The Silence during the Last additional duty

In the silence of the night:

0100hrs:
I took the spot in the white box, taking over the equipment from the personnel before me. Armed with a massive sleep deprivation, I told myself: “It’s the last additional duty (on top of the usual 9 day work week)… Hang in there…”

I stood and stared ahead…  the sound of the crickets acting as my partner and  feeling the weight of the equipment and vest. Battling the heavy eyelids, I kept my mind on the duty and an eye on the grass for the snakes that we were forewarned.

Oh! What was that sound? ! Is that a car? I looked around, only to find that I must have been imagining it. I looked at my watch.. “huh? only 4 minutes have passed?”. Time seems to slow to a standstill when you are not occupied with something to do.

29 times I looked at my watch. Each time finding that only 4 minutes or less have passed.

0300hrs:
I saw a guy, wearing the same outfit, walking towards me. Oh good. Time for shift change. I looked at my watch for the 30th time in that 2 hours, heaving a sigh as I returned to the holding area waiting for dawn to break.

A few hours past dawn, I walked away from there, a zombie on my feet, glad that it is finally over.