Office Mayhem

Your breath is ragged, both from running and from fear. You're runnng down one of the halls in your [[office building]] and need to decide to either run right or left at the dead end in front of you. [[Run right.]] [[Run left.]]

You run right. You need to get out and need to be safe. But you need to find [[Sara|Sara description]] first and make sure she's okay. You thought she was following right behind you, but maybe she took a different turn. [[Keep running]] [[Look over your shoulder]]

You run left. You need to get out and need to be safe. But you need to find [[Sara|Sara description]] first and make sure she's safe. You thought she was following right behind you, but maybe she took a different turn. [[Keep running]] [[Look over your shoulder]]

Your coworker Sara is a woman you've worked with for several months now. But she's not just a coworker, you've wanted to get with her ever since she started working here. If things went well maybe even be her boyfriend. You've had drinks with her a couple of times after some late nights at the office, and every time you had hoped that it would turn into something more and that you would go home together, instead of leaving separately after only a couple beers. Although you always felt guilty about wanting to be with her since she has a boyfriend. You're a good guy and you'd never try and break up a couple. Or so you thought until you'd met her boyfriend, Chris. What a tool. Meeting him made yuo change your mind. If it wasn't for him you probably would have made your move and gone out for drinks tonight... [[Anyway|Run left.]]

The last time you saw Sara was when he showed up. You were all in the main conference hall. He showed up when he found out she was staying at work late with you. You and Sara were sitting close together. You had finished the presentation and were talking. You had been flirting with her the whole night and it seemed by the end that she was flirting too. You had asked her why she was with Chris and when she told you she was in the middle of breaking up with him you almost pissed your pants. You had a shot with her. You didn't know that Chris was going to show up, but when he did you and Sara had just started to make out. You both bolted when he came in to the room screaming and cussing and somewhere along the way you two got split up. [[Go back to the conference room.]] [[Call her.]] [[Try to find her on you own.]]

You look over your shoulder behind you to see if anyone is there, but no one is. There are just the lights flickering on and off behind you. During the day this was annoying, but now it made you feel anxious and want to run faster. As if when the lights were on noone was there, then they'de flicker off. But once they'de flick back on, Chris would be there chasing you. When looking back, you weren't paying attention and you stumble into the recycling bin in hallway. You cuss as the bin topples over and creates a big metallic crashing sound. If Sara was wondering where you were too, she knew now. And so does (Link: "he")[her ex-boyfriend]. You look at the ground, at the [[aluminum and glass bottles.]] There's no time to pick up the trash. Whoever did hear you would probably be hear soon looking for you. [[Try and find Sara.|Find Sara]] [[Hide in the nearest room to see who comes by.|Hide]]

The last time you saw Sara was when he showed up. You were all in the main conference hall. You both bolted and somewhere along the way you two got split up. [[Go back to the conference room.]] [[Call her.]] [[Try to find her on you own.]]

The nearest room is one of the many conference rooms of the office. You pray to god that the door is unlocked. [[Open the door.]]

The door opens without a problem. You need to hide in the room as part of the door is glass. You keep the lights off and hide under the big table in the room. You wait for a couple of minutes, and nothing happens. [[Go back into the hall.]] [[Stay put.]]

You decide to go back into the hall. If he really had heard you then he would have been here by now, and so would she. You hope she's alright. You need to find Sara. You get up steadily making sure you don't hit your head on the table, and head for the door. [[Leave the room. |Find Sara]]

You continue to wait. You don't want to risk walking out in the hall and having him find you. You thought he seemed nice when you had first met him months back, but no one is as nice as they seem. How could someone like Sara end up with someone like Chris? As you think to yourself, you hear a bit of motion in the hallway. You snap out of your thoughts and await to see who it is. You wait and wait. Until finally you see [[them]].

