Rollo

Zing! Zing! Zing! I flop my arm over and smash my alarm clock button. Ugh. Work. Rinse. Repeat. I get myself moving by sitting up and chugging water from the mason jar that’s always on my bookshelf bed frame. I am not a coffee person, just give me some freezing cold water and I’m dandy. I get up and jump into a blazing hot shower to start my dismal day.

After pulling up into the parking garage, I sit in my Jeep and close my eyes with my head against the head rest. Inhale. Exhale. Getting myself mentally prepared for the onslaught of noises and people and chaos. I’m not good with any of those things which is why it’s ironic that I’m the manager of about six hundred employees. I work in a warehouse and we make and distribute dog treats. I make sure employees are on task and equipment is running smoothly and report to my boss, Haylee, which just so happens to be the grand daughter of the owner. She’s a gem. Last week she saw an employee leave his station of, counting how many treats to put in a bag, so he could vomit in a nearby trash can, and she actually screamed at him, literally, like that’s acceptable behavior! I wasn’t surprised, she’s a spoiled child who has been given everything she has and has never worked for anything in her life. She was given this job because her mother, my actual boss up until two months ago, is now at home receiving chemotherapy. Breaks my heart. I love Linda, she’s pretty feisty though, so I think she’ll kick cancers ass.

“Hey Shelly!”

”Morning boss!”

”How goes it?” Ugh morning people.

”Hey everyone, how we doing today? Ready to make some puppers happy?” I say to the crew of baggers I’m walking by to get up into my office. “You know it boss!” Says a particularly up beat 20 something year old. I sigh. Ahh to be young again. I mean I’m not ancient but I’m no spring chicken either. Thirty four is the new 40 right?

I get up into my office without running into miss bitch and I breath easier. After a couple of hours as I’m typing on my laptop about sales and growth and projections when it gets dark, really dark out my window. My brow furrows as I pull back my curtain and gasp. There is a full on black cloud that is dumping snow faster and thicker than I have ever seen. The fountain outside is completely gone, just a layer of white. I run out into the hall way and Haylee comes around the corner just as the power cuts off.

“What the hell??” She yells my way.

“A blizzard.“ I say. The lights come back on and we both look up at each other. “Tell the employees to go home.” She snaps.

”We all need to leave now if we’re to have any chance of making it home.” I answer. She studies me with a sneer on her pudgy face. “I’ll tell them on my way out, but I need you to stay and lock up after everyone is out.”

“I’ll be stuck here! I can’t wait that long I have to get home to my dog!” I panic. She turns her gaze on me “If you do not lock these doors Shelly, don’t bother coming back after the blizzard.” I look at her and see the last 10 years of my life wiped away with one fit from her and ground my teeth together. “Fine.” I spit the word at her.

A warehouse alone is Unnerving to say the least. Everyone left and I was about to leave as well when my mom had called me from my house and told me she was there with my dog Rollo, and that I shouldn’t leave at all. Apparently there were multiple reports of people crashing into one another or sliding off of the road. I wasn’t frantic to get home now so I agreed to stay. But looking around me in this vast space with no people milling about, I was regretting my decision a fraction.

I wandered around the place and just looked at everything, not much going on just big machines and bags and boxes. I meandered up into my office and decided to snoop around since I had the chance. I strolled down the hallway to Haylee’s office, looked behind me for no apparent reason and went in.

Papers and fast food wrappers littered the office. It stunk of old food and what was that? Mold? Ugh, disgusting. Aborting the snoop I turned to leave and something shiny caught the corner of my eye. It came from the corner of the filth filled room underneath the arm rest of a recliner that had soda spilled and pooled in the seat. I walked over to it, nearly falling as I waded through a sea of garbage. I knelt down and poked at it with my fingernail. It was definitely metal and looked to be sewn in just under the arm rest. I looked around and found a letter opener within reach. Careful not to cut it noticeably I sliced through the chair and pulled out a skeleton key. Umm, weird.

I walked the hallways looking at every doorknob I passed and there were quite a few, but no matches. I scratched my head. Where the hell could this have come from? Defeated I walked to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. How long would I be stuck here and did the break room have enough food. “I’m fucked.” I said to my reflection. As I stood there staring at myself with water dripping from my face, I noticed a closet door that I had never noticed before. Turning sharply I rushed over and looked at the skeleton key hole on the door. I grinned as I fished the key out of my pocket and shoved the key in to hear the satisfying click.

I did not expect blinding light from the likes of a bathroom closet, but that’s what I got. I held my hand to shield my eyes and as they adjusted, confusion engulfed me. There was a wall of what looked like cubbies that were back lit and they all held different types of dog treats that I had not yet ever seen or heard of. They were our brand but the labels read weird things like, instant heal, double lifespan, walk on two legs etc. I walked the length of the wall and read all of the crazy treat bags. ”These cannot be real.” I mused to myself. I came across one that said translates. Hmmm. I always wanted to know exactly what Rollo was thinking but you never can with your pets, but, if this were real and I wasn’t in a pool of my own blood somewhere hallucinating while dying, then I had to take some of this stuff. Could you imagine?! I grabbed one treat that said translate, one instant heal, one double lifespan, one tracking and one happy. I shoved them into my pockets hoping no one would be missing them and walked out and locked the door again. I walked in a daze back to my office thinking about all of the possibilities of those treats. Who made them? Why was the key hidden? Are they real? My mind raced as my body ached of exhaustion. It was dark out now and I didn’t know where the time had gone. I snuggled into my chair with a blanket that I kept neatly folded in the corner and let my mind wander as I drifted to sleep.

I woke with a start and realized I was in my office drooling on to my plush reading chair. Wiping my shame away I sat up and everything creaked and cracked in my body. I stood up and grabbed a bottled water from my mini fridge. Pulling back the curtains, relief flooded me as snow plows ran up and down the road afar which means they probably already plowed the entrance of the parking garage. I threw on my coat and grabbed my keys and purse. After locking the building up I made my way to my Jeep through the thick snow.

Rollo barks as I put the keys into the lock and fling open the door to get greeted with a big kiss to the face as he put his paws on each shoulder. “Hey baby! How’s my boy? You want a treat?!” I went for the normal treat bag and remembered the treats in my pocket as Rollo noticed them at the same time. I didn’t write them down but they were all different colors so I thought back, orange for translate. Ok here goes nothing. I flip him the treat and he catches it like the good boy he is. He wolfs it down and stares at me for more. I stare back, waiting. Nothing happens. “I’m a total idiot.” I tell my dog. He doesn’t reply. Damn. What did I expect, my dog to start gabbing with me like one of two friends? Ugh. “Well, I guess that’s why they were locked away, total bullshit.” I say.

“You shouldn’t cuss so much mom.” A deep male voice comments. I freeze and look at him. “What? Is there someone at the door?” He goes to the door and sniffs. I watch him, silently horrified. “Mom, more treats?” He sits and looks at me expectantly.

“Rollo” I say tentatively.

”Mom.” He replies without moving his furry mouth.

“Holy shit!” I squeal.

”Mom! Stop cussing at me.”

I gape at him and then everything goes black.