4:00 pm

After the call and after she finished her crying, Summer was feeling very dehydrated. She finished eating the rest of her sandwich and drinking some of her water from her bottle. She couldn’t decide if she should try to save the rest of her water… but thirst took over and she finished everything she had in one go. With no food and no water she wondered about her situation.

Coach says she will try to find some way to get me out. But how? What happens if she doesn’t manage? How long will I be here? How long can I be here? I’ll die without food and water first before the monster comes in… I shouldn’t have finished all of the water.

Can it come in? Will the door open?

After she was tired of thinking, she started reading the labels of bottles, arranged the bottles alphabetically, stacked all the cloths she could find, according to colour and size, and arranged the brooms in heights order. She found some flashlights and stacked them up into a high tower. Then she opened up her bag and pulled out her math notebook and started to doodle in the margins.

Afterwards, she fished out her headphones from her bag, plugged it into her phone to listen to some music, and she doze off.

She woke up and went back to sleep and woke up again, several times over again.

2:00 am

Summer woke up to a loud grating noise. The room was in darkness. The building shook or so she thought. She lurched forward. It wasn’t the building. She was leaning against the metal door, and it was opening.

She stared as it crawled upwards and realised that she could see straight out to the dimly lit hallway.

The wooden door in front of her was wide open.

Summer froze.

WHERE IS THE DOOR? Did the metal door opening do that? No, how could it? It was closed! I closed it! Who did that? Was it the monster? Does it know how to open doors? Does it know that I’m here? I have to leave…. Or maybe not, should I get out of here? Is it still in the corridor?

She listened intently for footsteps.

There was no noise.

Would there be noise soon?

She quickly collected her things and stepped outside, bringing with her one of the flashlights she found in the closet. She didn’t turn it on though. She gripped it tight. She was going to use it as a weapon if she needed to.

She tipped toed into the hallway.

There first thing I should do is find somewhere else safe. I can’t leave this section without a key card. Should I look out for one? Should I leave? I need to find food too I guess.

Her stomach grumbled. She paused and stared down at it, angry and frightened.

Did anything hear that? Oh no… I should also look for food. And probably a bathroom.

Luckily the nearest bathroom was a few doors away.

After a little while she began to feel safe, dropping her guard slightly.

She went to the bathroom, filled up her water bottle, and looked into four different rooms. There was no monster. She wondered about going back to her father’s office. She could control the metal door there; it stayed shut when she needed it to. It was safe.

What about food though?

She paused in her tracks. She didn’t know where the monster was, but the fact of the matter was that the monster was not here at the moment. And if it was not here, she should probably take full advantage of the situation.

I remember that the break room is down to the hallway to the left. There are a few snacks there. I ate a cookie there once.

She walked towards the hallway, still slightly cautious, but nothing was there. She shut the breakroom door and scanned the room. There was nothing there. It was darker then the hallway, but she had a flashlight. She flicked it on and searched the cupboards meticulously. When she found some food she stuffed it into her bag. She removed her now very stinky football kit from her bag and her textbooks to make way for more food. Her teachers would understand if she didn’t do her homework surely.

Should I just stay in the breakroom? She thought as she rummaged through the cupboards. It might be safe here. There’s nothing coming for me at least. I can barricade the door with a sofa… I guess I could pee in the sink if push came to shove. Let’s see... 

The breakroom seemed like a very good idea.

Until she opened the cabinet under the sink and something small and black darted straight for her throat.