They remind you of the beer can that Chris had in his hand when he had showed up here tonight. You and Sara were working on your big presentation for Monday, but you were also subtly flirting too. This was interupted when Chris called at 7 to ask where she was she had told him she was at work. When he kept calling every hour on the hour she let it slip that she was with you. He had showed up not here much later... [[Anyway|Look over your shoulder]]

You had accidentaly got split up about 5 minutes ago, and after not running into her again you're getting really scared for her. You think that it's best to go back to the conference room. You turn back around and head back. You run as quietly as you can. You're almost about to turn right when you hear something. You hear someone's footsteps. Is the Sara? You hope that it's Sara. You move towards the side of the hall and try to listen. You try to quite your breath. You can't tell if the footsteps are getting louder or not. You can only hear you heart pounding. The footsteps are getting louder, they're definitely coming in your direction. [[Risk it and whisper Sara's name.|Whisper]] [[Peak around the corner to see who it is.|Peak]]

You reach for your pocket and feel the edges of your phone through you pants. You grab it as quickly as you can and dial her number. You hope she has her phone and you hope that Chris isn't near her so he won't hear the call. You wait and hear the phone ring. You're pretty sure that whatever calls Sara got before, back when she and Chris were dating, that he listened to a lot of her calls. The phone continues to ring. He probably became very constricting, and told her to not take certain calls, and not to hang out with certain people. That's why she canceled on you several times. The phone rings once more before someone picks up the phone, but says nothing. [[Say Sara's name into the phone.|Speak]]

You run throughout the office trying to find her but come up short. You think that maybe since you haven't found her, neither has he. Or at least you hope so. Maybe you could call the police and find her before they come. Maybe you should try to exit the building. Maybe you should just give up.

Your heart can't take this anymore. Your body will explode at any minute from trying to be suppressed to not make any noise. You let out the faintest whisper of her name, and you hear the footsteps stop. There is nothing but silence. Whoever is standing right around the corner could either be the person you're looking for or someone much worse. [[Whisper her name one more time.|Whisper again.]] [[Keep quite.]]

A whisper would be too much. In this really creepy game of hide and go see you don't want to be found by the wrong person. You need to keep silent until you know for certain who is around the corner. You peak your head around the corner and it's him. His incredibly tall and built stature would put any body builder to shame. His calves are the size of your head. You keep silent and flatten yourself against the wall. There isn't a way that he can see you unless he walks in your direction. Chris in the middle of a T section in the hallway can either go right away from you or go left towards you. By some miracle he turns right. [[Wait a minute and then head towards the conference room.|Conference room]]

You decide to whisper again. You are so hopeful that it will be Sara that you don't think to consider the consequences of whether it might not be her. A few seconds after whispering Sara's name, you see Chris running towards you. There's no use but to [[confront|Confront]] him.

Whispering once was too risky. You don't dare whisper a second time. If that would have been her then she would have said you name in response. You stay put and keep your mouth shut and try to breathe quietly through your nose. Beads of sweat start rolling down your face, as you wait to hear footsteps again. You need to hear something but all you hear is the dead silence between the two of you, waiting for someone to do something. Any indication that someone is there. After what seems like hours of agony, you hear the footsteps walk away from you, getting quieter and quieter until you don't hear them anymore. [[You continue on you way to the conference room.|Conference room]]

There he is standing out into the hall. Your heart jumps in your chest as you desperately wanted it to be Sara. Oh go where is she? Should you risk calling her right now? No he'll see the brightness on your screen. If he saw you there's no telling what he'll do to you. Just this night when he showed up he clumsily pulled out his knife and threatened you. He had grabbed Sara's wrist in a way that you knew would leave nasty bruises. [[Stay under the table until he leaves.|Stay]] [[Go out into the hallway and confront Chris.|Confront]]

Your adrenaline that been pumping through your body this whole night, kick into overdrive. You get out from under the table and your movement gets Chris' attention. Even though the lights are off you can tell that he sees you. You walk forward and he opens the door. "There you are!" he yells. He lunges at you with his right hand. [[Fight him.]] [[Try to talk some sense into him.]]

You stay put. Any movement right now would cause for him to see you. He hasn't so far and if you stay completely still he won't. You don't move a muscle. You even try to not make your lungs move as you breathe. Just go away you think, go away. He stands out in the hallway, looking at the recycling bin you knocked over only minutes ago. It's a good thing you decided to hide. You see him bend down and disappear from view, and come back up with a can in his hand. You realize now that if he looks into the room he might be able to see you under the table. You start to move backward, out of the way of the light coming in through the hallway. You don't dare take your eyes off of him though. While doing this you accidentally bump into one of the office chairs and freeze immediately. You look at him to see if he heard. He stopped looking at the can and is now looking into the room. You're out of the light where he can't see you, but if he comes in, he'll definitely see you. [[Stay still.]]

