Closing Time

19.

I woke with a start. My eyes snapped wide open. My body turned to the side as I heard my phone ringing.

One glance at the notification bar showed other missed calls, another glance at the time showed that it would be well into rush hour. But it was my day off.

I sighed as I accepted Dottie's call. "It's my day off."

There was a long pause. I would've figured the call had been disconnected if I couldn't hear the people in the background. "No... it's not. That was yesterday."

I frowned. "No way. Today is my day off." I slowly say up.

"Yesterday... was your day off. You have to come into work now, you have some mad customers."

"What..." I pulled my phone away from my cheek, to take a few seconds to check the day and the date. I felt my jaw drop open and my stomach sink. She was right. "I... I..." I stuttered as I reattached the phone to my face. "I didn't realise. Sorry. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Dottie sighed softly. "Listen, if you've taken a day off after informing Carl then I-"

"I'm not taking an extra day. I only remember passing out an entire day ago." I'd been asleep an entire day?

"That's impossible. I think."

"I-I..." I screwed my eyes shut. "Never mind. I think I'm still screwed up from sleep."

"Sounds like it. Are you..." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "... high?"

"No!" I hadn't touched my stash of weed in ages.

"Hungover?"

"No. I'm not drinking right now."

"Right, right... your thing."

"Yes." Rubbing my face, I finally forced myself off the bed. There was a surprising spring in my body as I hopped to my feet. "I'll be there in a while."

"Nah, fuck it." Dottie replied casually. "Come in the evening. I'll tell the lunch rush you had a doctor's appointment."

"You don't need to, Dottie. I ca-"

"It's chill, Ryleigh." I'd concerned her again. "Come in a few hours. Sleep a little more, you sound like you need it."

"I..." I let myself trail off as I caught sight of myself in the mirror. "Okay. I'll see y'all later."

"Not very later. Be here by six."

"Gotcha."

"Bye, Ryleigh. Take some meds or something."

"Yeah. Sure."

I threw my phone back to my bed before I walked towards my mirror. I was still dressed in my bloody clothes, so I was right. I hadn't woken up even once since Lou and Mike had left me here.

Looking down at my shirt, I grabbed the edge and squeezed. It made a disgusting crunching sound, some red flakes shed themselves from the fabric. This shirt was done was for. I could see the reflection of the bed in the mirror, it was completed covered in similar red flakes. They had rubbed all over sheets and given them a rusty colour where I'd been sleeping.

I turned to look at the bed. The sheets were ruined. I wondered if the flakes would come off or they would stain. Carrying something to be dry cleaned with what's very obviously blood on it would also seem rather suspicious. These clothes also have to be thrown out.

The clothes itched as I walked back over to the bed, grabbed the sheets and ripped them off in one swift movement. The red flakes of dried blood hung in the air like a confused mist before they scattered to the floor. That's better. The sheets don't look as bad as I thought. I'll drop them off on the way to work.