A Bright Red Lolipop

Write about someone who gets stuck in their workplace during a blizzard and decides to explore rooms they aren’t normally allowed in.

There is something magical in stepping on pure, white, untouched snow. It’s the triumphant feeling of knowing you’re the first one to step on it. And you know it’s stupid, but when you’re looking at the blank white covering of snow, and you’re planting your foot deep into the blanket of purity, you can’t help but feel that burst of adrenaline. I’m the first one to step foot here. I’m the explorer. I’m the first. 

But the magic doesn’t last as you trudge your stiff winter boots through the wet, cold, abysmal snow. If you can call it snow. Since the longer the snow sits out in the sun, the more it transforms. If you’re lucky, it hardens. You can’t shovel it away, you can’t walk over it without slipping, and you dread driving anywhere.

 But if you’re unlucky, it gets soft. I’m talking about the slush. And this isn’t the friendly Strawberry Icee you got last year at the fair, oh no. This is cold, wet, dirty sludge. So, you pull your boots up high and hope for the best. But it always finds a way to slip into your socks and poison your good mood. It turns your whole life into cold and wet.

But today, the snow was snow. Soft and fresh-fallen. It has a way of making you think winter is wonderful. Hot cocoa by the fire, fresh snow hitting the ground, snow forts, ice skating, snow tubing, skiing, and everything in between. Your mind becomes a happy little slur of winter joy. But I’m not one to fall for the charade. I know what winter’s about. 

And as the happy little flakes danced outside the window of the office, I wondered how I had wound up in a hidden laboratory under the employee bathroom. And it all began with a lollipop. 

It was late and I still hadn’t left “Sammie’s Crafts ’n Such” that I had grown all too familiar with. It was getting dark, but in the dead of winter, that didn’t mean all that much. It was obvious nobody was going to stop by for some yarn, so everyone had left. They had families to return to. Lives to live. I figured I would stay in the shop, wait until closing time. I figured I might as well- what else would I do? Go home to an empty house? Let the snow pile up outside my window? Wait for nothing to happen?

And part of me said You’ll get snowed in! You’ll be stuck at work! Go home, enjoy yourself, don’t do this! Oh, but I’ve grown good at ignoring that part of me. The one looking out for me. The one who cares. It’s the easy one to ignore.

And sure enough, the snow didn’t wait up. It poured down, covering everything in its wake. Nobody in their right mind would be out there. It was as if we were all asleep. Hibernating. Waiting.

And soon enough, I ran into a serious problem. I was hungry. And there didn’t seem to be any food laying around. Sure, there were the snacks by the check-out aisles, stocked with sodas and chips galore. But I know how much they charge for those things, and no way would I be paying for one. And while the thought crossed my mind, I decided I needed to be really desperate to steal a can of Coke from an empty craft-supply store. And maybe part of me worried I couldn’t pull it off. 

A little exploring never hurt anyone, so I decided to look in the back. Meg keeps her “emergence stash” somewhere, but I didn’t know where. And if I did find it, she would hunt me down and tear me to pieces.

So that was a no on Meg’s stash. But someone else must have had something back there. Anything would do. Except Jennett’s health bars.

She brought a big stack of them, left them in a box on the table, said they were up for grabs. Of course, everyone was skeptical. You don’t just bring in a truckful of snacks and leave them “up for grabs.” But Jennett ate them regularly, so what could go wrong?

Everything. Not only did the “Health bars” taste like literal vomit, but they gave you an uncomfortable trip to the bathroom later.

So Jennett was off the table too. But Michael was always munching on something or another. He’d slink off somewhere, and come back chewing on something or other. But where did he go?

The bathroom! It came to me suddenly, like a brick wall flying at you as you speed towards it on a motorcycle. Michael took more bathroom trips than the rest of us combined. It’s got to be there! I thought, making my way past the piles of printer paper.

The heavy door loomed in front of me. I wrapped my hand around the cold knob, unknowing of the horrors on the other side. Slowly, I twisted the knob. The door opened with a squeal. And as I set one foot inside, I gasped in absolute fight as I lay eyes upon the monstrosity in the center of the room.

Someone had left the faucets on, and cold water was spilling across the floor. I ran to the sink, slamming the handle as far back as I could. The water slowed to a stop. I looked down at the floor. The water hadn’t been going too long, maybe an hour or two. The water was ice cold, chilling me to the bone as I stepped through it. Wet socks.

It was the one thing I was trying to avoid. If  I wanted wet socks, I’d have gone home through the snow like everyone else!

I knew I had to clean this up, even though I had nothing to do with it. But as I was stepping out of the room, something caught my eye. The tiniest shimmer in the farthest corner of my sight. I paused, spinning slowly to see if I could catch it again. There it was, a small red glimmer of hope. A lollipop.

The pop was sticking out of an air vent above the toilet. It pumped cool air in the hot summers but was unused in the winter months. It’s got to be Michael’s stashing place!

I desperately stood up on the rim of the toilet seat, reaching up for the vent. Why does Michael have to be so tall!? And as my fingers wrapped around the lollipop, I heard a single sound.

Click.

And then I was falling. Slowly, though. A kind of drifting state, floating downwards. I looked down and saw the floor was sinking down beneath me.

It was an elevator. And I was drifting slowly down into the ground. I grasped at the flooring of the bathroom, which was now at waist level. I went to pull myself, but the floor was too slick to hold on to.

And then I was gone. Below the building. Waiting for the hidden elevator to drop me off somewhere, hopefully somewhere that could give me answers.

But it didn’t take me anywhere with answers. It took me to, what I could only assume was, a secret laboratory.

The walls were tall and shiny, and lines of computers and control boards wrapped around the room. In the center stood a tall glass cage with a door in the back. It looked empty.

I stepped closer and noticed something inside. I walked closer. I couldn’t quite make it out. I went around the cage and pulled open the door. Cautiously, I stepped inside and looked at the object. A red lollipop.

And the door closed behind me.