You decide to take him head on. You know you have to be careful as he has a knife and is loaded. He's bigger than you are so that doesn't help either. [[Punch him in the face.]] [[Just try and dodge his advances.]]

"Chris it's really not what you think" you say. "There is nothing going on between Sara and me. We're just coworkers." Your words don't have an effect on him and he continues to charge for you. [[Take a defensive pose.]] [[Continue to try to talk.]]

You swing for his face with all your strength and hit him square in the nose. You haven't punched someone like that in your entire life and now you know why, because it hurts like hell. Your hand hurts immediately. You can't win this fight. You just can't.

You keep trying to dodge his advances but he is a man of pure rage. He is not giving up and each time he almost gets you. You want to help him but you're not sure how. You try to think of a way out of this. While thinking you get a bit distracted and Chris is able to get you. In one swift move you have blood seeping out of your shirt. A short time after this you pass out due to loss of blood.

You know that what you say will not get to him. You need to dodge his advances if you want to stay alive. He swings and luckily you dodge his right punch, but aren't quick enough to see he had a quick left to follow it up. You walk back a little bit in disbelief. [[Just try and dodge his advances.]]

You try to get through to him that this is all a mistake. "I would never knowingly be with someone if I knew that they had a boyfriend. You have to know that! I don't have any interest in Sara." All you do is try and talk to him but he ends up beating you senselessly. You end up in a hospital, and were found by the police in critical condition.

You head back to the conference room. You start to run there, desperately she has the same idea to meet up where you last saw each other. You reach the conference room and walk inside, the door is already open. You look franticly around the room and in the corner, you see her. You go to her. You can tell she's been crying, and if you weren't so scared right now you would too. She continually stares at the door, as if expecting him to come running in. Which might happen. [[Tell her that you have to call the police.|Call]] [[Ask her what's going on.]]

You speak into the phone and ask if Sara it's Sara. You hear a sign of relief in return and you hear her whisper back "I'm so happy it's you. I thought Chris might have taken your phone." You tell her the same thing. You also ask her where she is. "I'm in the conference room." [[Run to the conference room.|Conference room]] [[Tell her to meet you somewhere.]]

You ask her what's going on. Why is Chris doing all of this? She sighs and says "He's a very jealous person, and is jealous of you. He thinks that since we spend so much time together at work that I cheated on him with you. When I broke up with him he assumed it was because of you. I'm so sorry! I never meant for this to happen." You know it's not your fault and you tell her that. She can't be responsible for a crazy person. You understand her and the situation and so will the police. [[Get out your phone.]]

She suddenly snaps her head from the door to look at you. She stares at you and looks confused, but doesn't say anything. [[Repeat yourself.]] [[Get out your phone.|Get out your phone.]]

You tell her again that you need to call the police. "No! You can't." she whispers to you in a hushed whine. "He'll go to jail, and even worse what if he doesn't? That won't be good for either of us. He'll do anything to not go to jail, he's good at not getting caught." By the way she says this, you wonder if she's tried turning him in before, probably for domestic abuse. [[Ask about Chris|Ask her what's going on.]] [[Call the police.|Get out your phone.]]

You pull your phone out of your pocket. You're about to dial 911 when Sara puts her hand on your arm and says "Please!" You know she doesn't want you to call, she's pleading for you not to. But, you have to don't you? [[Dial 911.]] [[Put down the phone.]]

You have to do this for the safety of both of you. She'll thank you later, whenever that will be. You dial 911 and hear an officer ask what your emergency is. You tell them you're trapped in your work office building with an aggressive attacker and need help. The officer says that help is on the way, but wants to keep you on the line to make sure you're okay until they get there. You look at Sara and she looks both relieved and miserable. You did the right thing. [[Sit and wait with Sara.]] [[Close and lock the door.]]

You look at her and her red puffy eyes. You take her hand on your arms and promise that it will be alright. You promise her that you will make things okay for her and that you will keep her safe. [[Dial 911.]]

It is all over now. You sit and wait with her for an eternity. As time continues to crawl by you, you become more and more anxious. Finally you hear people, and you know you are safe.

