Page 22 of My Girl

I ease the door open and find a cupboard space with nothing more than a “Caution, floor wet” sign and some toilet rolls and hand towels neatly stowed in it. I’m for sure small enough to fit in the space and waste no time doing exactly that.

It’s no easy feat getting the handle-less door shut, but I manage it somehow. It’s dark in the cupboard now the door is closed. Feeling around in my purse, I take my phone out again for a little light.

Shit. My phone. Maybe I can call someone for help. I scroll to my best friend’s number back in Seattle and hit the call icon. Nothing. I end the call and try again with the same results. Damn it. Now’s not a good time to have no signal.

I’m just about to throw my phone back into my purse in disgust when it strikes me I should probably put it on silent. In case the signal comes back. My hiding place is going to be pointless if they find me because my cell picked an inopportune time to reconnect to the network and make a noise. I take note of how much battery power I have as I turn the ringer off.

Who knows how long I’m going to be stuck in this tiny closet? In the dark. At the thought, I breathe harder.Calm. Happy thoughts. Puppies. Unicorns.I chant the refrain over and over in my head. My breathing has only just started to slow when I think I hear a sound in the room beyond, and it speeds right back up.

Oh God, please don’t let them find me.Calm. Happy thoughts. Puppies. Unicorns.The litany plays once again on repeat in my head.

Another noise sounds even closer, and I swear my heart is about to explode. I can feel the hysteria bubbling within me and bite my lip, hard, in an attempt to stay as quiet as I possibly can. I barely dare to breathe at all now.

I jerk in fright as the outer door bursts open and a man speaks rapidly. I can’t understand a word he says, but whomever he’s talking to is clearly the person I heard moving around. When the second person, also a man, answers, it’s from the other side of the mirrored door.

In that moment, I can one-hundred percent understand why some people soil themselves when they’re frightened. Because, sweet Mother of Mercy, I almost pee my pants right there.

I have no idea what the two men are loudly discussing but could cry with relief as I hear them leave the room and the door closes behind them, plunging the room back into silence. I wait for a bit to see if they come back before sinking to the floor of the cupboard, my shaking legs about to give out.

I have no idea how much time passes as I sit in the cramped, dark space, listening for any sound, trying not to make any myself. But I must doze off at some point because I suddenly jolt back to consciousness. I have no idea what woke me, but I strain to hear any noise. Nothing.

Then I quit breathing as the only barrier between me and the outside world slowly begins to swing open.