Today started off as a normal day. We brought boxes in from the huge trucks that park outside the warehouse first thing in the morning. We put the boxes on the correct shelves and labeled them. Until we heard the crash.
Everyone rushed over to the source of the noise quickly, and there, on the floor, was one of our coworkers, crushed underneath a shelf. In a warehouse of 6 people, we all knew each other well, and everyone was shocked. We tried to call 911, but of course, the signal was gone. I don’t know what we expected, our controlling boss had literally put up signal blockers to stop people from “getting off task”. I was the only person in the warehouse who had 5G and could actually get the smallest bit of signal. I called the manager, but there was no response, just the prerecorded message.
Everyone was basically in hysterics, but I tried to stay calm.
“Two people need to leave the building and go look for help. The other two can stay here with me and see if she’s alive.” I said in what I thought was a commanding voice, but I couldn’t even convince myself. I didn’t expect the two coworkers who were staying with me, Sarah and Jess, to try and figure out if Lucy, the girl who was crushed, was alive, so I knew I had to. With a deep breath, i hoisted the shelf up off of her and gasped. She was mutilated, there were deep cuts where the shelf had fallen onto her. I put two fingers on her neck.
“No pulse.” I said solemnly. By then I was ready to just wait until the others got back, but to my surprise one of them was already walking towards us.
“The exits have been blocked.” Josh said. “There’s no way this is really happening.”
I looked around. I knew that Sarah and Jess had stayed with me, and that I had sent Josh and Arun to go get help. But there was no sign of Arun.
I stared at Josh, “Where’s Arun?!”
He looked at the floor and told me that Arun was missing. He said that Arun had gone to the back exit and that he hadn’t seen him since. I was scared, but I didn’t try to put up a facade this time.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no no this isn’t happening…” I mumbled, more to myself then to anyone else.
I had watched Mirror of Murder VI that previous weekend and went straight into survival mode.
“We need to have some kind of protection in case something comes for us.”
Sarah looked concerned, “No, we need to get out of here. Obviously Arun went out the back exit? That’s why he didn’t come back. Help is on the way.”
I wasn’t buying it.
“Nope, no way, I’m not risking my life. Let’s stay here. We have weapons, we have heavy shelves that we can use to block ourselves in.”
Sarah just looked at Jess. Jess, not wanting to betray her best friend, got up and walked over to Sarah.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’m going with her.”
I looked at Josh, and from the look he gave back to me, I knew that he was in my side. Right before I was about to open my mouth to say something, my phone rung. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that I was being by called by an unknown number. I hit the Accept button.
“Please help, she’s dead and my other coworker is missing, please —“
I was interrupted by the other person.
“Don’t worry, it’s Arun, I’m safe and hiding in the storage closet.”
“Oh my god Arun!”
“I’m okay, but something’s in here.”
“In the closet with you?”
“No, in the warehouse. I think there are some weapons in here. Quickly, come to me.”
I agreed and hung up.
“Come on guys, Arun is safe and in the storage closet, but we need to get the quickly. No questions.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and opened her mouth but I repeated that there was to be no questions. We all speed-walked over to the storage closet. I opened the door and something fell out. It was Arun. We all stood there around his body, which was face down on the floor, until a face popped out from the shadows of the closet.
“Run” it snarled.
I shot off and ran as fast as I’ve ever run in my entire life. I turned back and saw it hitting a box over Sarahs head. She had tripped over and was too slow to get back up. I turned back and almost ran straight into a wall. I quickly turned and slammed into the door of the men’s restroom. The nearest stall to the door was the one I chose to hide in. I held my breath and pulled out my phone, desperately trying to call someone.
I heard a loud bang and immediately noticed it as the sound of the door opening. Footsteps started getting closer to me. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes until he spoke up.
“George?” I heard my name, but more than that, I heard my name come out of Josh’s mouth. I whispered as quietly as I could for him to get in to the stall next to me. I saw his feet go into the stall.
And now I’m scared. I keep hearing bangs, screams, laughs, I don’t even know what else. I’m terrified that whatever that thing was will find me. But listen to this: never, EVER go to XXXXXXXX Avenue unless you want to die.