Day 1,833

The boss said they were motorised taxidermy and told me to ignore their blinking, the way their chests moved like they were breathing and the soft hiss of air leaving their barely open mouths. It was easier said than done though, especially after all the visitors had gone, leaving them and me alone together.

I used to get as much of the cleaning done as possible towards the end of my shift, when there were still visitors around to help distract me from all the little movements I caught in the corners of my eyes. Last week I tried to ask him how the animals were able to move to naturally and he looked at me like I'd grown a second head.

I stopped asking him about all the little oddities after that, I just figured I was nervous and seeing things that weren't real. At least, I thought that up until the wall-mounted stag's head turned to look at me and unhinged its jaw to let out a truly blood-curdling bellow.

The next morning I was pulled into a staff meeting with my boss and the head of HR. They accused me of breaking the stag and sacked me on the spot for vandalism. I knew they'd seen the CCTV footage that showed it freely moving and the audio definitely would have picked up the scream.

Still, I was happier to be sacked than become another workplace accidents statistic.