Sterek Stories - A Collection - II

You work here, right?

That had to be the ugliest sign he'd ever seen. Derek stared up at the red and blue monstrosity that adorned the top of the low building. It stretched out over the whole front and it looked like someone put it together with Word Art. The name was ridiculous too: Silver Moon Storage Facility. What in the world did the moon have to do with storage boxes? Apparently enough, because the designer of the sign had slapped a generic picture of a wolf howling at the moon to both sides of the company name. Truly, if there were awards to be won for the world's ugliest sign, this one would leave the competition far, far behind. He would consider going to another storage facility, just out of principle, but this was the only one in Beacon Hills and he needed to put his stuff somewhere.

Derek pushed open the door and stepped inside. The place smelled mainly of window cleaner and stale coffee, meaning: as generic as every other small town business in America. The office space was universally decorated with posters on the wall that advertised the rental possibilities, one overly large poster with the obnoxious wolf and moon combo, large plants in the two front corners, a couple of chairs for waiting customers and a curved front desk in fake dark wood. In the back wall were two doors, one with the man/women symbols that indicated a restroom and one blank door that presumably led to the office in the back. The place was empty.
"Hello?" Derek called out, listening if he could hear someone. The place was silent, save for the soft sounds of a radio playing in the corner. Again, tuned in to some generic radio station that played generic pop songs, adding to the uncomfortable feeling of disconnection he always felt in places like this. There was nothing that told him he was in Beacon Hills, the office space could have been anywhere in America and Derek would still not know where they were.
Another try: "Hello?" Nothing. The place had an odd acoustic and the droning hum of the air conditioning unit on the roof right above him didn't help in his auditory search for a heartbeat.

He walked up to the desk and peered over the edge. There was a large textbook laying on the desk, with two brightly coloured highlighters holding the page open. The text on the page was marked in both yellow and pink and the sticky notes in coordinating colours that stuck out from the previous pages indicated the person reading the book had some sort of system implemented. There was a tall glass with a green, healthy looking drink next to the book, as well as a small stack of cookies on a paper napkin.
Half hidden from view by the top of the desk were two monitors and Derek decided to walk around to have a look at them. Maybe the missing employee was busy somewhere on the site behind the office building and the surveillance feed would show him where to look for them.

The monitors, each showing the feed of four different cameras, told him nothing. They showed the view of row after row of storage boxes, yet not a living soul in sight. Tuesday afternoon was definitely not rush hour for Silver Moon Storage Facility.
Out of curiosity, and because the textbook was now literally mere inches away from his hands, Derek carefully lifted the front to look at the cover. The heavy tome turned out to be a textbook on Eastern European mythology; not your standard reading material. Now he already was in the business of snooping, Derek lifted the glass with the green liquid to his nose. He detected spinach, banana and mango and something that had to be almond milk. As far as green smoothies went, this was kid's stuff.

When he lowered the glass back to the desk, the door to the restroom opened. A young man walked out, maybe twenty years old at the most. He was wearing tattered jeans and an open, flannel shirt that showed some superhero T-shirt underneath. When he saw Derek standing behind the desk he faltered in his step for a short moment, before putting his phone in his back pocket and showing him a smile. "Ah, so there is someone here after all!"
The guy leisurely walked up to the front of the desk and leaned his elbows on it, propping his face up with his hands. "So, tell me," he inquired, "what do you have for me?"