Containment.

Everyone in his life told him that it was a stupid idea, though he truly hoped otherwise. From his mother who all but screamed about how stupid of an idea, it was to his co-worker who told him off in his drunken stupor. They and many, many others had gotten the point across, that this was a truly terrible idea. However, he had inherited his father's stubbornness, and when he made up his mind about something no one would be able to change it. Stubborn as a mule had his friends say - well actually everyone says it.

James had stubbornly decided that he would use half of his life savings, or less if possible. Not that he actually wanted to use half of his life savings but he had researched that if he wanted to at least think about buying a storage container he would have to use half of his life savings. Apparently buying used storage units had become all the rage in his town, and Brian had told him about it. He also helped James with finding where he could go to actually join the auction, he had to apply through a form online. 

All of the storage unit doors were covered in bright green paint and each with its own set of locks. The unit in front of them was open, brandishing all inside of it. The announcer said something about it being a 10 by 10 and said some other stuff advertising the unit. James, not actually knowing where to start, just started bidding on the first one he saw. 

The lady announcing started spitting out words one after another, as if she was the flash. In all honesty, James was a little impressed but also a little scared, not that he would ever tell anyone. 

It started at $1,000 and only continued to go from there. He and another man, which he had decided to specially name Swamp Monkey, had gotten into a bidding war. James had put a bunch of thought into the nickname and possibly more so than when deciding why he should marry his wife. (Don’t tell her though.)

As the numbers kept rising he could feel the man's smile grow wider then finally Swamp Monkey turned on his heel and left. Just not before he gave James a sickening smile that sent shivers down his unfortunate spine. 

He gave the money over to the front desk before receiving a key, probably for the lock on the unit. The 10 by 10 was pretty compact with all the bags, trash littered around, storage containers, and some unknown spills that James pointedly stayed away from. That red spill on the wall looked far too familiar to a certain red liquid he knows. He also made it a point to have his rubber gloves on at all times, as well as extras close by. 

Sabrina had thankfully taken up his pleas to join him in cleaning the storage unit. She wasn't as pleased because of the short notice, however, thankfully her brother agreed to watch her kids. Sabrina was a single mother of two, so her even having time to be able to join me was a massive deal. 

George was Sabrina's brother, he had just gotten back from his trip. He had been backpacking all throughout the world, and in all honesty, it was amazing. To just be able to be one with nature, no distractions, just you and nature. It was like a dream come true for James, just George had lived it instead. Maybe in another lifetime, he would be able to travel the world, nothing tethering him to one place. Just him being free in the world. But the thought had been cut short as a thud rang out. 

“Ah, Sorry James. It just slipped out of my grasp, maybe if you helped me instead of daydreaming.” Her voice was light with a teasing tone to it, one she had often taken up around him and one he had often reciprocated. 

“Yeah, yeah women. You're not a damsel in distress are you?” James' tone was heavy with teasing. Walking over he helped her grab one of the gray storage containers. The thing was pretty heavy, too heavy for one of them to grab by themselves. 

After two hours, James looked down at his watch, now reading 6:22 PM. The sun had already begun to set as Sabrina had to leave. Apparently, her kids couldn't fall asleep without her specifically reading them their favorite bedtime story. Sabrina got into her red Subaru and drove off, the car had scratches and some dents here and there. 

James and Tiffany had both agreed that they would both be home in time to watch a movie with each other and order takeout. The plan had almost gotten scrapped over an argument over who would pick the takeout restaurant. (An argument that occurred very often when talking about takeout) However, a flipped coin determined that Tiffany would be picking and so he would have to look forward to Applebees for dinner. The place wouldn't be his pick but his wife liked it, so he would have to put up with it for tonight. 

Both James and Sabrina had been able to knock out the entire left wall of the storage unit slightly making its way towards the back just not completely getting there. All the trash now in some black trash bags he had brought from home and the other useful things or trinkets they could sell are all in his black pick-up truck. By himself he might be able to get at least half of the back wall, he had one more set of clean blue gloves and a few more trash bags ready for use. Rolling up his sleeves and pocketing his phone, he set off toward the back of the storage unit. 

The back wall was completely covered with random and quite frankly weird things, a black grimy cat clock that looked like its eyes were following James, some different taxidermied animals, two neon-colored urns which he prayed were empty, and some various containers. 

After an hour or so, James couldn't actually tell. His phone had died somewhere along the way, he just really hoped that Tiffany wasn't blowing up his phone with texts. Something she did quite often with her extremely short patience. The man had managed to find out half of the back storage unit's wall. Except for the stuff on the walls, as he would need a ladder to reach it even with his height, the previous owners of the unit had nailed things into the walls for makeshift shelves. 

While moving a jam-packed clear storage container behind it he could see a red and blue flashing. It reminded him of when he saw a glitch in a video game. Moving the clear container completely out of the way, he could see the flashing was just a square on the wall, nothing holding it up. The flashing square was smaller than James' hand, which by all means wasn't anything too shocking as he had really big hands. Tiffany always loved how James’s hand could cover two of hers, she always said she felt secure in his hands. 

As he leaned closer to the flashing he felt his heart quicken and the feeling of being watched took over every thought in his mind. He snapped his head to look behind him, trying to catch whoever was watching him. James saw no one, and even so his heartbeat skipped a beat as sweat started pouring down his forehead. His vision was blurry as he tried to pull the phone out of his pocket. The phone’s screen shattered upon the impact of the ground, he winced knowing it would be his third for the year he had broken and his wife would most definitely be angry. His knees hit the ground with a hard thud, the small rocks digging into him. He grunted as everything was just too much to bear, the street lights suddenly became extremely bright, different smells from the storage unit made him want to vomit, and the various background noises made his head feel like it was splitting open. James’s eyes were on the brink of closing. His head hit the ground and he could only think that he hoped that the wetness he felt drip from his head wasn't blood. 

My eyes creaked open, shutting often when the sun graced me with its presence. My head felt like someone had hit me over the head with a metal baseball bat and then proceeded to shoot me. If I opened my eyes I could just barely make out the surroundings around me, a white blob in the distance, a black blob that was closer that also had red and blue flashing lights on the top. The same flashing lights as the one I saw on that wall. 

Wait- Where am I? It doesn't look like a storage unit, more so it looks like a road. A road that was surrounded by forest. My vision cleared up and I could see more clearly. There was a red Subaru with a big dent at its front farther away from me and a cop car close to me with its lights on. The red Subaru was the same as Sabrinas just with different license plates or maybe the same, I didn't really force myself to memorize it. 

If I strained my eyes I could hear an ambulance. Wetness dripped down my head, much like the one I had felt before I collapsed. I reached my hand up or at least tried to. It was shaking far too much for it to be healthy and it was more difficult to control my movement. My hand reached in front of my face when I saw it, my hand, with no wrinkles, calluses, or healed cuts. It was quite frankly disturbing, it was like I was 14. Before I had learned the meaning of hard work or what it meant to be an adult.