The Backrooms

Chapter 1: Level: 0

"Zach? Zach!" A voice echoed through his head. Zach suddenly realized it wasn't his imagination. His boss was waving a hand in front of his glazed eyes. The roar of the nearby highway faded back into existence, along with the chirping birds.

Zach cleared his throat and stood up straighter. After leaning on the brick wall of the garage for so long, his shoulder ached. "Sorry, Joey. Did you need something?"

Joey, a short, stout man with buzzed hair, crossed his arms. "I need you to wash these four ambulances. Oh, and 303 had an accident in the back."

Zach instinctively let out a sigh, but he tried his best to conceal it. "Right. I'll get to it."

"Staring at the highway won't get Nissa here any faster," Joey said, pulling out his ringing phone. Zach could feel the flush come to his face, and he turned to try and conceal it as best he could. Nissa, the girl Zach had a crush on since he started working there, was taking forever to bring her crew's ambulance back, ambulance 111. It didn't really surprise him all that much because 111 always had issues with its transmission. For all they knew, it could be sitting on the side of the highway miles away. 

Every time a vehicle that looked vaguely box-like drove into sight, a jolt of electricity shot through his nervous system, but it would slowly die down when he would realize it was just a normal minivan. 

"Oh, are we talking about Nissa?" a higher excited voice squeaked from within the garage. Barb walked into the sunlight and joined the two.

"I can totally see you two together," she said as Zach was about to answer. She brushed some of her blond hair behind her ear and lit a cigarette. "She is absolutely gorgeous, have you talked to her yet?"

Zach sighed, knowing there was no way out of this conversation. "I don't think she even knows my name."

"You just have to talk to her, that's all," Barb said, puffing out some smoke to the side. Her face lit up like a lightbulb. "Oh! She wears this beautiful necklace all the time. I think it was her grandma's. Next time you see her, ask her to tell you the story of how she got it."

Joey declined whoever was calling. "Women love their jewelry."

Zach bent his eyebrows slightly. "I never noticed her wearing any necklace." He tried to recall every time he sneaked a quick glance at her, but none of his memories showed a necklace.

"I guess you were distracted by her face," Barb said, nudging Zach with her elbow.

Zack swatted her away. "I'd have to be a madman to just walk up to her and start babbling about a necklace."

Barb huffed out another cloud of smoke. "It would make her day if you asked her about it, guaranteed."

"Or she'll think you're creepy," Joey said suddenly. Barb thwacked him on the shoulder.

"What?" Joey said as she rolled her eyes. "You gotta prepare the man for the worst."

"The worst happens less than you think," Barb said more to Zach than to Joey.

"But, more than you'd like it to," Joey added.

Zach let out a sigh. "Well, whatever happens, happens." One part of his brain told him he might just be crazy enough to do it, the other part knew he'd mess up on the first word.

"One thing's for certain," Joey said, patting Zach on the shoulder and pointing to ambulance 303. "It's scrubbing time." His phone rang again, and he answered it, disappearing into the garage.

Zach waited for him to go into his office until he spoke again. "What if she does think I'm creepy, though?"

Barb put out her cigarette on the brick wall, and flicked the butt into the dumpster beside them. "Oh, don't listen to Joey. When you're talking to her, just pretend you're talking to an old friend. Nothing will seem creepy about it."