Never Come At Night
A horror flash/short story
This short story was originally published in the March 2025 issue of Flash Phantoms. Check them out!
Samantha had been absolutely run ragged by the end of her twelve-hour shift. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to slow down, but taking care of several non-verbal residents who couldn’t stand up to use the bathroom demanded every ounce of her attention.
She’d been an RN in different nursing homes for decades, but every year it seemed to get worse, and her current workplace, Shady Acres, took the cake. It lived up to its name. Shady administration refused to hire enough people to serve their nearly one hundred residents. Shady people dumped their parents there and never returned. Shady physical therapists and doctors neglected their patients so badly she had to clean infected bedsores that could very well end their lives. No one seemed to care, because all of the staff were run down and half-dead themselves, not just Samantha. At least Samantha would want to care, if anyone gave her the slightest bit of encouragement. She’d never heard anyone say the phrase, “Thank you,” at Shady Acres.
Samantha attempted to get her chaotic mess of hair back into a bun before checking in on her quietest, sickest patient, Muncel Stanislaw. He’d been stuck in that hospital bed, nothing but a bag of bones, for longer than Samantha had worked there. Somehow, he got a little bit worse every day, but was still alive, no matter how low his blood pressure got or how anemic he was. Another more jaded nurse had told her, “Just watch, he’ll go this week. You wanna bet?” Samantha had declined, appalled.
Some people just shouldn’t be here, she thought wearily, and wasn’t sure if she was thinking of that nurse or Muncel.
As brightly as she could manage, she said, “How are we feeling today, Muncel?”
Muncel didn’t budge. He never did. His clouded blue eyes never looked at her unless she was right above him. Talking to him was a formality, to keep her a little more sane.
He wheezed out a few deep breaths, and Samantha pretended he’d said something.
“Great,” she replied.
As she put on a pair of gloves and prepared to give Muncel a sponge bath, her bleary eyes spotted something new in the room; a beautiful bouquet of roses and baby’s breath in a crystal vase, with a little card attached. Samantha read the card out of curiosity.
“Thank you, my dear Samantha, for caring for Muncel so well for so long.”
Samantha gasped a little and put her hand to her chest, feeling her nametag. Of course, that’s how someone had known her name… but she’d never seen anyone with Muncel, ever. Samantha read on.
“If it hadn’t been for you, he would have passed long ago. Take these flowers as a token of appreciation. I ask only one thing of you: never allow anyone in his room at night.
Be well, Samantha.”
The strange instructions rattled around in her tired brain, barely making sense. Not to mention, she never worked nights, so it was impossible for her to make sure no one entered at night. What if he coded at three A.M.?
Samantha went home, put the flowers on her bed stand, and fell asleep instantly, forgetting all about the note.
The next morning, she came back to Muncel’s room first thing. His body shuddered when he entered, like she’d awakened him from a deep sleep.
“Sorry Muncel,” she said. “Just me. How are we feeling?”
She went over to check on him, his blue eyes wider than she’d ever seen them, and saw two little red dots on his neck, just under his chin.
Samantha shuddered. Please don’t be bedbugs.
On the little table where the flowers had stood, now there lay a long, fat envelope with her name on it. Samantha, now more than a little freaked out, opened it up, but nearly yelped when she saw what was inside.
Money. Thousands of dollars. And another note in the same handwriting.
“Samantha,
“I asked nicely before, but someone came at 1:15 last night and disturbed Muncel’s slumber. Is this enough for you to do as I ask? I won’t ask again.”
Samantha gripped onto the money until the envelope crackled. She had to tell someone. This wasn’t right, whatever was going on. But on the other hand, if anyone else at Shady Acres knew someone was handing out free money, there’d be a riot to get some, HIPAA violations be damned.
Samantha stuffed the money in her pocket and hatched a plan that very second.
After another grueling twelve-hour shift, she stuck around after clocking out, hiding in the lobby’s restroom. Fighting sleep, she waited until two AM, then snuck out. The place was deserted. The only guard and the night nurses had taken their break together, even though they weren’t supposed to leave the floor without any nurses. The dimmed lights, deep quiet, and darkness from outside turned the pit of Samantha’s stomach. She snuck carefully up to Muncel’s room and creaked open the door.
In the night, an even darker shadow hung over Muncel’s body, like a scarf obscuring his neck, then whipped itself upward to reveal a head, with two burning eyes and a mouth dripping with blood.
“Samantha!” it hissed.
There was no time to scream, no time to even open her mouth before the thing had flown behind her and slammed the door shut.
The other nurses of Shady Acres never asked what had happened to Samantha. They figured she’d just finally up and quit, like everyone who worked there wanted to do. They noticed the extra blood in Muncel’s room, though, and argued over who would have to clean it up.
Muncel stared at each nurse that came in, blinking, quivering, moaning with a mouth frozen open in a silent scream.
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Super fun read. Got the idea there was a vampire once you revealed the two dots on his neck. Everything makes sense too, from the way she could stay, to the who cares attitude on her disappearance. Very tight writing.