The night shift was always dreadful, and the only reason Konkiri ever agreed to work at those hours was because the factory threatened to drop him if he refused to. Though his job paid pathetically little, it was a higher wage than the majority of other available jobs in the city, and if he were to quit he wasn't sure that he would be able to find a replacement that was as stable. He never complained, then, when he was worked overtime with nothing extra or forced to watch a coworker fired because they'd asked for a little more protection against the industrial chemicals used often in the factory. The truth was that there were hardly any safety measures for the lowly laborers, and the higher-ups rarely took any action on it because they had a constant flow of both money and desperately poor folk searching for work. 

With his muscles aching, then, he stepped into the morning light and tore off the flimsy paper mask he wore to protect him from dust, metal particles, and toxic gas (his boss talked about these things like they were respirators). Though the air just outside the factory wasn't exactly safe, he drank in a good deep breath of the relatively-clean air and smiled simply because, until the next shift, he had escaped. Now to get some scenery that wasn't just conveyer belts and vats of smelly fluid that smelled like ammonia. With a little shuffle of exhaustion to his gait, he made a beeline for the convenience store located a few blocks off. 

The smell of coffee inside nearly made him drool. Whatever hours he worked, he had a considerable addiction to caffeine in any form. Caffeine tablets, despite being known to cause heart attacks because of how concentrated they were, were one of his favorites not only because they woke him up but also because they made Konkiri work at what felt like the speed of light. Coworkers commented often, things like "Are you high?" and "Mind if I have whatever you've got?" but whenever the tablets came out, he received looks that had [i]You've got three years to live, tops[/i] written all over them. 

Quickly he paid for a paper cup of disgusting coffee and a new supply of caffeine tablets, and left the half-asleep cashier to his job. They saw each other often, but never really spoke. They both knew that the other was just doing what was needed to make it through another day. 

Now, sipping at the hot coffee that for some reason reminded him of asphalt, he shuffled down a street impatient for the stuff to take its effect. He was quite aware  that he needed a good solid eight hours of sleep, but he never could sleep during the day. Luckily he had tonight off as there was a new supply of gullible workers starting the regular night shift. He wouldn't be going in until tomorrow. The thought made him dizzy with relief.