#2 - Nikki Smith

2. Lost but Not Found

It was hard to see everything that happened throughout the morning, but there were several workers who came in throughout the day. People would bring their cars into this place, and the workers would repair those cars. Afterwards, they would leave out the same garage door.

This gave me an opportunity to find another house. I didn't know what my long-term goal was. For now, I wanted simply to find warmth, food, and the internet. If I had those three things, I would be content for now. I wanted to avoid people and confrontation, but I felt it was inevitable. How else would I find a home? How else would I free my friend?

For now, my plan was to find the right opportunity to jump into a car and escape with whoever drove it. There were three workers throughout the building, but not all three were working in the area that I was hiding. The car owners came and went throughout the day, so I mostly had to be concerned with the workers. They would work on the car near me, but the owners of the car would leave this area.

It took a long time. However, I eventually found a good opportunity. Of the three workers, one was almost never in this section of the building. One worker almost always stayed in here to work on the car. The third worker would move in and out of this part of the building. If the second worker left, there would be a time where no one was watching the car. That's what I was waiting for.

My opportunity came when that worker went to the restroom. I know I only had about a minute or two, so I had to make the most of this opportunity. I ran over to the car and found that they had left the door unlocked. I had learned a lot about cars on the internet. There was a trunk that I could hide in. I had to be careful because I could potentially get locked in the trunk without a method of escaping. I made sure I had one.

There were two ways into the trunk. The very back of the car and opened for you to put items in the trunk. Additionally, you could get into the trunk by going through the backseat in some models of cars. Fortunately, this car had that feature. I climbed in the trunk through the backseat and pulled the backseat toward me, so they wouldn't notice that someone climbed into the trunk. However, like the cabinet below the sink that I hid in last night, it was cracked just a little bit. I don't think it would be noticeable unless you were specifically looking at it. I had to take that chance.

Well, it was quiet in here. A million different ideas raced through my mind while laying down in the back of this trunk. There were some advantages to my plan, but there were also some disadvantages too. I was hoping that we'd be heading to a more secluded area, but I have no clue if we would be or not. On the bright side, there should be food wherever I would be going. Right? I think the biggest drawback was that I didn't know if I would have access to another computer. Those few hours that I spent on that damn computer felt like a new life blood for me. I learned so much, and I needed to learn to survive. It could be the difference between figuring out how to get into a warm car in the middle of the night or freezing in the dark and cold. It could be the difference between talking my way out of a situation or standing there looking like an idiot. It could also be the difference between knowing where those cars with flashing lights will be or not.

As I thought about it, I started to regret jumping into the back of this car. Maybe I should have waited an extra day or two and researched more things on the internet during the night.

Alright, I needed to sneak back. I started to open the back seat, but I instantly saw the back of the worker who had gone to the bathroom. No! I slowly closed the backseat of the car. I just laid back on the ground of the trunk and wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. But I didn't. Well, like it or not, I'm stuck in the trunk and on to the next part of my journey.