Late Arrival (Request)

“SHIT!”, Mike exclaimed.
He had slept through his alarm, somehow.

The time was 12:50, and Mike was going to be late to his first day on the job. Panic set into him like a stomach knot. He jolted himself out of bed, and pulled on the guard uniform that had been given to him when he was hired. Mike put on his shoes, and at a brisk pace exited his apartment, and walked towards the elevator. It was decommissioned, again.

Frantically, Mike went to his stairs and ran down them, jumping down a few steps here and there. He bolted for the door once he reached the bottom, and after seeing that nobody was out this late, broke into a swift sprint. The sound of his shoes hitting the concrete and the wind blowing through his hair encouraged him to press forward, turning at each necessary corner and sprinting towards every red, blinking hand that told him to stop.

But he did not stop.

After ten minutes, Mike reached it. The pizzeria. Freddy’s was located on the city outskirts. An odd location, as most restaurants were located closer to the city’s heart. Around here, there were only factories and vagrant camps. A large amount of nothingness surrounded the building.

Mike walked to the back entrance, where he was told to come in through earlier that day. Or would it be yesterday? It didn’t matter now. All that mattered was finding out if his job could be saved or not.

When he reached it, Mike twisted  the door knob. It wouldn’t move. Of course they’d lock it up, it’s 1 in the morning for Christ’s sake. Mike tried the keys he was given for the job, one at a time. None of them worked...Except for the very last one. A stroke of dumb luck.

Mike pushed inside, and found the restaurant to be completely pitch black. Two blue eyes shone out of the dark. They had a dull, blank emotion on them. They saw through Mike, and they passed no judgement.  A pair of eyes exactly like the first one floated in the dark beneath them. Crimson streaks ran down the white LED lights, and softly sizzled. A muffled groaning came from the bloody eyes, which homed in on Mike. Mike was stunned by the eyes, and stood still as they grew larger and larger, and the sounds of metal shuffling made themselves heard. Until he heard running. His fear was broken by surprise, and he backed up towards the doorway. When he felt his side make contact with the door knob, Mike stepped out into the summer air and slammed the door.

Mike had interrupted something very, very intimate. Something he wasn’t meant or expected to see, and something he would never understand.  And he had been given a second chance.  A chance that he wouldn’t squander.

Mike turned around, and began to run home.