00:59:16,599 --> 00:59:21,119
no lists, no alternate names, Harold clean, chifts normal, No more.

1150
00:59:21,159 --> 00:59:24,079
It will just blocks and gray, waiting for assignment. We

1151
00:59:24,239 --> 00:59:27,280
leave the store together, lights off, a larm set. The

1152
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,840
shift is done for tonight, maybe for longer. That night

1153
00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:34,679
I sleep. I don't dream, at least, not of the store,

1154
00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:38,280
not of lists, names or shifting faces. Instead, just a

1155
00:59:38,360 --> 00:59:42,239
hush of absence. Morning closest to normal. My phone only

1156
00:59:42,320 --> 00:59:46,280
pings once a single calendar event required confirm or decline assignment.

1157
00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:50,519
I let the invitation expire. There's relief, but it's not perfect.

1158
00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,039
Sometimes I still catch myself at the kitchen table, reciting

1159
00:59:54,119 --> 00:59:56,440
names under my breath, just on the edge of consciousness.

1160
00:59:57,239 --> 00:59:59,360
Sometimes the receipt printer at the market jams, and I

1161
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:02,599
feel my blood and cold. But most days I move through.

1162
01:00:02,639 --> 01:00:05,639
I was not shadowed by routine ghosts at the edge

1163
01:00:05,679 --> 01:00:08,679
of sleep. Sometimes I hear counting, faint, distantly regular to

1164
01:00:08,719 --> 01:00:10,480
sound like a rouster being checked, but only as an

1165
01:00:10,519 --> 01:00:13,159
I could behind familiar silence. When I wake to my

1166
01:00:13,199 --> 01:00:16,239
own name, it's just me that answers. I don't check

1167
01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:19,639
the clock, I don't look out, and the wall is

1168
01:00:19,679 --> 01:00:20,400
closed for now