Tilt

Morning Yet?

His chest hurt and his mouth felt sticky and dry. He lifted his hands to rub the sleep from his eyes, one of them prickled from being slept on. When he opened his eyes, Tyler found himself on a dusty concrete floor surrounded by industrial walls old enough to have piles of paint chips collecting at the base. As he sat up, he noticed a bottle of water and some fruit snacks; the Scooby Doo ones that he remembered asking his mom to get just for the trip. He didn't feel very hungry but decided it might be best to pocket the snacks in case that changed later. His attention turned then to the water bottle  and set to washing away the dry taste in his mouth.  

After gulping down most of the water, Tyler took a breath and set the bottle down. To his right, he noted that the door was open slightly. A way out. The boy downed the last of the water and stood up leaning against the chipping wall to counter the sluggishness that still clung to his body. He walked out of the door, finding himself now on a suspended metal grating with the concrete floor visible a flight below. As he walked forward along the suspended metal path, he passed by several large metal vats, shiny under the layer of dust. He brushed a finger through the gray to reveal the metal beneath as he walked. With his finger now covered in a powder, Tyler decided this decision was dumb and wiped the gunk on his shorts. He had worn nice cargo shorts and a polo for his grandma, who loved when he got a little dressed up. She would've called him her handsome little man but that didn't seem like it would be happening tonight, so he was okay with dirtying his pants. But he wasn't dead. That was good. Now that the boy was walking, he no longer felt drowsy, just a bit thirsty and confused. Tyler just didn't know where he was or who the man was who brought him here. 

The path was narrow and wove around the large metal vats. The metal trail was probably once a catwalk for workers to tend to whatever was once kept in the containers.  Tyler noticed he could have a hand on each rail easily. The footpath turned to the left and he followed, looking at the ground level of the warehouse below. When he did look up, the man was there, leaning over the guardrail. Tyler froze and felt his breath catch in his sore chest.

"Come here Ty. Don't be a stranger." For the second time, this man has called the boy by name as if they knew each other. Although Tyler wanted to run back in the opposite direction of the bright green hair, he knew this would probably end badly. He walked up behind the man, noticing as he got closer the sheen of the man's jacket and the paleness of the skin of his neck. When he hesitated on the final step towards the man, the man gestured him forward still looking over the floor plan below. With the gap closed, there was a moment where neither of them moved. The man put a hand on Tyler's shoulder and he flinched before being brought into a suffocating hug. The man reeked of a combination that reminded the boy of chemicals used to clean floors and copper. Shocked and fairly terrified, Tyler waited until the man pulled away so he could get a look at his face.