After Hours

Things went to shit when the lights went out.

            I was in the park’s bathroom, just having finished hosing off a toilet that had been coated in some kid’s bargain hotdog, when it happened.  The lights just cut off with a sharp, electric snap, plunging me into complete darkness.

            Most people would have, at the very least, gasped in shock, but I was far too used to this kind of thing.  The park used so much electricity that these rolling blackouts happened so often that I could only sigh in annoyance.

            I stumbled around for a bit, searching for the bathroom door.  Eventually, after nearly falling into a trashcan, I found the door and stepped out into the night.  Rodney’s Wilderness Adventure Land “happiest place on Earth”, was completely dark. 

            I walked over to my sanitation cart, grabbed my walkie-talkie, and tried to contact the guys at maintenance.  “Hey, Anderson, what’s going on with the lights in Magic Kingdom?  They all went out.”

            No response.

            I frowned and tried again.  “Anderson, you there?  What’s going on with the lights?”

            Another second passed.  Still no response.

            I sighed again.  The lazy bastard must have left early again.  Now I, a lowly janitor that was paid hardly above minimum wage, is left to figure out how to turn on all of the lights in the park.  Seriously, what kind of irresponsible jagoff leaves his post hours before he is supposed to be relieved and leave the custodial staff to pay for their repercussions.  I didn’t get paid enough to deal with this kind of crap.  Come morning, I was reporting his ass.

            After several more attempts, and a few creative curses, I attempted to contact my fellow janitors, but I was met with the same silence.  Was there some ‘leave-work-early’ day or something scheduled that I didn’t know about?  Honestly, sometimes I wished that I had stayed at Sea World cleaning killer whale shit out of its tank rather than work for that depraved and creepy mouse.  Regardless, I needed to turn the lights back on, after that, everyone was getting reported.

            Unfortunately, I had no flashlight, something that the genius in charge of the custodial division really should have included in the ‘first day-on-the-job’ instruction pack, but, fortunately, there was a gift shop nearby.  As I walked to the shop, I noted that the clouds had moved to cover the sky, making the dark park even darker.  I had just made it to the gift shop when everything had gone almost completely black.

            I fumbled with my keys for a few seconds, blindly jamming them into the slot.  After a frustratingly long time, the door clicked.  Smiling in success, I pulled open the door and entered in the building.  If I recalled correctly, they kept their ‘novelty’ flashlights towards the front of the stores near the cash registers.

            As I made my way through the various aisles, I felt an unease run through me.  I wasn’t sure if it was just because of the dark, but I couldn’t help but feel like someone was there, watching me, which was of course stupid as of course someone was watching me.  There were camera’s everywhere, but still…I felt my pace quicken slightly.

            I almost cried out in relief when I saw the hazy outline of the sale’s counter.  I quickly grabbed one of the flashlights, a neon orange plastic tube with a simple of, you guessed it, the big mouse himself on the front.  Turning the light on, I almost had a heart attack when I came face to face with the embroidered face Rodney Racoon, the park’s mascot.

            “Sweet mother of God!” I shouted, backing up slightly and clutching my chest.  “God damn trash panda!”

            It took all of my restraint to not tear down the large quilt that had startled me. I had already taken a flashlight; I didn’t want to get charged for damaging a quilt too.  The massive mass of fabric hung unperturbed by my fear. The stitched face of an anthropomorphic racoon in bright blue suspenders, white gloves, green boots, and two-gallon hat seemed to mock me.

            After I had calmed down, I turned to leave, moving towards the next part of my self-assigned quest.  Just as I was about to leave the store, I heard a slight rustling of hangers.  I spun around just in time to see a rack of tie-dye shirts shift ominously.

            My heart, admittedly, beat a little faster.  I had left the door open, so it was likely that a strong gust of wind had come through and blown the shirts, but still…  I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down.  I was overreacting.  The lack of lights was causing my mind to run rampant.  Shaking my head, I turned back around and exited the store.

