Up the ladder

The more Jen considered sneaking along the counter the more she disliked that idea. That would put her uncomfortably close to the manager. Finally she settled on trying to hide in the ceiling.

Stepping over to the ladder, she gripped it and gave it a slight nudge. The sturdy aluminum ladder didn’t totter, all four legs braced against the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it shouldn’t make much noise as she climbed.

Without wasting any more time, Jen lifted a foot and planted it on a rung. She shifted her weight steadily, listening for any signs that the ladder might creak. Nothing.

She continued up the ladder in the same fashion, planting her foot and easing her weight over, vigilant for any metallic groans that the ladder might make. Her head poked into the suspended ceiling, then her shoulders. The space was about three feet high, a grid of aluminum holding up myriad tiles. Several vertical and diagonal struts crisscrossed from the frame up to the roof, keeping everything securely anchored. To her left a wide rectangular vent shaft ran across the ceiling. Even through the dark she could already see there were no walls to block her from going over to other stores.

Continuing up the ladder, Jen had to duck her head down to fit into the area. She reached out and gripped one of the struts and continued upwards. A quick glance down told her that she was on the last two rungs of the ladder. Now was the tricky part.

She climbed further, hunkering down more as she did when she felt her head brushing against the roof. She was now standing on the top rung of the ladder. With her free hand she pressed down on the aluminum grid that held the tiles. Feeling a slight give to the material, she knew that this wouldn’t support her weight. She gripped one of the diagonal struts and shook it, lightly then with more ****. It didn’t budge.

Gripping the strut tightly, she awkwardly lifted her right leg up. In the bent over position, her knee got close to her face as she pulled the leg in but soon it was clear of the ceiling tiles. Balancing on one leg, she reached her bare foot out and placed it onto the diagonal strut. After shifting her foot a few times she felt like she got it into a secure position that would hold her weight.

She tried to lift the leg that was still outside of the ceiling but the unwieldy position she held made that difficult. She moved her arms, grabbing vertical struts until she felt that she could get some leverage. She was careful to lift her left leg to avoid tipping the ladder over.

Her shin began to brush against the ceiling frame as she pulled it into the cramped space,finally setting it on the diagonal girder below her right foot. Gripping vertical struts on either side of her, she was able to maintain some balance and look at her surroundings.

It was dark enough that she couldn’t see all the way to the end of the mall but her vision had adjusted to the dark enough to make out some detail. She was able to pick out a path along girders that she could take to get further down the mall. A part of her felt it was wiser to stay put and wait for the manager to leave for the night, but she knew that she was in a tiring position. Leaning back against a girder in a bent over position, holding onto two struts to stop herself from sliding forward onto the grid framework. If the manager was going to be working for another hour or two then she could be stuck her for a long while.

She began slowly making her way across the ceiling, keeping her hands on the vertical struts and stepping onto the diagonal ones. The struts hadn’t pressed into her feet too badly when she was standing parallel on the bar, but now, with a narrow strip of metal pressing into the soles of her feet, they were starting to ache. Jen moved as quickly as she could without making a sound and soon she found herself standing over top of one of the interior walls.

She stepped onto the wooden frame between the two pieces of drywall to rest her feet for a moment. Her low back was starting to ache from staying bent over for so long, but she would be able to tolerate it for a while longer.

With another store next to her now, she bent down and listened carefully. She thought she heard motion below but she wasn’t certain. She reached for the edge of the nearest ceiling tile and gingerly lifted it. A beam of light immediately cut through the gap, as well as the sound of footsteps. Cursing her luck and regretting the loss of her night vision, she set the tile back down. She would have to keep moving.

Getting back onto the girders, the break she’d given her feet didn’t stop the throbbing ache from coming back almost immediately. Moving along the construction, she began to feel discomfort in her ankles from holding them in an awkward position on the diagonal struts.

She was about halfway across the store when she moved her foot onto a girder and a slight groan escaped. Holding completely still, Jen listed for any indication that the employees below had noticed anything. Silence greeted her, but she had no reason to think she’d hear anything less than a shout now. She waited for a moment, the pain in her rear foot increasing as it took the bulk of her weight, before she eased forward. The strut didn’t make any more noise and Jen was able to continue onward.

