HOW FAR CAN A PIÑATA RUN INTO THE DESERT?

2. HOLD ON, LET ME PATCH YOU THROUGH TO CORPORATE.

I.

You cross the street and arrive at the entrance to the building. It looks like a typical corporate office building with BRUFFENDALE TOWER written in bold letters over the large, revolving door entrance. You go inside Bruffendale Tower through the revolving door and into a minimalist-styled lobby with a reception and a few comfortable-looking chairs here and there.

You go to the security guard behind the reception desk, who asks you how he can help you. You hesitate at first, but then tell him that you're here for White Phantom Inc. The security guard looks at you for a second. He asks if you are new. You tell him you are. "I just joined," you say.

The security guard checks some sort of list, perhaps of the various companies that occupy the building, and then gives you an access pass that says ACCESS on it that you scan in order to get through the turnstiles and to the elevators. You press the UP button to go up, the elevator arrives and you get in, pressing the 52 button. The elevator doesn't move. The door stays open and nothing happens. The security guard looks over at you from the reception desk.

"It might take a while," he says. "The elevators are a little shy with new people."

You wait. The elevator still doesn't move.

"Try stroking the walls," the security guard calls out.

You stroke the wall of the elevator. A moment later, the doors slide shut and the elevator begins to ascend.

You get out at the 52nd floor and look around. There doesn't seem to be anyone up here. There's a small elevator lobby, but beyond that all you can see are store rooms and empty, unused office spaces. You go out of the elevator lobby area and make a right. Directly in front of you, a door. ROOM 528, it says.

You open the door. Inside is a little room with industrial metal shelves and filing cabinets, cardboard boxes and some signs of damp on the walls. "Office space"? you think. More like "storage room".

You go inside and shut the door. You spread out your jacket on the carpeted floor, lay down using the sleeve of your jacket as a pillow as best as you can, close your exhausted eyes and drift off to sleep.

***

You wake up in Room 528. There are no windows, so you have no idea what time of day it is, but your head hurts and it feels like you've been sleeping all day. You look at your watch. It's around 7pm.

There's sudden movement outside. You look and an envelope slides in under the door. You're startled, confused and a little afraid. You slowly creep forward and open the door. There's no one there, and the 52nd floor is deserted. You pick up the envelope and open it. There's a note:

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.

You're a little taken aback. Who sent this? Do people know I'm here? you think, a little on edge. You think about how overdramatic the whole envelope under the door thing is as you put on your jacket and head out into the quiet hallway towards the elevator. You press the button to go downstairs and the elevator arrives pretty quickly. You aren't sure if it's because there aren't that many people around or if it's because the elevators are starting to like you. You get inside and press L (you figure it means "lobby") to go downstairs.

You head through the lobby and out of the revolving door onto the night-time city street. You walk, but you feel like you are being followed. Are you? You aren't sure. You hurry down the pavement, peering over your shoulder, rushing past the newsstands until you see a food cart selling skewered meat inside a cloud of grill smoke. You look behind you. There's a shadow of a person watching you. You feel frightened but, more importantly, you're hungry. The grilled meat looks good. You hope the shadow will forget about you and move on as you look at the giant pictures of food printed on the side of the food cart. You see a picture of something called Monday rice. You have no idea what Monday rice is, so you ask the seller.