            Now, with light in hand, I set out towards the maintenance room.  I knew from orientation that the maintenance office was located on the side of the Treehouse, A massive fake tree located on the far end of the park.  A good twenty-minute walk from where I was.  A walk that I would have to take in the dark.  

            I shuddered briefly but steeled my nerves.  It was just a short walk and then I could get to the lights.  There was nothing to worry about.

            Just as that thought crossed my mind, I swore I heard something scratching across the concrete behind me.  I almost looked, but I stopped myself.  My mind was playing tricks on me because of the dark.  Nothing more.

            As I walked, I couldn’t help but fall into unease.  From the corner of my eyes, I swore I could see things running back and forth, disappearing before I could shine my light on them.  Sounds, that I had convinced myself had to be the wind, whistled past my ears, creating a symphony of ominous sounds.  The entire time, I just kept thinking It’s all in my head.  It’s all in my head.  It’s all in my—

            *Snap!*

            I froze, my heart skipping a beat.  I didn’t imagine that.

            I spun around, my light illuminating the area.  Immediately, I noticed the broken twig on the streets.  Someone, not me, had to have stepped on it.

            “Hello?  Who’s there?!” I asked to the darkness. 

            Silence.

            “Anderson, is that you?  I swear to God, if this is some prank, I will kick your ass up and down this park!” I shouted, growing a little frustrated.  When still nothing responded, I was beginning to think that I was going crazy.  That was when I saw something flicker just off the edge of my flashlight’s light and move to a nearby bush.

            I inhaled sharply and, against my better judgement, moved towards the bush.  I couldn’t tell how large the shape was, but I had seen it move.  I slowly approached, shining my light towards the bush.

            “Hello…?”

            No sooner had I spoke, a pair of glowing eyes looked back at me.  I didn’t even think after I had seen that.  I just ran.

            By heart was racing, my breaths were coming out in ragged pants, fear was gripping my mind like never before.  All that I could think of was running.  I had no destination, no purpose.  I just had to run.  Behind me, I could hear loud chittering and what sounded like nails on stone getting closer with each step I took.  The thing was gaining on me.

            I was so focused on running that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I tripped on unlevel ground.  I cried out and fell to a heap, skidding several inches and, most likely, carving off a sizable chunk of skin from my arm.

            I was dead.

            I immediately rolled onto my back and pointed my flashlight back to where I had been on sheer instinct.  The light flickered, the fall probably damaging something within.  I hit it a few times and the light burst forth, illuminating what had been following me.

There, just within my light’s radius, was a goddam rat.

            The disgusting vermin had the audacity to hiss at me, like I was the problem, and scuttled off.  I allowed myself to let out the breath I had been holding, my heart rate once more becoming steady.  A slightly manic laugh bubbled up from my throat, becoming full-blown laughter in less than a second.

            I had gotten so worked up over a freaking racoon.  The dark really was getting to me.

            As my laughter died down, I got to my feet.  I still had to get the maintenance room and laughing like a fool wouldn’t accomplish that.  I turned back towards the way I was gaining, determined to get to the maintenance room before my mind went on another bend, when I ran into something.

            Something big and slightly fuzzy.  I stepped back immediately.

            “Well, hey there little fella.  Are you lost?” a high-pitched voice questioned.  It sounded concerned, but its tone was cold.

            Slowly I raised my head to look at the speaker.  I blanched when I was met with the face of the depraved racoon himself, or, at least a costume of him.  Rodney’s permanently smiling face looking sinister in the small halo of my flashlight.  Flecks of red were splattered across its plastic face and its gloves were stained the same color.  Its eyes were a poisonous green.

            The mascot seemed to smile even wider as it looked at me, its green eyes flashing.  “Why the long face?  This is the happiest place on Earth!” The raccoon/man/thing stepped closer, its body language screaming malintent.  “Why don’t you give me a big smile!”

            My light flickered out and everything went black.