What would you do?

The wind howled, and I could barely hear the chime of the door as I pushed it open, making my way inside the small supermarket. My head was pounding from a night of drinking, but what else were you supposed to do? My shift at the station had ended last night but had been stuck in town when the blizzard rolled in. Alright, I may have gotten carried away, and now I was paying for it.

I moaned slightly as the door clicked shut behind me, and I looked up, squinting at the bright lights overhead. They flickered off for a second but came back to life a moment later. I should make this fast, the lights wouldn’t help my head at all. I looked around, seeing if I could will some Advil into existence right next to one of the check out lines, but my luck wasn’t that good. 

Must have been a pretty light day, there weren’t any clerks at the counter.

“Probably asleep in the break room,” I muttered to myself as I shuffled to the pharmacy. It didn’t take too long to find the blessed little white bottle I needed, and I popped the top, swallowing two pills dry. Hopefully, that would kick in soon.

I headed back to the register, but still, nobody was there. I could probably just walk out and nobody would know, except… I looked around, and sure enough, there was a security camera pointed right at me. I put the bottle on the counter and started looking down the isles. Maybe they were restocking something. But no, there was nobody there. The lights flickered again and stayed off longed this time, maybe a full ten seconds, before they came back on.

“Hello?” I called out, loud in the soft buzzing of the overhead lights. No answer. Fine then. I made my way to the break room. I had used to work here and knew where it was. The knob was unlocked and I smiled to myself, picturing the college student on the other side, unlucky in getting a bad shift, probably asleep, and about to be scared awake.

“Hey!” I yelled, throwing the door open. It was empty. What? I checked the bathroom, but that was empty too. The lights flicked off again and struggled to come back on. I could hear the wind howling outside and my stomach began to tighten, just a bit. This was the start of a horror movie. Poor unsuspecting schmuck alone somewhere, when the killer jumps out and offs him. No, that doesn’t just happen. 

“I’ll just leave some money on the register with a note, and head out,” I said to myself, and started back toward the front of the store, looking over my shoulder. 

The lights flashed back on and I squinted again against the light, and almost tripped over it. There was a bundle lying in the middle of the aisle, right in front of me.

“What the hell?” I said, stumbling to the side and trying to avoid stepping on it. That definitely hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. I stopped and stared at it. Was it a bomb? It shifted slightly. Ok, so not a bomb. Maybe a monster, wrapped in rags that were preparing to latch onto my face and lay eggs in my stomach. 

“You watch too many movies,” I muttered to myself. I knelt down and tugged at the blanket. It fell away and I was left looking at a baby. I stared for a second, not understanding, but then it opened its eyes and yawned at me. 

“How… Where did you come from?” I asked the baby. It had short dark hair and was wearing a blue onesie with firetrucks on it. I wrapped the blanket around it again and stood up. Looking down at the baby I scratched my head. A baby, alone, on the floor, in an empty supermarket. 

“Hello!” I yelled again, louder, and I could hear a faint echo as my voice bounced back. I looked down at the baby again.

“Well,” I said to it, “you’ve got good fashion sense. You know I’m a firefighter?” It just kept looking at me, not that I expected an answer. I sighed and knelt down to pick up the bundle. No way would I just leave the little guy here on the floor. I made my way back to the front of the store and looked for a phone. Picking it up, I dialed 911 and held it to my ear. It started to dial but just then the lights went out, and the phone went with it.

“Shit,” I sighed, and looked down at the happy face gazing back up at me. He had brilliant green eyes. Bright, and they were locked onto mine. Did babies usually just stare like this? Something seemed off with this kid. Hell, there was something off with this whole situation. I looked around again, but the supermarket was still empty, still dark as the lights hadn’t come back on. Maybe the power really had been knocked out this time.

Alright, enough of this. I checked to make sure the baby was wrapped tightly in the blanket and headed for the door. My truck would still drive and I’d take the little one to the cops myself, or maybe just the station, that was closer, and give them a call from there.

As my hand closed on the handle to the door, the lights came back on. Music started to play over the speaker in the store. There was a pop, and confetti burst from somewhere above me and began drifting down around me. What the hell was happening now?

“Mr. Stevenson,” called a voice, and I turned and saw a man in a black suit holding a microphone, and tailed by another man holding a large camera on his shoulder.

“Congratulations!” the man in the suit continued, “you’re on the show ‘What would you do?’ where we take ordinary people like yourself, and put them in strange situations and see what you do!” I could see behind them a shelf had been moved to the side and a small group of people had been sitting and now a few more walked out. A woman came up to me and gently took the baby from my arms, cooing at him. 

“I- what?” I said. Was this a real thing?

“That’s right,” continued the man in the suit. “You took the baby, chose to try and call the police, and then decided to take it in yourself, is that right?”

“Uh, yeah, I couldn’t just leave him there,” I stammered out. “This is a lot to take in.”

“That’s alright,” said the man, before turning back toward the camera. “We had here a show of true, everyday heroism. We’ll be signing off now, and remember when you’re in a strange situation and someone needs your help, ask yourself; ‘What would you do?’ Goodnight everyone.”