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CHAPTER TEN

Parker

The tight door barely opened when I pushed on it. The rust stuck to my hand when I push on the door frame and didn't come off when I rubbed my hand against my overalls.

The door led to a hallway only slightly wider than the door, but tall enough for me to stand up straight. Did I ever mention how I have a completely rational fear of spiders? Grace and Piper never let me forget it. Every chance they get, "Come here, I have to show you something," then the second I turn the corner they're holding a spider, its perfect, Spider-man, Peter Parker, afraid of spiders.

The room was full of cobwebs, surrounding my face and it felt as though I could taste them but hard to swallow as my throat closes up. 'Breathe' I think, "Just calm down and find a way to get out."

I always had the option to go back, but who would look of me? No one, no one knew I was there. The further away I walked the less cobwebs, I eventually was able to wipe them all off my face but my hand, legs, arms and fingers stayed covered.

The hallway had gyprock on both sides with a slanting ceiling, one side an inch above the other. The whole place screamed unstable. My eyes had adjusted to the light and I could see pretty well, trying not to look at the corners of the room were the cobwebs once lay, I walk straight forward.

That is until I come to a fork in the path, it's like I was trapped in a maze, who knows how many of these there are. I remember walking right from the road into the warehouse and turning left into the isles, then I walked forward and then another right to the small door. Then... God I don't remember, I was completely lost. I'm pretty sure that if I take this right I'll be closer to road and walking towards civilisation.

I walk down the fork for a few minutes, the sides of the walls get smaller, closing in on me, side stepping down, I come up to a dead end. Then walk all the way back to the fork. Who invented this layout?

This time I take a left, closer to the shopping centre. After twenty seconds or so I see faint white footprints on the ground. They appear more distinct the more I walk, then I see the start of paint being put over the gyprock. Someone must have stepped in a tray and walked it all across here.

I walk a bit more and see a tin of dry paint tipped over, spread out everywhere. When I step on the paint, it's as solid as a rock, wow, it's been like this for ages, and wouldn't someone clean it up. Then again, if I tipped it over I wouldn't be bothered to clean in such a tight area, it's not like anyways going to see it anyway. By the amount of cobwebs in here, it's abundantly clear no one's come around here in years. I follow the footprints hoping it would lead me outside. It doesn't. They disappear instead.

By this point the spiders don't bother me as much, but then, the cockroaches come out. It's like they have a nest in here. I've been putting my arms on the walls to support me so I don't fall over. But then the walls got darker, at first I thought it was my eyes adjusting, or a different type of gyprock.

Until I feel one crawl over my hand and one up my arm. The one thing I hate more than spiders. Only one thing, and of course, I'm trapped in here with them.

I remember learning in class that cockroaches have small whole on their underside where they take in oxygen, all one would need to kill it was to spread some powder on the ground they crawl over. It suffocates them. It sounds like a painful way to die. Lucky for them, I don't have any flower.

The whole wall was infested with them, I thought the ground was black, no, that was just their shells. So many of them I didn't notice as they move around me. I screamed. I screamed so hard I was certain someone heard me. I'm not sure what the time is but if people were in the shopping mall, they probably heard that.

I squirmed and immediate took my hands off the wall, I stomped around and jumped so hard I was sure I would break the floor underneath me, which was probably concrete.

Nothing scared me more. I sprinted. SPRINTED. I barely do any exercise but I'm pretty sure I was right up there with Mo Farah and Usain. Brandon could drive fast, but I have just found a new talent.

My lungs fill up with cold air, I could feel it in my bones, and I was close. There had to be some way to get out, I couldn't go back now. I couldn't walk back through all those cockroaches again. I wish it wasn't cockroaches, but it was a good sign. I'm pretty sure they eat food scraps, and paper, and... Humans? Argh.

They can probably smell the rubbish from the shopping centre massive bins. They keep them somewhere downstairs and empty them out every few days. But why cockroaches, eh. Just like Ron Wesley with spiders, I followed the cockroaches, much to my disgust.

Toward the end of the path I could see a light handing from the ceiling, the only light source I had before this was the slight crack between the walls and ceiling, now I could actually see. The cockroach population had dissipated which was definitely a good thing. And the light provided hope.

Once I reached the light I turned to my left and saw a dozen steps up, leading to a normal sized door. However, it had a dead both on it. 'It's a matter of life and death,', 'how else could I escape,' or 'I smelt gas.' Excuses ran through my head, reasons to break the door open. When I eventually got out of here someone who probably be pissed if I broke it.

I proceeded anyway. I had a small screwdriver in my pocket, it looked like a Swiss army knife but instead consisted on a flathead screwdriver and small bolt wrench. I walked up the unstable stairs and knelt down by the door. Using the driver I wedged it free and unlocked the door. The handle was stuck and I couldn't jiggle it open. I tried pushing on it with the palm of my hand.

I stepped down one step and got a bit of force in my hands the second time, still nothing. I was so close to getting out, I couldn't let this last obstacle get in my way, I'd come too far for that. I stepped down the stairs and make a run for it, I jump just before the last step and everything moves in slow motion. The last though I had was 'this will hurt'. The door fell with a massive thump.

Stacks and stacks of boxes surrounded me, all with a familiar logo. It was another warehouse but a lot smaller than the one I had come from. It had an illuminating green sign 'EXIT'. Like a mosquito attracted to light, I flew to the sign and to another door.

It had a print out of some work timetable, peoples shifts, what time, time cards and spreadsheets. Everything labelled 'Staff only'. I see some keys hanging from a corkboard but the door doesn't have a lock. I try the handle and I'm free. I made it outside the warehouse. But now, I was inside the shopping centre, more specifically, Target.