Late Grocery Shift Behind the Freezer Doors

Late Grocery Shift Behind the Freezer Doors

I was late for my shift at the grocery store, but the bus kept stopping at the same corner. My phone said 7:12 and also 7:12, like the numbers were stuck. When I finally got inside, the aisles were the store and also the hallway at my old apartment, the fluorescent lights buzzing too loud. A guy from high school was stocking shelves in a jacket that had little lights in the seams. He asked if I'd scanned in yet. I couldn't find my badge, just a plastic card that kept rewriting my name in tiny letters I couldn't read. My manager called from the office, which was somehow behind the freezer doors. I walked toward her voice and the floor felt slightly wrong under my shoes, too soft. I never made it to the office. I woke up with that same tight feeling I get when I've forgotten something at work.