The Endless Escape: Part 1

“You don’t have to.”

The voice was quiet, soft as if he didn't think she would hear him, but the woman in question turned her head and looked up at the speaker.

“Excuse me?” She asked, blinking as the words sunk in. “You’re just here for a bit of fun?” The man nodded his head and gave an awkward chuckle. It sounded forced to her ears, but not like it should.

She narrowed her eyes. “Fun, huh. Well, then you can leave now. I’m quite busy, thank you.” He chuckled once more before smiling at her and turning on his heel towards the door. He stopped there though, looking back at her as he raised a hand in salute.

“Well then, I’ll let you get back to your business! Have a good one, Ann.”

And with that, he left her alone in the room, still confused, but even more so now than she was when he first came into the room. She watched his retreating back until he disappeared through the doorway, and then she leaned forward

and buried her face in her hands. What had he meant by having fun? Had someone else already come here tonight? No, that couldn't be it, she'd been watching him from the beginning of the night and she hadn't seen another person. Unless... no. There was no way she's been able to miss something as obvious as that. So he'd been talking about her; a new girl who worked alone. That would make sense since they had only met for ten minutes or so earlier and he was probably just being polite, but that didn't change the fact that he'd clearly said what she'd thought he had. And it wasn't as if anyone else would've wanted to stay in here, or even asked. They could have left when he did, but instead, they waited to see if the other person would show up.

So either they knew exactly what they were doing, or she was really out of luck. If she'd been hoping she could go home, then this was pretty much it, she guessed. At least she wouldn't have to worry about any stupid guys bothering her. But that was assuming they were idiots…

Shaking her head again, Ann pushed herself to her feet and began packing up. Once everything was in order, she took a quick look around to make sure no one had noticed the mess she'd made of her office earlier. After all the stuff she'd spilled, she didn't want to have any accidents. As she was straightening things up and wiping down the surfaces in the area that needed it, her phone buzzed. Her eyes flicked over the screen to find it was an email from her boss. Sighing she clicked open the attachment. She hated emailing; everyone always made a big deal over how important their emails were. It didn't matter though, they never really read them anyway.

Ann: You're going home tomorrow. Call me as soon as you know anything.

A little sigh escaped her lips as she dropped the phone onto her desk and returned her attention to her task. This time when it buzzed again, she ignored it.

‘Why do people keep bothering me?’ she thought bitterly. It's not as if she could answer that herself; none of her colleagues ever bothered to talk to her. Not that they weren't nice enough, they just never seemed interested in actually getting to know her; they just assumed she was a little stuck up, which of course was true, and acted accordingly. She didn't mind though, because no one talked to her, and that suited her just fine.

By the time she was finished cleaning, it was nearly nine o'clock at night, and her stomach rumbled as she realized that she hadn't eaten dinner since lunch earlier. Looking over at the clock on the wall, she saw that she'd only managed to clean half of her office space, leaving a mess behind for later. Grumbling under her breath, she grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper from the top drawer of her desk and started making a list.

-Dinner

-Packing

-Call my boss tomorrow

-Call the manager.

She glanced over the items on her paper and sighed, rubbing at her forehead where a headache had begun to form. She'd need to call her boss first, she decided. Grabbing her phone, she opened her contacts and tapped on the name, bringing up the number as the line rang. As she waited for someone to pick up, she stared out the window, trying to figure out what to say to the older woman who answered. Finally, the line picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Mrs. K, it's me, Ann,” she told her, cringing slightly at the tone in her voice. Ann could tell that this Mrs. K liked her.

“Oh yes dear, hello, you called me this evening,? Is everything alright?”

“I'm sorry about that. I got a bit distracted during work.”

Mrs. K laughed on the other end of the line. “What kind of distracted?” she asked curiously.

Ann felt heat rise to her cheeks and quickly tried to save face. “Nothing. Someone came in earlier and interrupted my work and we spoke a bit. Nothing major.”

“Alright. Well, if this is going to happen again please let me know, dear. Don't hesitate to contact me if things start acting strange.”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Goodnight Ann, sweet dreams!” Mrs. K chirped and hung up