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I wasn’t all that early. The director should at least be here, setting up the video feed for whatever he wanted us to watch today. Or at least the band captain should be here, doing it for him.
Frowning when no one showed up within another few minutes, I pulled up Rush’s name on my phone to text him and ask if he knew anything about today’s meeting.
He had no clue but was quick to add that maybe it was for section leaders only, in which case, he wouldn’t have been invited. Just when I typed that no one else had arrived yet, the door slammed shut behind me.
I whirled, blinking at it as I swore the click of a lock followed.
“Uh...” I glanced around, wondering what the hell that was about.
So I pushed to my feet and strode to the door, reaching for the handle.
Locked.
I tried it again, jiggling a little harder this time and pulling on it with more vigor, certain I just hadn’t done it right the first time.
Still a no-go.
What the hell? Had a janitor or someone shut the door and locked it, not realizing there was supposed to be a meeting in here and had neglected to check the room first to see if anyone was inside? Unlikely, but possible, I guess.
I knocked and called, “Hey. Someone’s in here. Hey!”
Whoever had engaged the lock couldn’t have gotten that far down the hall, so I yelled a little louder.
No one heard me.
Well, shit. I turned from the door, looking for another exit. There were two closed portals across the room. I jogged to them and tried both. One was locked as well, the other led to a closet, dead end.
Glancing toward the other door, I chewed on the inside of my lip before snatching up my phone I’d left on my desk and texting Rush.
HENRY: You’re not going to fucking believe this. Someone just locked me inside the room.
RUSH: Huh?
HENRY: I was just sitting here waiting for everyone else to show when the door slammed shut behind me, and someone locked it.
RUSH: Yeah, right.
HENRY: I’m serious, man. Someone locked me in here!
Rush sent me the laughing emoji and then added more.
RUSH: Dude, someone is pranking you so bad right now.
HENRY: Well, haha, very funny, asshat. Now come let me out.
RUSH: It’s not me, I swear.
HENRY: Like hell. Who else would mess with me but you?
RUSH: I don’t know. Hey, wait. What if it’s like some kind of initiation rite for making it as a section leader? Dude! You are in, right now!! You are SO one of them.
I glanced around. And shook my head.
HENRY: I don’t know. This is kind of lame for an initiation. I mean, how is this very embarrassing? Or public? Isn’t an initiation supposed to be really humiliating and somewhere where everyone can see you go through it?
RUSH: No idea. Maybe your initiators are just that unimaginative.
“Right,” I said aloud as I rolled my eyes. I was about to tell him I didn’t care what this was, and demand that he just get his ass over here and let me out, already, but one of the large-screen televisions at the front of the room suddenly turned on.
