Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde of Security Guards
"You're too nice for this job," his supervisor would joke. "Security guards are supposed to be intimidating."
Marcus would just smile. He believed security was about making people feel safe, not afraid.
But Marcus had a secret.
The night shift was different. The night shift was when he became someone else.
It started innocently enough. The company needed overnight coverage, and Marcus volunteered for the extra hours to save for his daughter's college fund. But something changed when the sun went down and the fluorescent lights became the only illumination in the empty corridors. The building transformed, every shadow deeper, every sound amplified, every responsibility heavier.
And so did Marcus.
By 10 PM, Daytime Marcus would be gone, and someone harder would emerge. Someone who walked differently, shoulders squared, steps heavy and deliberate. Someone whose eyes swept rooms like searchlights, cataloging threats. Someone who didn't smile.
He caught the executive embezzling funds at 2 AM, finding discrepancies in after-hours server logs that no one else had noticed. He personally apprehended two would-be burglars, moving with a speed and precision that seemed impossible from the gentle man who'd wished everyone a good morning just hours before. He found the gas leak on the third floor that could have killed dozens, and he did it at 3 AM by trusting an instinct that Something. Wasn't. Right.
Marcus told himself it was just focus. Just professionalism. Just the job.
But he knew better.
The breaking point came on a Tuesday.
At 8 AM, he was Daytime Marcus again, chatting with the cleaning staff, complimenting the receptionist's new hairstyle. A young woman, an intern, maybe twenty-two approached his desk looking nervous.
"Excuse me? Are you... were you working last night?"
"Yes," Marcus said kindly. "Is everything okay?"
She bit her lip. "I was working late. Really late. And I saw you, or someone who looked like you tackle someone in the parking garage." She paused, searching for words. "It was scary. You were scary."
Marcus felt his stomach drop. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, no. You saved me probably. He was following me to my car. But you..." She looked genuinely disturbed. "You weren't you. I've seen you around during the day. You're like... you're like two completely different people."
Marcus was quiet for a long moment. Then he reached under his desk and pulled out the bowl of candy he always kept there.
"Chocolate or butterscotch?" he asked gently.
She took a chocolate, confused.
"I think," Marcus said carefully, "we all have different versions of ourselves. The version that reads bedtime stories to my daughter isn't the same version that protects this building at 3 AM. They can't be. One is too soft for the night. The other would be too hard for the day."
"But how do you... switch?"
Marcus smiled, but it was sad. "That's the question, isn't it? Some nights, I drive home and realize I don't remember deciding to cross the line between them. Some mornings, I look in the mirror and barely recognize the person looking back." He paused. "My wife says I talk in my sleep now. Apparently, Night Marcus has things to say that Day Marcus never would."
The intern studied him. "Is it worth it? Splitting yourself like that?"
Marcus thought about the executive behind bars, about the two attempted burglaries that never made the news, about the gas leak that didn't become a tragedy, about this young woman standing safely in front of him having a normal Tuesday morning.
"Ask me on my daughter's graduation day," he said. "When that college fund is full. When I retire with both versions of myself still intact enough to enjoy it."
She nodded slowly and turned to leave, then looked back. "For what it's worth? I'm glad both of you exist. I just... I hope you find a way to live with each other."
After she left, Marcus sat at his desk, the morning sun streaming through the glass doors, the building coming alive with the sounds of a normal workday. In twelve hours, the sun would set. The building would empty. And the other Marcus, would emerge again.