Shove the door closed

She couldn’t just wait there and chance not getting caught. There was a fifty-fifty chance the woman would turn her way when she left. Jen would have to take the initiative and pray it worked.

Facing the door, she placed both hands flat on it and lightly tested it. Immediately she felt resistance and knew the lady was propping it open against the automatic closer. Planting her feet to the ground, Jen leaned forward and shoved.

“Hey!” the lady shouted as she was suddenly thrusted back into the store.

Jen made sure the door latched and then burst into a sprint. Pumping her arms, she let her feet thud along the ground, making the noise Jen had desperately tried to avoid creating for so long. When she was halfway to the branching hall she briefly glanced over her shoulder and saw the shops door was still closed. She turned back forward and tried to run even faster.

As she approached the hall she frantically prayed there would be no one in there. Walking straight into another person would render all of this futile.

Rounding the corner she was elated to see the hall was empty. She slowed to a jog and placed her feet down a bit more gingerly to try to ease the noise she made, but she wasn’t three feet down this hall before she heard the shop door re-open and the lady shouting “what the hell?” Her pace immediately picked up to a half-run, creating some noise but less than she had with her sprinting. If the lady was going to confront whoever shoved her, Jen didn’t want to project her location any more than was necessary.

“What the hell was that about?” the lady shouted. Her voice seemed closer now. Another look back and Jen saw that she was still out of sight. But she wasn’t sure for how long.

Moving into a fast, loping stride, Jen tried to get to the end of the hall as quietly as she could manage without slowing. She still heard the sound of her footsteps, and she knew there would be some echo down these halls but she could only pray it wasn’t enough to give her position away.

Looking over her shoulder again, she confirmed she was still alone. The sound of angry footsteps still approached. But Jen saw the end of the hall coming up and moved towards the right side. She couldn’t afford to stop, not when someone was so close and coming her way. She could only hope thehallwayr was empty.

As she reached the exit Jen gave a last peek over her shoulder. The lady still wasn’t in sight, but she could hear her approach. She rounded the corner and quietly pushed at the crash bar locking the door. The mechanism moved easily and with a minimum of noise. In a matter of seconds Jen made a big enough gap to squeeze through and stepped outside.

She ignored the slight drop in temperature as she exited the building, quickly spinning around and easing the door closed. The latch clicked shut, louder than Jen liked but there was nothing she could do about that now.

Quickly she stepped behind the bushes and looked around. A car started some distance ahead, and she assumed it must be Eve. Then a loud noise of a door opening came from her right.

A short peek told her it was the far service door, on the opposite side of the main entrance. Without waiting Jen moved to the side of the bush, away from this door. She would have preferred to be behind the plants, so no one around the parking lot might see her, but with the lighting sconces nearby she would be clearly visible from the angle the woman was coming from.

She watched through the leaves and branches of the bush as the lady stepped outside and looked around, scowling. She heard the car approaching and looked over. Eve was slowly approaching, and Jen anxiously waved her arm, trying to tell Eve to stop. She must have seen Jen’s movement as the car slowed to a crawl.

The woman looked around the parking lot and to her sides. It seemed that she was looking directly at Jen, but Jen knew if any part of her was visible it would only be the very top of her head. The lady looked the opposite direction for a few seconds, then she glared into the parking lot again. After several moments passed, the woman shook her head and muttered “asshole.” Then she turned around and went back into the mall.

Once the door closed, Jen stepped back behind the bush. She was about to wave to Eve but she heard the engine picking up again. The car swung over to the curb and came to a stop. Jen was around the bushes in a split second. Heading to the car, she could already hear Eve laughing.

Once she dumped herself into the seat and shut the car door, Jen was met by more laughter. She was reaching into the backseat to gather her clothes before Eve could compose herself enough to talk.

“Did she see you?” Eve asked between giggles.

“No,” Jen said, sorting through her clothes, “I don’t think so.”

As Jen grabbed her bra and began dressing, Eve said “well you obviously did something to upset her.”

“Rammed a door closed on her,” Jen said, “which shoved her back into her store.”

This brought a renewed round of cackling from Eve. Jen did her best to ignore her and continued to get dressed as the car wound through the parking lot towards the exit.