Finally reaching the next wall Jen was able to step onto the wooden edge. She took a quiet sigh of relief as the pain in her feet began to subside. She had been considering moving along the ceiling to the very end of the mall, but exhaustion and soreness told her this wouldn’t be an option. She’d have to drop down soon. She bent and lifted the nearest ceiling tile and saw darkness. Crouching down she listened carefully and heard nothing.

Lifting the tile further and she saw a shelf directly in front of her, covered in boxes of exercise bands. She was now over a sporting goods store. She knew the shelf wouldn’t hold her weight and dropping down from the ceiling here would cause a real mess.

Peering around the room she saw a standing shelving unit ahead and to the left. The top was wide enough for her foot and flat, a few tennis shoes on display here and there.

Setting the tile down, she moved along the wooden wall border a few yards and returned to stepping along the girders.

Gripping tightly to a vertical strut, she carefully balanced herself as she lifted a tile. The shelving unit was directly below her. She pulled the tile up and set it ahead of her.

Turning around while balanced on diagonal girders wasn’t easy, but Jen managed to do it without falling over. She began easing one leg down and out through the space she’d made, moving one hand to a diagonal strut to lower herself. She felt her foot touch the top of one shoe and she nudged it off the shelf with her toes, hearing it fall to the ground below. Finally, another few inches down, she felt the top of the shelf underneath her and placed her weight on that foot.

Her other leg stretched painfully from the position she’d placed herself in. A combination of pulling it back and shifting her planted foot about allowed her to get out of the ceiling. Now she stood with her shoulders and head still over the aluminum framing, her feet relieved to be on a flat surface again.

Pulling the tile back into place, some dust settled from the ceiling and fell onto her and the shelf below. Jen closed her eyes and finished placing the tile where it belonged.

With a quick crouch and a hand on the shelving unit she quickly dropped to the floor, feeling carpet under her feet once again. She grabbed the shoe she had knocked over, blew the dust off the shelf and then placed the sneaker back where it had been previously.

Glancing around she saw some dust from the ceiling on the ground. She realized it was likely that someone would realize something had happened in the store, but Jen wasn’t going to take anything so there wouldn’t be any theft to report. If the cops were called over this, Jen couldn’t see them doing anything more than taking down a report and moving on with their lives.

Jen moved into the back room of the store and paused at the door leading to the hallway. A quick listen revealed nothing, so she turned the handle and opened the door a crack. Light from the service hallway spilled inside, but she still heard no sound. She opened the door further and peered through the gap. The corridor seemed empty. After a moment, Jen summoned the nerve to poke her head out the door.

The hallway was bare now, no inventory boxes or trash bags along the walls. She considered moving to the front of the store and seeing if there would be any places to hide in the commons, but decided that she had to be close enough to the end of the mall that the service corridor would be safer and easier. With a little luck she could walk straight to the exit without having to find a way to hide.

Jen entered the hallway and immediately set into a walk, letting the shop’s door close behind her. Following the hallway’s slight curve around, soon an exit door came into sight.

I can take that way out if I have to, Jen thought, but it would be much better to get to the hallway I started in.

Further along the curve she saw two shop doors side by side on the left, and another hallway branching off the service corridor shortly before the exit she’d spotted a moment ago.

Great, that hallway should take me to the exit Eve’s expecting me at.

As she neared the first of the two store doors, Jen heard noise inside and froze. The noise stopped and she tiptoed forward to try to listen for any other sounds. She’d only paused for a few seconds when the door started to swing open towards her.

Jen quietly pressed herself flat against the wall, hiding in the makeshift corner it made with the opening door.

“You sure you don’t need anything else?” a female voice came from the other side of the door.

Jen faintly heard a man’s voice from deeper in the store saying they were good and the lady could take off.

“I don’t mind staying, honestly,” the lady said in reply.

As they conversed two ideas sprang to Jen’s mind simultaneously. Her first idea was to wait here and hope the departing woman was going to head to the exit ahead, and not towards Jen. If she turned this way there was no way Jen could avoid being seen. Jen also considered shoving against the door, forcing it back closed, and Jen could try to sprint for the branching hallway before the employee got back into the service corridor. Jen didn’t trust that she was strong enough to pull this off if the lady’s reflexes were good, but she knew she’d have the element of surprise.

No time! She thought, do something now!