Short Story #1 Chapter Two

The week passed and the two managed to alienate themselves from other residents and staff. One-night Kimmie went to Cliff’s room, which startled him. She whispered, “hey now it’s time to discuss the second part of the plan.” Cliff sat up in his bed and gave Kimmie his full attention. She stated, “so I still have keys to certain areas when I was on cleaning duty, and the laundry room is one of them. I’m thinking tomorrow night we should get in there and jump in the laundry bins as they go out. The people come to pick them up at 3:30am so we have to be in the bins by at least three before security checks them in. “You got all that so far”, she asked. Cliff chimed in, “how many bins are there, and will we fit?” Kimmie responded, “several about five or six and yeah, we should fit the bins a kind of deep and wide. We just pick two out of the five but only go for the ones with towels or sheets it’s easier to move around and they cover well”, she continued.

Cliff had a huge grin on his face and started to smirk as he said, “damn that’s a pretty good plan.” Feeling proud of herself Kimmie responded, “yeah I’ve been thinking about this for some time now, oh and make sure to take your file with you.” Cliff said, “okay will do but what’s gonna happen if the plan is successful, what happens after that?” Kimmie got up and started to pace then replied, “I’m not sure yet, it hasn’t happened yet when that time comes we’ll figure it out.” Cliff doubtfully said, “okay if you say so, one thing at a time I guess.” She smirked at him and said, “what, don’t you believe me?” He remained quiet as she edged closer to the door. She opened the door and said, “it’ll work we just have to be quick on our feet.” She left his room and quickly and quietly ran back to her room.

The next day the two stayed in their rooms most of the day and slept. Later that evening Kimmie got up, grabbed and hid her file then left her room. She managed to stroll to Cliff’s room without security noticing. Once she got in safely they waited seeing how his room was closest to the laundry room. They kept each other up just talking or playing cards for multiple hours. Around 2:30am she stood by the door and kept peeping to see when security wasn’t around. She looked at Cliff and said, “okay it looks clear, I’m gonna act like I’m cleaning then knock on your door when the coast is clear.” As Kimmie walked out the door, Cliff screeched, “okay but then what?” She quickly popped her head in the room and whispered, “just follow me.”

Thirty minutes later Cliff heard the sound of a knock on the door. He got up, grabbed his file and headed towards the door. Slowly he cracked the door to see Kimmie waving to him to come to her. Cliff raced out of the room across the long hallway to meet her. As he got close Kimmie said, “okay we only have one chance to do this so let’s get it right.” Cliff nodded his head while he frantically looked around for security. Kimmie forcefully whispered, “hey focus, let’s go!”, as she took off for the laundry room. Cliff stayed close behind her as the two went into the laundry room undetected. They scrambled around to find the bins with towels or sheets. All the bins were lined up in a single file line so the two split up. All of a sudden Kimmie raised and waved her hands and got Cliff’s attention. He darted over to her to the last two bins, one with towels and the other with sheets.

Cliff blurted out, “so which one are ya taking, ladies first.” Kimmie smiled and pointed to the sheet bin and got right in. Cliff dug a hole through the towels to make room to fit inside. He got in and quickly covered himself with the excess towels. Kimmie did the same thing until she almost hit the bottom of the bin since the sheets were lighter.  The bins had holes at the bottom and on the sides giving the two a way to breathe as they prepared for their unknown trip. They anxiously waited to hear the laundry crew to get going on the truck. Then they suddenly heard a truck backing up and the sounds of someone maneuvering the bins. Each bin gets checked by security then passed off to another worker who puts them on the truck.

One by one the bins get checked then pushed into a large truck. Then the bin with Cliff inside went first to get checked. The security guard looked inside the bin and prodded through the towels and waived it by. Lastly, the bin with Kimmie inside was halted when the bin with Cliff inside struggled to get on the truck. The security guard rushed over to give the two workers a hand with the bin. This made Kimmie more nervous, thinking something went wrong but she stayed in place and tried not to move. The security guard walked back over to the last bin and started to check it. He again looked around and poked around the sheets. He then took his night stick and waved it around in the bin, hitting Kimmie in her stomach. She didn’t make a sound although being slightly winded from the unexpected blow.

