Day 224

The museum closes at seven pm sharp, that's when my shift starts.
Usually it's just me and Terry until the next guys start at six but we were training a new guy this time.
Poor kid didn't look a day over seventeen and had no idea what he was in for.

We decided we'd ease him into it, Tony said he'd cover the stuff we missed.
So we started out front, nice and easy stuff first.

Now our museum is pretty tame compared to others in terms of night rituals.
We only have three statues that require nightly or weekly blood offerings.
I heard this place in Brooklyn has ten - that's a lot of blood and I don't wanna know their source.

Generally we like to use cows or pigs, they're like legal blood bags.
Sure the statues grumble and sometimes they refuse entirely but we can't feed them humans.
Not on purpose anyways, they get their human blood sometimes whether we like it or not.
That's just how they can get, you know?

Telling this to the new guy didn't scare him off right away but he certainly looked worried.
Can't say I blame him, when I saw my first statue feeding I fainted!
Nothing quite prepares you for the sudden movements they make, so fluid and fast.
One minute you're holding fresh bloody meat on a silver platter then BAM blood everywhere
and the platter's halfway across the room with a sculpture tearing into it.

And that's just the ground floor, we like to keep them roughly grouped by what rituals they need.
The floor above is mainly paintings, some want singing, some want blood and some just want to talk.
It's my preferred floor but I admit I don't actually sing, I use a recording that sounds better.
Now for the paintings you have to give them the blood with a straw and they just lean out and take it.
Some try to get greedy and grab at you, hence the straw.

'Remember,' I told the new guy, 'when in doubt - minimum contact.'

By the time we got to the top floor he seemed calm but worried, which is better than the last one.
Though in all fairness it's all pretty simple, right?

Let's hope this guy lasts longer than his predecessor.
Poor man tried to talk to a feeding sculpture.
We didn't find much of him.

It's easy to tell if a statue's eaten too much (like a whole person).
Their skin gets this pink humanish tone and their eyes follow you around the room.
They aren't supposed to move during the day but if you feed them enough they get up and walk.
Nothing is freakier than hearing a marble statue jumping towards you, its worse seeing it.

Mind you I've only seen that once, when I witnessed my first statue-kill - ate her whole it did.
That one started talking soon after.
Hasn't stopped talking.
Something about our bodies being nothing more than rotten leaves or whatever.

Anyway, the new guy... right...

He'd better last, we can't move another talking statue.
We could barely keep it chained up so we doubled the locks and barricaded the room.
If you listen close to closing time, it gets real active and starts ramming at the door.
God forbid it ever breaks free.