One Shots

Walk the Layout

A/N: I don't know where this idea came from, and I didn't know where this was going until I wrote it, but hopefully it's interesting.

He walked down the corridor. The walls were beige, and the carpet used to be the same color. Dirt and grime darkened it over the years.

There's no art on the walls, no decoration of any kind. It's all dull, bland, and empty.

There were a couple doors, but they always seemed to be locked. There were no windows to allow someone to peer in. Anyone who walked past was left to wonder what could be behind them.

Most assumed they were conference rooms or personal offices. Some weren't convinced it was that simple. But they had no evidence to claim otherwise.

The only door that was always unlocked was at the end of the hallway. It faced a different direction from the rest of them. It was the exit...or the entrance, depending on which side one was on.

It was the end of the day, so he was leaving. He went to grab the handle, and it turned as usual. He opened the door, more than ready to leave the mundaneness of the building.

Distracted by the thoughts of what he needed and wanted to do once he got home, it took a few moments for him to register that stepping through the doorway did not take him outside. Instead, he was faced with another hallway.

He thought that maybe he was more tired than he realized and took a wrong turn coming from his cubicle. But that couldn't be right. He was always on autopilot when leaving the office and never once went the wrong way.

He could've tried to backtrack, but insistent that he went the right direction, he moved forward.

The corridor looked exactly the same as the other—dull, bland, and empty. It was all beige with no decoration.

When he got to the end of the hall, the door he expected to see wasn't there. So, he turned to the left and attempted to open the closest one. It was locked.

He sighed at the thought of having to try each door in hopes that one of them would open. He started walking back to where he came from, figuring he didn't want to go through the hassle of checking each door.

Backtracking, he made it to the other end of the long, narrow room. But the door he entered through wouldn't open. It was locked.

He wiggled the door knob a few times to make sure it wasn't stuck, but it wouldn't budge. So, he took a deep breath and began turning each handle to find a door that would open.

He made it more than halfway down the hallway when he found a door handle on the right side that moved. He turned the handle and opened the door.

Not caring what was on the other side and fearing he would get locked in if he didn't enter through this door, he stepped through without paying full attention.

He took in his surroundings as he let go of the door. Upon realizing it was another identical hallway, he tried to catch the closing door. He was too late. When he pulled on the handle, it didn't budge. It was locked.

He was starting to get worried. He knew he didn't go the wrong way when he left his cubicle. But if that was the case, why and how did the layout change?

He suppressed his nerves as much as possible and started searching for an unlocked door. He could only hope that it would lead him outside.

He already hated the boring building he worked in and always wondered why it was so plain and undecorated. Now, he wondered if it was somehow intentional and not just laziness or cheapness that kept everything looking the same.