Restricted Access by Victor Appleton

Author:Victor Appleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2019-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

8 The Constrained Estrangement

I COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS doing this. I was crawling, Bruce Willis style, through the air vents of my dad’s company. It was cramped, dark, and, worst of all, very, very cold. They don’t tell you about that in movies, do they? They’re called air vents because, you know, air blows through them—cold air, as in air-conditioning. If it wasn’t so dark I bet I would’ve been able to see my breath. As it was, I could barely make out the thin metal surface around me.

“Rowan!” I shouted. My voice echoed down the shaft ahead of me.

Again there was no reply.

I crawled farther, toward a dim light ahead. As it got closer, I saw that it was another slatted vent cover. I reached it and peeked out through the slats to see another set of offices and cubicles. The cover was still attached, so I know he hadn’t gotten out there.

And come to think of it, how was he supposed to get out once he found a vent leading to where he wanted to go? He had unscrewed the first cover from the outside. You couldn’t do it from the inside. Did he even have a plan for getting out? Maybe the kid was more like me than I’d thought—act first and plan later.

I crawled farther along, the only light coming from the occasional vent cover I passed. I soon entered a stretch where there were no vent covers at all. Even as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, there were no more outlets along the way. Soon, I was in total darkness.

I tried to remain calm as I felt my way along. It was cold, pitch-black, and very cramped. I’d never been claustrophobic before, but with my shoulders sliding along the sides as I moved and having to keep my head down to avoid bumping it, I was beginning to see why some people were.

“Rowan?” I called again. This time I heard a little shakiness in my voice.

Suddenly, the pressure was gone from my shoulders. I stopped and felt around. I was in the middle of a four-way junction. Which way could he have gone? It was too dark to spot any clues.

“Rowan!” I shouted. “Come on, answer me!”

I listened for a reply, but none came.

I relaxed and tried to think. Which direction would he have chosen? He wanted to get to his dad. And Mr. Kavner was locked in the cafeteria along with everyone else. Now, in what direction would the cafeteria be from here? I backed up and took the shaft on the left.

I crawled through more frigid darkness with no light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It seemed weird that there was such a long stretch of venting without output to any more offices or hallways.

That wasn’t the only weird thing. I slowly got the sensation that the shaft was sloping downward. The farther I crawled, the steeper the incline became. Soon, I had to push back with my hands as I crawled just to keep from sliding down.

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