Prompt: A vampire who works as a late night stocker at Walmart

(thanks to http://awesomewritingprompts.tumblr.com for the fun prompt!)

Joe leaned into the pallet jack – even with the hydraulic lift, they were hell on wheels to get moving. He couldn’t see around the top of his load, which was against regs, but if he wanted to get done before sunrise, he had to get this product out on the floor.

Once he pushed past the swinging doors and out onto the floor, it was easier. He leaned from left to right to peer around the load. There were few customers after about 1am—the aisles were mostly clear.

As he turned the corner past Electronics, the right jack wheel caught on something, and before he knew it, the load was turning…then tipping. Joe pulled on the jack handles with all his strength…and then he heard the woman’s cry.

He felt the handles pull out of his grasp and watched in horror as the load turned on its side, boxes cascading across the aisle – and on top of the woman he’d surprised. He leaned forward, trying to grab on to something – anything – to keep them from hurting her. She was knocked on the floor and buried before he could jump around the side of the boxslide to help her.

Pushing boxes out of the way, he cried out, “Oh, Jesus! Are you okay, lady? Hold on!”

Suddenly, boxes tumbled away from her, and he saw a familiar blue apron underneath. As she sat up, pushing more boxes out of her way, Joe stared, open-mouthed. “Nancy? What the heck? Those boxes weigh 50 pounds or more! Are you okay? How are you okay?”

Nancy looked up at him with a grimace, bracing herself against the capsized pallet jack as she stood. It slid sideways, and Joe looked at it, then slowly turned his head back to her. “Nancy?”

She pointed to his arm. “You better get that cleaned up, Joe.”

He looked down and saw a gash on his forearm, blood dripping onto the boxes at his feet. Great.

He didn’t see her move, but Nancy was standing right beside him. “Here, let me help you with that, Joe.”

Her voice was different. Deeper, and sweeter. Like honey. Joe looked up and blinked at her face right next to his. “Um, okay….” She was staring in his eyes, and he stared back for a second, then stepped back, pulling his apron around his arm to stop the blood from making more of a mess.

Nancy blinked and took a step back herself. As Joe turned, he thought he heard her mutter, “Damn contacts.” He shook his head. What did his contacts have to to with anything?

Nancy put a firm hand on his shoulder, steering him toward the employee lounge. “Come on, let’s go take care of that arm, shall we?”

#

And so, with a loving heart, I offer you

Namaste

I’ve heard many translations. Here’s one I love:
The light of the universe that shines within me recognizes
the light of the universe that shines within you.

Dogs in House	Houdini
Time writing	20 minutes
September word count	5,429