Mini-story: Left Behind

Somewhere overhead, a fluorescent light was buzzing. The irregular pattern of light and dark was visible even through his closed eyelids. An image chased through his mind, too quickly to grab hold of, and then it was gone. Something he ought to remember. He opened his eyes, and there was pain. The lights were too bright, even though one of them flickered on and off. The pain was in his head, on the right side towards the back. He gingerly touched the hair there, and, yes, there was a bump. The binder. Of course. That was what he’d been trying to remember. He’d been reaching for the can of instant coffee, and one of the big, heavy binders where they kept the paper copies of stock orders had slid from the shelf and hit him on the back of the head. Then, the floor seemed to leap up towards him. Then darkness. “Christ,” he said, sitting up awkwardly in the cramped space of the dingy storeroom that doubled as an employee breakroom. The first thing he saw was the dry-erase health and safety…