Hide in the fridge.

Deciding that being stuck half in the cabinet was a real danger, Jen settled on hiding in the refrigerator. Glancing to the front of the restaurant again, she saw that both employees were still facing away from her. Getting to her feet, she quickly stepped out of hiding and up the short hallway. Slipping inside, the cold from the room immediately started to bite at her exposed skin. Jen gripped the inner door handle and pulled, not closing the door but reducing the opening to a mere crack. She wasn’t sure how loud it would be if she closed it, and didn’t want to take the chance of drawing attention to herself.

The inside of the fridge was lined with steel racks, each covered with various food. Bags of lettuce, packages of cheese, cartons of tomatoes. To her left, the wall beyond the racks had a series of small doors built in, likely to allow workers in the kitchen quick access the most commonly needed items. Moving deeper inside, Jen saw a gap between the end of the last shelf and the cold metallic wall. She hastily moved to the gap and backed into it before crouching down. If someone did enter the room this was the only thing remotely like a hiding place. The rack and some food didn’t cover much of her, but she might not be noticed by a casual glance inside.

As she settled into the hiding spot she leaned against the wall out of habit but immediately shifted back away from it, the cold nipping at her back and shoulder immediately. She could feel her skin breaking into goosebumps.

Jen listened carefully. She realized that the walls were thick and she could hear very little, only a light hum of the refrigerator’s condenser. Looking to her side, she noticed that the nearest quick-access mini-door was well within reach. She bent forward and placed a hand on it, pressing lightly. The door shifted slightly before catching against the latch. There wasn’t a handle on this end to open the latch, but even if there was Jen wouldn’t touch it. The small gap allowed a minimum of noise in from the outside, and it might not be open enough for anyone to take notice.

She craned forward, bending between two steel shelves, to get her ear closer to the opening. Her stomach lightly touched the shelf below her, but every adjustment she made to avoid touching the cold metal put her further away from the door. Ultimately she decided it was best to hear what was happening and deal with the unpleasant temperature than to lose any perspective on what was happening outside.

Focusing on sound again, Jen realized that a set of footsteps were coming towards her. Her initial reaction was to stop pushing upon the mini-door but she held completely still, listening carefully. The steps grew louder, someone clearly approaching, but at a casual pace. After a moment the footsteps started to grow quieter again.

The refrigerator door suddenly shut, the noise surprisingly loud. Jen jumped in shock, her back bumping the shelf above her and a small, quiet cry escaping her lips before she silenced herself. She paused, eyes locked on the large door in front of her, expecting to open again as an employee opted to investigate the noise. The door stayed closed. The thick walls of the room had worked in her favor.

Putting her ear back to the mini-door she pushed against, Jen started to feel a light pain in her feet from the exposure to the cold. The floor in the refrigerator was cold and there was no good way to avoid standing on it. The metal racks looked strong enough to hold some boxes but not support a person’s weight. She had no other choice but to deal with the unpleasant sting.

She re-focused on listening through the gap. She heard some light shuffling from a distance and after a moment the footsteps started to come back. She couldn’t get a good sense of direction from the tiny opening, but she assumed it was whoever closed the fridge door, returning to the front of the restaurant.

Another few seconds passed and Jen heard the young man saying “I think I left the fridge door open for a while, sorry.”

Then the female voice came, Jen barely making out her saying “Don’t worry about it. Keeping it open all night would be a real problem.”

Both employees were well away from the refrigerator now. Jen continued to listen until she felt a dull ache in her nipples. The cool air had hardened them to the point they now began to hurt.

Maybe I can get back to the hallway now, she thought. I was hoping to stay here until they leave but who knows how long that might take…

Letting the mini-door settle back into place, Jen pulled herself back out from between the two shelves and side-stepped out from behind the rack. Quickly moving up to the door, her feet nearly numb from the cold, she gripped the handle. A light push confirmed the door was latched and she would have to re-open it. Telling herself that she can release the handle if it sounds like it’s going to make a loud noise, her face involuntarily clinched as she added pressure. She heard nothing and eventually she felt the handle tensing. She was starting to really engage the latch now. She lifted the handle harder and felt the springs giving way, eventually rewarded with a light ‘click’ as the door popped open.

