Dan's POV
"Hey, Dan?" I looked up from my computer, surprised to see Alicia standing in the doorway.
"Yeah? What can I do for you, Alicia?" I smiled at the timid apprentice. "Or should I say 'birthday twin'?" we laughed at the strange coincidence. I had only just discovered it the other day, when Morgan and Alicia payed me a visit last week.
"I dunno, Kyle and Morgan took me here and said to make sure you don't leave the building..." she trailed off, clearly confused about Kyle and her friend's actions.
"Weird," was all I managed to say.
"I know right?" Alicia retorted. "Bastards," she frowned.
"Pff, where are my manners? Come in, sit down! I don't want your legs to get tired from standing!" I pointed to one of the leather sofas in my office.
"Thanks, I've been standing all day," she rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed with something. I had no clue, so my gesture of tilting my head must shown my confusion for her situation.
"Oh, sorry...Kyle was teaching me something, but forgot to get a chair for me, and I ended up having to stand there for an hour and a half while Morgan got to sit down," she explained.
"Oh, sorry to hear that you spent your morning suffering..." I said sympathetically. "Kyle can be a retard at times," I rolled my eyes as well.
"Mmm...not 'at times', all the time," she giggled. True.
"Dan?" I glanced at the doorway, utterly confused when I saw Kimberly standing there with a nervous smile on her face. "Kyle said so..." Kim muttered and held up a set of keys before she closed my office door.
"Hey wait!" I leapt out of my rolling chair, failing to stop the door from shutting, and my face hit the carpet.
"Dan! Are you okay?" Alicia rolled me over. "That bastard!!!" she crossed her arms, angrily staring at the locked door.
"So that's why she was in here when I went to the bathroom," I smiled in defeat.
"Huh?"
"Kyle must've instructed her to take my keys. I took a break from writing a file report to use the loo, and well, you can guess the rest," I explained.
"Oh, I see," the protégé laughed. "Now what?" her smile dropped to an upset frown. "What are we gonna do, like, until Kyle lets us out of here?" she asked.
"There's only one other way out- the window," I dramatically pointed to the opening that was letting fresh air into my room.
"Ahaha-actually?" Alicia burst out laughing on the sofa. Unbeknownst to her, I was literally serious about it, since we had no other way out, plus this was the first floor, so we could easily get out without a single scratch.
"Hehehe," I sheepishly laughed, rubbing the back of neck, and giving a small hint to my plan.
"Wait, you're actually serious about it?!" her jaw dropped wide open. I shyly nodded in embarrassment, realizing it was retarded for me to even think of doing that.
"It's fucking stupid, I know," I opened my computer back up, and began to resume my work.
"HELL YEAH! Let's do it!" the protégé's hand slammed down my computer, nearly crushing my hand. 'Teenagers,' I shook my head, quietly chuckling.
"You need help?" I offered, looking at the small window in my office door to make sure no one spotted our escape attempt.
"Dan, please, I'm seventeen, I'll be fine," she scoffed, quietly laughing straight after. "Do you need help? I mean, you might be a bit big to fit through this space," Alicia teased. "After all, you're twenty-nine now, right?"
"Excuse me!" I snapped sassily, "I certainly can fit through that window!"
"I'd like to see you try," the apprentice giggled from outside my office window.
"Challenge accepted!"
I told Alicia to wait a second while I finished up the file, additionally writing a note for Detective Orton, just in case. 'Hope I don't get fired on my birthday,' my eyes stared out the little window of the door, catching a glimpse of Hannah and the other bitchy desk lady chatting outside in the hallway. 'Okay, now's my chance! Just can't let them see me.' I crouched down, attempting to crawl past the door as quietly as possible. But the only dilemma was that the window on the door had been built in the middle; it was narrow but tall in height. 'Crawling's not gonna work, those two can easily spot me. I need to try something else.'
I had to do it. Embarrassing myself was better than being trapped in this room. 'Just do it, Dan, it's only Alicia who's watching right?' I glanced at the confused girl outside my window, sighing as I gave in to my only option. Letting Kyle think he was able to keep us in here was worse than embarrassing myself in front of a teenage girl. And so, I got down on my stomach, flat as a board, here I go- I was going to drag myself across the carpet using my arms and butt. 'Moving like an inchworm, great.' My face swiftly went from worried to utterly mortified, but all I could hope was that Alicia wasn't secretly filming me with her phone.
So, inch by inch, I painfully, and embarrassingly, inched my way to the other side of the door. 'These are the worst thirty seconds of my life! Thanks a lot, Kyle!' I had to go to certain lengths, like forcing myself into believing that David Lynch was waiting on the other side for me, otherwise I most likely wouldn't have budged. The process of being an inchworm was harder than I thought; my sight had to be on both Alicia and the two front desk women. And each time the young protégé dared to whisk out her phone, I shot a glare, making sure she wouldn't take a single shot of me dragging my ass across the carpet.
"Dan? What the hell are you doing?" Alicia made an uncomfortable face, about to giggle at the strange sight. 'I wish you'd understand how hard is it for a tall dude like me to stay under the radar,' I got up, kneeling as I brushed off any dust or dirt particles from my "I Killed Laura Palmer" t-shirt.
"If only you knew how hard it is to be an inchworm," my mouth let out a puff of frustration, and Alicia burst out laughing at my remark.
"Well, hurry up!" the apprentice exaggerated her impatience.
"Okay, okay!" I chuckled at the teenager.
My hands gripped the bottom of the frame of the windowsill, and I gathered up courage and momentum to swing a leg over. 'I'm not the most athletic or flexible,' I silently sighed. 'Just pretend you're riding a horse,' I convinced myself to believe. Minutes passed, and I managed to fit myself through the medium sized frame, luckily doing it in a non-embarrassing fashion. 'I really hope Alicia didn't take a video or picture...' my head turned to see that the teenager was crossing her arms impatiently, the complete opposite of what I'd thought she do. What a relief.
