Page 5 of The Escape Room

“I’m twenty-seven. Why don’t you think you’re good enough?”

“I’m just not,” I muttered. “Technically, I do everything right. But the feedback I’ve been getting is that I need to loosen up, and that I hold too much of myself back.” That probably applied to my whole life.

“Can’t you do something about that?”

“I don’t know. It’s frustrating. I try so hard and push myself to the absolute limit of what my body can do, but it’s still not enough, and…why am I telling you this?”

He shrugged. “Because you have nothing better to do.”

I redirected the conversation by asking, “What about you? What do you do, besides working as a barista?” As I leaned against the door, I could hear Benji talking on his phone, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“My dream is to become a famous makeup artist. That’s what I absolutely love, and what I’m passionate about. But right now, I’m not even working in the industry.”

“Why not?”

He looked defeated. “I’ve been trying, but nobody’s all that interested in what I do. I guess I’m not skilled or talented enough.”

“Maybe you just need the right inspiration.”

“Maybe you do too, with your dancing.” He probably had a point. I regretted letting the conversation get that personal though, so I just shrugged.

Benji called, “Um, guys? We have a slight problem. I just got off the phone with my uncle Sy. Apparently something went wrong.”

“Could you be more specific?”

“When the power goes out, the door locks are supposed to disengage, so our customers don’t get trapped. But that didn’t happen.”

“Okay. So, what’s the plan for getting us out of here?”

“My uncle’s going to call around and try to find us someone who can help, but he said he might not be able to get anyone out here until tomorrow morning. He’s probably right about that. It’s getting late, and according to my phone’s local news updates, the storm and the power outage are making a mess of things all over the city. He said he’d come if he could, by the way, but he’s currently out of town.”

I asked Ryan, “Are you claustrophobic, diabetic, or anything else that might present a problem in the near future?” When he shook his head, I told Benji, “We’ll be alright in here until your uncle finds someone, or until the city restores the power, whichever comes first. It’s usually back up in a couple of hours when something like this happens.”

Benji asked, “Are you sure? I could bust out the fire axe and try to hack through the door, but that seems a bit extreme.”

I grinned as I pictured him reenacting Jack Nicholson’s famous scene fromThe Shining. “We don’t quite need that level of intervention, but let us know if you figure out a way to trip the locks. In the meantime, we’ll just make ourselves comfortable.”

“Thanks for being so understanding. Can you imagine what the fire marshal would do if he found out our doors stayed locked in an emergency? Not that you guys wanted to be our guinea pigs or anything, but it’s good that we found out about the problem now, and not like, when the building was on fire.” Benji quickly added, “Um, don’t think about the building burning down, because that’s totally not going to happen. Even if a fire did break out, I’ve got that axe to bust you out of there.” Given Benji’s size and the thickness of the door, that actually seemed pretty unlikely.

A worry line appeared between Ryan’s dark brows, and I asked Benji, “Can you get out of the building if you need to?”

“Yeah, the front door has manual locks.”

“So, if there was a fire, you’d escape that way, and Ryan and I would throw a chair through the window and climb onto the roof of the porch. I’d hate to destroy that work of art, but if it’s between us and the stained glass, there’s no contest.”

“For sure. I need to head downstairs and find a flashlight, so I don’t keep draining my phone’s battery. Then I’m going to do an internet search for information on springing faulty locking mechanisms. If you need me, knock and I’ll hear you. Oh, and speaking of phones, I tried slipping yours under the door, but it didn’t fit.”

After Benji left, Ryan murmured, “I wasn’t scared about being trapped in here until he started talking about the building catching on fire.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” When he gave me a hug, I was surprised by how small and fragile he felt in my arms. Then he shivered a little, so I took off my hoodie and draped it over his shoulders. “Are you hungry? Since you came here straight from work, you probably didn’t have time to eat dinner.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Take a seat on the couch, and I’ll move the champagne and berries to the coffee table.”

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