The Door

Shelly is sitting at her desk, in her cubical, in her windowless office. It is dark outside. She knows this only because the clock says 7 pm. The last one of her co-workers is getting into the elevator on their way home for the weekend. Probably to a family and a warm meal. But Shelly just sits at her desk. There is no one waiting for her at home. So, she digs in deeper to her work to fill the empty hole in her life.

Shelly’s phone makes a noise. She checks it, it’s a text from her mom saying that she is not going to make it this weekend. She replies, “Why not.” Her mom answers, “Because of the weather, haven’t you looked outside.” Shelly checks her weather app and it says that her city is under a blizzard warning.

Just then the lights go out.

Shelly groans to herself. She should have gone home hours ago. Shelly grabs her bag and puts her laptop in, pulls on her winter coat, and turns on her phone’s flashlight. She makes her way to the stairs, thankfully her office is only on the third floor. She gets to second floor and she hears a noise.

“Hello, is somewhere there.” She says as she searches the area with the small light coming from her phone.

“Yes, I’m here. Can you hear me?” Says a male voice.

“I can hear you. Where are you?” Shelly replies.

“I’m in the elevator. It’s stuck. I called the fire department, but they won’t be here for a least an hour because of the storm.” Says the man.

“I will try to find something to open it. I’ll be right back.” Shelly replies.

Shelly has never been on the second floor. It has not been used in the last year. The last company that was in there went belly up because the owner was embezzling money. Last she heard, he was found on a beach somewhere, but had disappeared before he could be arrested.

Shelly opened the door to find that the office looked like a smaller version of her office, but with windows. Oddly, everything is left in it’s place, like the employees were coming back on Monday.

There must be something here to pry open the elevator door, she thought. She finds a supply closet, and conveniently there is a crowbar inside. She makes her way back to the elevator.

“I found a crowbar!” Shelly says.

She jams the tool between the doors and pushes with all her might. The door opens about an inch. Shelly can the see the man inside. He’s a little taller than she is, with dark brown hair, and looks like he cross country skis on the weekends, but wouldn’t turn down an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. The man starts pulling on the right side the door. Shelly pulls on the other side until the door is open wide enough that he is able to get out.

“Thank you.” The man says. “My name is Josh. What’s yours?” He offers his hand.

Shelly realizes that she knows him. He was hired in her office about a month ago to work in the IT department.

She shakes his hand. It’s soft and warm, and creates a feeling in Shelly’s chest that she hasn’t felt in a long time.

“Shelly…My name... is Shelly.” She trips over her words, like she has forgotten how to speak.

“Well, thank you Shelly for helping me out of there. We should get out of here before we get snowed in.”

They make their way down the last flight of stairs to the main entrance. Josh takes out his work badge to unlock the door. He places it in front of the sensor, and nothing happens. Josh pushes the door, and it doesn’t budge.

“I guess we can’t unlock the door without power.” Shelly says confused.

“Well, then we will have to wait for the fire department to get here. Hopefully, they will have a way to open it.” Josh says.

Josh’s stomach grumbles.

“Hungry?” Shelly asks.

“Ya, I skipped lunch today. I have been trying to learn the new security system an I lost track of time.” Replies Josh.

“I’m starving too, there has to be something to eat around here somewhere.”

They make their way back up to the third floor. Shelly tries to open the office door, but it’s locked.

“I forgot, the new security system has it set up that you can only leave the office after 6pm. We won’t be able to get back in until 5am.” Josh says feeling defeated.

“Lets go back to the second floor. That office door is open. Maybe there is an vending machine we can raid.” Shelly offers, trying to be optimistic.

They go back down to the second floor.

“Well, at least we are getting in our steps for the day.” Josh laughs.

They enter the second floor office. The light from the moon reflecting off the freshly fallen snow slightly illuminates the space. Shelly and Josh look around. There is a small breakroom at the back of the office. Shelly opens the fridge and finds that it is full of fresh food.

“That’s odd.” She says. “There hasn’t been anyone working on this floor in over a year.”

“Well, it’s good luck for us I guess.” Says Josh biting into an apple.

Shelly grabs a orange and sits down on one of the plastic chairs by the breakroom table. Josh sits across from her and gets his phone out of his pocket and looks frustrated.

“Everything ok?” Shelly asks.

“My phone must have died from the flashlight being on so much.” Josh says.

“Oh, do you need to call someone. I bet they are worried that you aren’t home yet. You can use my phone.” Shelly offers.

“No, there isn’t anyone waiting for me, just my cat.” Josh laughs. “What about you?”

“No, I don’t even have a cat waiting for me at home. I moved here two years ago for this job, and I haven’t thought about much else since I got here.” Shelly says.

“You know what they say about all work and no play.” Says Josh.

“What?” Shelly says confused.

“I don’t remember, I was hoping you knew the rest.” Says Josh with a smile.

Shelly laughs. They both finish their snack and throw away their garbage. They make their way back towards the door of the second floor. The light from the emergency exit sign lighting their way.

“We should go back to the main door in case the fire department is here.” Shelly says.

“Yes we should.” Josh says. “But, this has been fun, we should do it again sometime.”

“Get locked in our office during a blizzard?” Shelly asks.

“No, hanging out together.” Josh laughs, nervously.

“Oh, sure.” Shelly replies, slightly blushing.

They hear sirens in the distance.

“We should get going.” She says.

Shelly turns to open the door, and she hears something move. She turns her phone’s flashlight on and shines it around the room. Shelly doesn’t see anything that could have made the noise. But, a book on a self in the large office near them catches Shelly’s eye. It’s bright blue, and doesn’t have the light layer of dust that the other books do. Shelly walks over to the shelf and starts to pull down the book. The shelf shifts and she jumps back thinking that it is going to fall.

“Are you ok?” Josh asks.

“Yes.” Just then Shelly sees the opening. “It’s a door.”

“What?”

“The shelf, it’s … it’s a door.” She says.

Josh walks closer as Shelly pulls the secret door open.

She stares inside. “What… the … .”