Relieved that the mechanism hadn’t been as noisy as she feared, Jen pushed the door open and listened. All noise still seemed to come from the front of the restaurant. She poked her head through the gap and looked that direction. Both the woman and the younger man were busily working away, cleaning and setting things up for the next day.

Jen stepped out of the fridge door and immediately moved to the stock room, creating distance between herself and the employees. The back door remained wide open. Creeping forward she reached an angle where she could see that the trash cart was gone. No noise came from the hallway, and Jen cautiously exited the kitchen.

Now back in the hallway she began moving fast. She still felt chilled from spending several minutes in the fridge and hoped that being back on the move would get her blood flowing again.

She reached the hallway on the right and paused to glance around the corner. There was no one there, and large double doors stood at the end of the short side-corridor. As she was starting to wonder where this might lead, a voice came from distantly behind her.

“I thought you said you’d closed the refrigerator door.”

It was the woman working in the kitchen, Jen realized, her voice carrying through the door and down the hall as she questioned her co-worker. Fearing that the discrepancy might get them to venture into the hallway in an effort to investigate, Jen sped up her pace and left them behind her.

As she rounded the curve of the hallway, Jen kept glancing back over her shoulder. Eventually the door into the kitchen was out of sight. Her nerves lightly settled and she looked back forward. Several trash bags were stacked up here. Apparently the janitor who’d been using the cart hadn’t gotten to these yet. No inventory boxes littered the section Jen could see, and she expected that they’d all been carried in by now.

Half-jogging further down the hallway, Jen arced along the hallway’s curve and saw two doors on the left, both closed and obviously leading into the stock rooms of two stores. Another stack of trash bags littered the ground, piled against the right side of the mall opposite the doors.

I have to be over halfway down the hall by now, Jen thought, though a part of her knew she couldn’t be certain without having any idea what stores she was outside of.

She was about to walk past the garbage bags when she heard noise further down the hallway. Quickly ducking down, she got behind the trash bags and leaned against the wall.

“Man, I can’t believe my ride still isn’t here,” she heard a male voice coming from that direction. “Guy said he’d be here by now.”

“You can take the bus with me,” another man’s voice came, “it’s cheap and I can tell you which stop is closest to you.”

“Nah, he’ll be here any minute. Has to be, it can’t take that long to get here.”

Jen sat on the ground next to the trash bags, her knees pulled up to her chest, and prepared to wait. She felt it likely that they would both be leaving soon, and if she could wait them out then she’d be able to keep going along the hall to the end.

Looking across from her, she glanced at the two store doors and realized that one of them wasn’t completely closed. A small sliver of darkness was visible between the door and its jamb.

I hope that’s left open by accident and it doesn’t mean someone’s about to come out here.

Another moment passed and the voices came back down the hallway.

“Shit, he’s finally here,” the first voice said.

“Oh yeah? Let’s get moving then.”

“Nah, he’s waiting by the trash bins at the delivery dock. My store’s a little closer that way, that’s where he always picks me up me. You good to get home? I’m sure my friend will drive you.”

“I’m set, I always take the bus. Good time to unwind after work.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

The conversation stopped and the sound of footsteps reached Jen’s ears. She had no idea where the garbage bins were but felt a sense of relief as she knew both men were leaving.

Her nerves weren’t calmed for long as she realized one pair of the footsteps were coming her way.

I guess I might know what’s at the end of the corridor I just passed, she thought in a panic.

The first thought Jen had was to grab one of the trash bags at her side and hold it in front of her. A quick look at them told her that there was no way she could be completely covered by these. There were four bags, and while she could hide completely behind a stack of three to her side, one bag in front of her wouldn’t block her from view from head to toe, much less from her left side as well.

Maybe I could hold it up in front of my head, only my feet would show? If he walks fast he might not notice me…

Then she remembered the unlatched store door in front of her. Looking that way she saw it was still open, practically inviting her to come hide in there. But she had no clue if someone might still be in the store. Even if it was dark, she couldn’t be sure the lights weren’t still on in the front of the store while someone finished the night’s work.

With the footsteps growing louder, Jen knew it was only a matter of seconds before the approaching man came around the curve and into view.