A Tiny Bit Mortal by Lindsay Bassett

him.  I thought it was sweet, but it’s not like anyone had ever came into the building with nefarious intentions.
    I stared at my desk for a while, swinging from side to side in my office chair.  I had some notes I needed to work on, and I would take my time.  My goal was to pace my work out so I could go home and straight to bed.
    Picking up my pen, I wrote softly against the paper.  I was paying special attention to my handwriting lately, telling myself it needed improvement but knowing I was just wasting time.  I wrote my notes at a glacial pace, for hours, until my eyes started getting tired. 
    Getting up from my desk and walking to the window, I pulled on one of the slats in the blinds to look outside.  It was dark.  Looking up at the clock on the wall, I saw that it was half past ten.
    Crunch, crunch, crunch .  I could hear a car pulling up into the lot in front of the building.  Letting go of the blinds, I froze and listened.  I thought maybe Rick had forgotten something and came back for it.  Walking over to his desk, I looked around to see if there was something I could grab for him. 
    Goosebumps erupted on my arms, and I shuddered.  I felt off, something was terribly wrong.  Without thinking I rushed across the room, opened up one of the big cabinet doors that held our lab coats and various equipment, crouching to fit and shutting myself inside.
    Slowing down my breathing, I heard clanking of the front door.  I took in a deep breath and exhaled with a sigh of relief, feeling crazy for being in the cabinet.  Only Rick had the key to the front door, and he had locked it on his way out.
    My sigh rapidly turned into fear as I felt like everything around me was saying “ wrong, wrong, wrong!”  I held myself absolutely still.  I could hear footsteps of more than one person walking down the hall and into the lab.  The footsteps stopped.
    “Her car is here, she has to be here.” said a low voice.
    “There is no one here.” said another voice. “It’s like she left recently, I can feel it.”
    Carefully, I moved my hand up to my silver locket against my chest.  “I am not here, not here at all.” I said in my mind, agreeing with the man.  My breathing was so shallow it was almost non-existent.
    It was absolutely silent in the room for several minutes.  “You’re right.” said the low voice, suddenly.  “She is not here at all.  Let’s go, maybe she was in the car that left earlier."
    I heard the clanking of the front door again.  They were gone, and I was absolutely terrified.  I opened the door of the cabinet and looked around the room.  I felt sick to my stomach and my instincts told I had to get out of there.
    I stepped lightly through the building, switching off lights.  After turning on the alarm system in the building, I locked the front door behind myself. 
    Standing just outside the front door in the cold, I observed my surroundings.  My black Honda Civic was the only car in the lot.  Cringing at the loud crunching of my steps as I walked across the parking lot gravel, I got into my car.  I contorted my body to push down on the door locks of the doors to the backseats while my chest heaved and my heart raced.
    After turning the key to the ignition, I drove towards my apartment, with my heart beating in my ears like tribal drums.  As I neared my apartment, the more ill I felt, with that same feeling of wrong .  I had no idea where to go, but I knew I couldn’t go home. 
    Driving past my apartment I turned left, passed the plaza, and drove into the park.  I parked my car in the lot next to the park, wrapped my scarf around my neck and held my coat tight around me.  It was frigid out, but I shivered more from the fear than anything.
    Feeling stupid for walking alone in the dark under the circumstances, I walked behind the plaza, where there were a few low key bar hopping crowds out smoking.  I kept my head low and walked passed them.  As I walked, I felt lost,