The officer passed it through and said, “everything checks out fellas, have a good day!” Kimmie felt the vibrations of the bin getting loaded on the truck as the pain turned into excitement. The laundry workers locked up the truck and pulled out of the facility. The two were engaged on an unknown journey to freedom. While on the truck the two was stacked right next to each other. They tried talking through the holes of the bin but could barely hear each other. When the truck stopped Kimmie yelled out, “hey Cliff can you hear me now!?” Cliff uncovered one of the holes with a towel and responded, “yeah, what a hell of a ride!” Kimmie snapped and said, “hey let’s get it together, remember be smart no time to be playing around!” “We need to focus, the first chance we get we take”, she continued as he put the towel back over the hole.

Minutes later the sound of jiggling keys could be heard and was getting closer to the truck. The doors swung open, and the laundry worker started collecting the bins and moving them into another building. Luckily the laundry worker started with the sheet and towels. One by one the two are wheeled into the building in a room full of industrial washing machines. When the two are left alone, the workers grab more bins leaving a small window for them to escape. Looking through the holes in the bin Kimmie notices that no one was around. She quickly stood up in the bin, uncovered herself and looked around for bearings. She then rushed to the other bin and hit it on the side saying, “okay lets go.” Cliff jumped up and exploded out of the bin and ran over and hid in a darkened corner of the large room with Kimmie right behind.

They crouched in the corner and watched where the worker was coming in and out. The worker would walk out of the building to a dock area where the truck was parked. Kimmie whispered, “okay so we just wait until the worker is finished and the truck pulls off.” Cliff nodded and continued to be the look out. The worker went out for the last bin when he decided to have a smoke. Soon after they heard two people holding a conversation, so they anxiously waited for their moment to escape. After a few minutes passed they could hear the truck starting up as the worker walked back inside with the last cart. Once he lined all the carts up he then left the room through another door. That moment the two decided to make their move and run out of the building. They headed for the hanger door and ran down the dock onto the street.

The two ran and wandered the cold dark streets, trying to stay out of sight throughout the early morning. When the skies started to lighten they stumbled upon an old, dilapidated paper factory. Kimmie stopped and said, “hey let’s stop and duck in here to get some reason and lay low.” Cliff added, “yeah and it would be a good idea to get out of these clothes too.” They went around to the back of the factory for a way inside. They found a back door with a security gate in front of it. When they noticed it wasn’t locked Cliff pulled back the security gate and started ramming the door with his shoulder. Kimmie kept looking out in case somebody spotted them. As the door gave way little by little until Kimmie stopped him and said, “okay let me try to squeeze through. The door caved in at the bottom just enough for Kimmie’s slender physique helped her get inside. Once inside she unlocked the door and let Cliff in as he made sure they were unnoticeable and pulled the security gate back in front of the door.

Several hours passed and the two managed to take a nap in the back corner of the large room. Cliff suddenly woke up to the sound of police sirens in the distance. He ran over to a window looking out onto the street but saw nothing. As the sirens got closer and louder Kimmie jumped up and said, “what the hell is that?” Cliff notices the squad car race down the block, he then reassures Kimmie and said, “nothing, wasn’t for us I think we’re good for now at least.” He continued, “hey what do you want to do today?” Kimmie stretched and replied, “I don’t know, let’s get our bearings and explore this place. You never know this might be home.” Cliff chuckled and blurted out, “yeah of if we need a place to hide.” They began walking around the building to see what they might find.

The many windows that was on all four sides of the building kept it well-lit in the daytime. The top windows were still intact as the lower windows were not so lucky. Inside the building was the main floor that had a corner sectioned off in what looks like an old office. The building was about the size of a major bank headquarters. They walked around and was about to give up when Cliff stumbled across the door. He whistled to get Kimmie’s attention as he yanked and pulled on the door. She ran over and gave him a hand with the door when he got it cracked open. As he pulled she got behind the cracked door and started pushing it. Years of rust made the door almost impossible to open. They managed to open the door enough for them both to get through. Tired, they both took a break before they headed through the door.

They walked through the door to the stairs leading down to what looks like a hallway. One by one they walked down and noticed the long hallway in the basement area of the building. There was a furnace room, a storage room, two bathrooms, a changing room and a break room. It was no electricity to the building but the broken windows providing all the light they needed. They took their time examining each room for leftovers and for what they could use them. Cliff came out of the dressing room with two old pair of uniform pants. Kimmie came out of the furnace room with an old tool bag full of rusting tools and some plastic zip ties. She met Cliff in the hallway and exchanged their findings. Kimmie excitedly said, “cool now we have some clothes, meaning we can leave if we have to.” Cliff laughed, looked at the tools and said, “yeah and I’m sure we can find something to do with these.”

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