Hide in the stalls

In a snap Jen made up her mind and bolted to the stalls. There were a total of four of them, two on the left and two on the right. She picked the one on the far right, dipped inside and pushed the door closed. She almost spun the lock but caught herself, knowing that would be a dead giveaway that someone was in here well after the mall was supposed to be closed. The door eased open a few inches before coming to rest.

Jen stepped onto the toilet seat, so her feet would be out of view when the janitor entered. She had just gotten into an almost-comfortable crouching position when she heard the restroom door opening.

For a few seconds Jen heard footsteps and the thrumming wheels of the cart before the room fell silent again. A moment later she could hear sounds of movement, followed by two light thumps. Jen leaned forward, wanting to peek out of the doorway but she felt her balance faltering and she pushed herself back.

Is she going to clean the sinks first? She wondered.

Her question was answered a moment later when she heard a quick splash of water followed by the cart moving towards her again. Realizing that the janitor had just put the mop into the bucket of cleaner, she knew that the stalls were about to be cleaned first.

Jen waited to move until the cart stopped moving. Praying the janitor was close enough that she couldn’t see under the stalls, she stepped off of the toilet and started lowering herself to the floor. Soon she was able to peer under the walls and saw the janitor stepping about just outside the nearest stalls.

No way she can see me, Jen thought.

The door to the stall neighboring Jen swung open and she saw a broom start sweeping around the floor. Seeing this as an opportunity to move from one stall to the next, Jen laid flat on the ground. A sense of disgust hit her, laying on the floor of a public restroom, but she told herself not getting caught was more important. She could shower once she got home.

The broom swung around the sides of the toilet, sweeping small bits of dirt and dust towards the entrance. Jen held completely frozen as the broom came near her, slightly crossing under the wall of the stall with some of the bristles lightly scraping against Jen’s skin. Her heart was racing as she hoped the cleaning lady wouldn’t feel any unexpected resistance against the broom.

A few seconds later the broom pulled back and out of the stall. She watched the janitor’s feet and saw her stepping towards the stall Jen was currently inside. As soundlessly as she could, Jen slid herself under the wall and into the neighboring stall.

The janitor gave no indication that she’d heard anything, continuing sweeping out the stalls. Once the stall Jen had started in was mopped out she watched the cleaning lady turn and start clearing the floor of the stalls across the aisle.

Jen’s first instinct was to move back to the stall she had started in, but she knew she couldn’t be certain the janitor would mop the stalls out in the same order she swept them in. Jen knew that when she mopped she always started from the furthest point away from an exit and worked backwards. She chose to wait and see where the janitor would go first.

Soon the janitor had swept out all four stalls and she shuffled the dirt out of the aisle and next to a sink. She turned back to the cart and Jen heard the water splashing again. She kept her eyes on the janitor, ready to slide back under the wall if necessary.

The cleaning lady turned towards the stall directly across from Jen and began swishing the mop about. She swept it across the floor, pressing hard into one spot then pulled the mop out and stepped to the next stall over. Soon the floor in that quadrant was cleaned up and Jen saw the janitor turn back towards the cleaning cart.

Jen slid under the wall into the stall she had begun in. When the janitor took a few steps Jen was certain she was going to rinse the mop out before cleaning these two stalls. She got to her feet as quickly as she could in such a cramped space, swinging the stall door out. A quick peek through the doorway confirmed the cleaning lady was facing away and Jen stepped out of the stall, taking two quick steps and entered the one that had just been cleaned out.

One foot got wet as Jen entered the stall and stepped up onto the toilet. She eased the door closed just as she heard the janitor returning to finish her mopping.

Glancing at the floor Jen could see a clear footprint below her. If the janitor didn’t have any reason to re-enter the stall she shouldn’t notice it. Still, she didn’t like seeing the blatant evidence of her presence.

The janitor came back down the short aisle and Jen listened as she cleaned out the other two stalls, then she could see the mop briefly as it started at the end of the aisle and started sweeping along, heading backwards.

Once the aisle was cleared Jen tried to keep her patience, listening to the janitor as she did various tasks around the room, presumably cleaning the sinks and cleaning the rest of the floor. Her thighs were starting to cramp and she was tempted to sit down, but was worried the janitor might notice her feet. But eventually her patience was rewarded by the sound of the cleaning cart’s rumbling wheels as the janitor left the room.

Immediately stepping down from the toilet, Jen left the stall and hurried to the door. She didn’t hear the cart rolling for long and she pulled the restroom door open a crack to peek outside. The men’s room door across from her was just closing with a light thump.

Finally, she thought.

Eager to get back on the move Jen cautiously exited the restroom and started heading down the hallway, back to the mall commons.

Upon exiting the corridor she turned left, pointing herself towards the mall exit. She set into a light jog, constantly looking around her for any signs of life, the slightest movement that might indicate she wasn’t alone. She saw nothing and didn’t pause to hide until she was getting close to the end of the mall.

She saw the corridor that would take her back to the service hallway, near the mall exit. Hastening her pace even more, she glanced around one more time as she entered the hall, passed the closed door of the security office and moved quickly towards her exit.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Jen paused momentarily to listen. She heard absolutely nothing. No one walking around, no shuffling of trash, no voices. She leaned forward and looked down the hallway. No folded boxes or bags of trash remained, only an empty corridor. Looking the other direction she saw the steel door that would take her outside.

With two fast steps Jen was at the door, pushing the crash bar in and peering outside. The parking lot was close to empty now, less than 10 cars sporadically sitting on the asphalt. She exited the building and stepped to her left, quickly lowering herself behind the bushes.

Just as she was getting out of sight she heard a car engine coming to life, followed by headlights popping on up ahead. Jen watched as the car exited it’s parking spot and started turning towards her hiding spot.

Come on, Eve, Jen thought, already knowing who was at the wheel. I just want to get the hell out of here.

The car moved across the lot, swinging out wide before turning hard to Jen’s right, pulling up against the curb. Jen was already stepping out of hiding when Eve leaned forward and pushed the passenger door open for her.

Once Jen had flung herself into the seat and slammed the door shut she reached into the back seat and started grabbing her clothes, ignoring Eve’s laughter.

“Well that seemed to have taken you a while,” she said between giggles, “you must have gotten caught up somewhere.”

“You try it sometime,” Jen said icily as she started pulling her bra on, “see if you can do any better.”

Eve burst into renewed laughter at this while she drove towards the exit, before saying “oh, but it’s so much more fun to ask you to do it for me!”

Jen didn’t reply, focused on getting dressed while Eve drove her home.