Trust fall.

All my life I’d worked a first shift, but after my child was born I took a leave of absence. This year they finally started kindergarten, and I decided it was time to go back to work. Since I needed to be available to get them to and from school, I decided to take a second shift and see how it went.

Turns out I liked it. I took up a job mixing sauces in a big private factory. I worked up on the catwalks, dumping in ingredients, mixing, keeping it hot.

I was just about to hit ninety days. No more temp status - full time baby. We were getting close to close and pretty much everyone had gone home. I was doing a final check across the catwalk to make sure everything was shut down properly for the night.

Behind me I heard footsteps, and turned around to see my co-worker, Keith, standing a few feet away with one of our massive paddle mixers in hand.

“Do we have a late night batch to finish?” I asked. “I thought we finished up.”

“Oh we are finishing things up, alright,” he replied. “No one’s getting into this company before me. Looks like your ninety days are up.”

He slammed the paddle into my chest and I went flying into the massive vat beside me. He slammed down the lid, and I heard the gas roar to life.

All I have left are my screams echoing of the iron cage I’m stuck in.