Tom Harris liked night work because it was predictable. At least, it used to be.

He worked as a security controller for a logistics hub on the edge of a large British town. The job was simple. He watched cameras, logged vehicle movements, and answered the phone if something went wrong. Most nights, nothing did. The building slept while lorries came and went like tired animals.

At 01:17, one of the screens flickered.

Tom leaned forward. Camera 14 covered the rear loading bays. The picture returned after a second, but something felt wrong. A white van stood at Bay C, engine off, lights dark. According to the schedule, no deliveries were due for another hour.

He checked the log. No entry.

Tom pressed the intercom. “Bay C, please identify yourself.”

Silence.

He tried again. “This is control. State your purpose.”

Still nothing.

He told himself not to overreact. Sometimes drivers forgot to sign in. Sometimes the system lagged. But then he noticed the rear doors of the van were already open.

Tom picked up the phone and called his supervisor, Alan. It rang twice, then went to voicemail.

“Alan, its Tom. I’ve got an unscheduled van at Bay C. Doors open. No response. Call me back.”

He stood up and grabbed his jacket. Procedure said he should wait for backup, but something in his chest felt tight. If someone was stealing cargo, every minute mattered.

The loading bay smelled of oil and cold metal. The van was empty. No boxes, no pallets. That was worse.

He heard a soft click behind him.

Tom turned slowly. A man stood near the emergency exit, wearing a high visibility vest and a hard hat. He looked ordinary, almost boring.

“Evening,” the man said. His voice was calm. “You shouldn’t be here alone.”

“Neither should you,” Tom replied. “Show me your ID.”

The man smiled. “Of course.”

He reached into his pocket.

The lights went out.

Total darkness swallowed the bay. Tom felt a sharp push in his chest and stumbled back, hitting the side of the van. His torch fell from his hand and skidded across the floor.

Footsteps moved away, unhurried.

Tom scrambled for his radio. It crackled, then died. Backup power should have kicked in. It did not.

He forced himself to breathe. Think. Panic would not help.

Using the van for cover, he crept toward the door. He did not chase the man. He did something else.

Earlier that evening, Tom had noticed a system update scheduled for 02:00. He had delayed it, just in case. Now, he accessed the panel by the wall and forced a manual reboot.

The lights returned. So did the cameras.

On the screen in the control room, a figure froze. The man with the vest stood halfway across the yard, staring up at a camera he thought was blind.

Tom locked the external gates with one command. Alarms began to howl.

The man ran.

Police arrived ten minutes later. They found tools in the van. Cutting equipment. Fake badges. The man was arrested at the gate, shouting that there were others, that this was only a test.

Later, Alan called Tom.

“You did well,” he said. “Turns out this wasn’t random. They planned it for weeks. Assumed night staff would follow routine.”

Tom looked at the quiet screens, now boring again.

“Routine nearly got me hurt,” he said.

After that night, Tom changed how he worked. He trusted procedures, but not blindly. And the shift was never quiet again. Not in his head.

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Vocabulary Notes

predictable
Meaning: Easy to expect or know in advance because it usually happens in the same way.
Example: “Tom Harris liked night work because it was predictable.”
Similar words: expected, routine, foreseeable
Extra example: The job became less predictable after the new system was installed.

unscheduled
Meaning: Not planned or arranged beforehand.
Example: “I’ve got an unscheduled van at Bay C.”
Similar words: unplanned, unexpected, unarranged
Extra example: An unscheduled delivery caused confusion at the warehouse.

procedure
Meaning: An official or agreed way of doing something, especially at work.
Example: “Procedure said he should wait for backup, but something in his chest felt tight.”
Similar words: protocol, process, method
Extra example: Staff must follow safety procedures during night shifts.

ordinary
Meaning: Normal or not unusual in any special way.
Example: “He looked ordinary, almost boring.”
Similar words: normal, average, typical
Extra example: The man appeared ordinary, which made him easy to overlook.

routine
Meaning: A regular and repeated way of working or behaving.
Example: “Assumed night staff would follow routine.”
Similar words: habit, pattern, daily practice
Extra example: Breaking routine helped him notice the small but important details.

Story written by ChatGPT.

Image created by 1min.ai.

CC Music: Drifting at 432 Hz – Unicorn Heads.

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