You have to make sure that in between now and the time that the police arrive that you remain safe. You go to the door, close it and lock it. You go back to Sara and wait. You have done all that you can, and thanks to you, both of you are safe. It is all over now. You sit and wait with her for an eternity. As time continues to crawl by you, you become more and more anxious. You want Chris to be gone so that Sara can live a happy life, one that you've now given to her. A glimmer of hope arises at this thought. You swell with happiness when finally you hear people, and you know you are safe.

Your heart pounds as you see his eyes scan the room. Looking for you. If he can't see you, you're positive he can hear your heart pounding away in your follow chest. Echoing. You stay still and wait. Wait for him to leave. Minutes later he drops the can back into the pile and leaves. You sign in relief. [[Find Sara.|Find Sara]]

You tell her that it's unsafe to stay in the conference room and that you two should meet somewhere or get out of the building together. Since she's in the conference room, you could meet at the break room. It was almost exactly in between you too. She seems unsure, that she wants to stay where she is but you insist that this is a good idea. You can't be split up. You can either meet at the break room which is close to the both of you or meet at the front door and is farther away. [[Tell her to go to the break room.|Break room]] [[Tell her to go to the front door.|Front door]]

You high tail it to the break room and are then in no time. You open the door and go inside but she isn't there yet. You just got there before her. All you can do now is wait. You look around the break room and you eye lands on the bowl of [[apples]]. You look around the rest of the room and think is there's anything in there that would be a useful weapon. You go into the drawers and find a paring knife. Not much but better than a butter knife, and the best option this place was going to offer. You keep the knife in your hands and wait for Sara. In no time she is there at the door. [[Talk to Sara]]

Sara ate an apple nearly every other day. She was a pretty healthy person. Although that's not the reason your eyes are stuck on the apples. You remember a few weeks ago, you and Sara on break in here. She was turning the apple over and over in her hands while you brewed a cup of coffee. You were chatting about life outside the office. You were chatting about the weekend and your plans. Sara let something slip about therapy with Chris, but she seemed embarrassed about it. You don't think she meant to say it, so you changed the subject. If only you had asked her more about Chris before. [[Anyway|Break room]]

You tell her you're glad she made it here safe and she says the same to you. The two of you try to figure out what to do. You try to be as quiet as possible so that Chris won't find you. You make a plan so make a break for it and to try and exit the building and call the police once outside. [[Leave the break room.]]

You run for the front door. The front door is a lot farther than the break room. Your through was already dry before but now it's even worse. You push through and run for the front door. You have to make it there. You need to get out of this place and you need to make sure Sara is safe too. You see Sara approaching the front door just as you are and are happy Chris is nowhere near you. The two of you make it out of the building and get into your car. You drive the two of you directly to the police station and explain the situation to them. You are safe and so is Sara.

You have your plan set straight and as you two are leaving the room you see Chris standing there in the hallway watching the two of you. Fury on his face. [[Hold up your knife|Knife.]] [[Try to talk to him.|Talk]]

You hold up your knife to show you are ready to fight. He sees it and pulls out his as well. You don't want to fight, things could get really bad, but this might be the only way out. [[Start a fight.]] [[Try to calm him down.]]

You tell him that this is all a misunderstanding. You would never date Sara behind his back and that you two were only friends. He doesn't seem to believe you, but why would he. He didn't believe you when you tried talking to him before. You continue anyway. You try to appeal to his ego and see if that might work. You tell him that you would never compare to him and that he was better. You would never dare try anything with Sara, because you know that she is dating him. You tell him that you know that he would sooner kick your ass than let you have her. That's why you never tried anything with her. He seems to like what you're saying. He lowers his knife a little bit and you see your opportunity. You go even further and say that you are dating someone yourself, even though you're not. That you could never cheat on your girlfriend with someone else's girlfriend. That would be ridiculous. He puts down his knife and looks you dead on. You know you've made him understand. You put your hand in the air to show surrender. You're not going to fight him even if he wants to. You offer to help him and he takes it. You were able to save yourself and Sara.

You know that words are no use with this man. The only way to get out would be to fight and win. You have to do it for yourself and for Sara. [[Swing at him with you knife.]] [[Lunge at him with all you've got.]]

You tell him that this is all a misunderstanding. You would never date Sara behind his back and that you two were only freinds. He doesn't seem to believe you, but why would he. He didn't believe you when you tried talking to him before. You continue anyway. You try to appeal to his ego and see if that might work. You tell him that you would never compare to him and that he was better. You would never dare try anything with Sara, because you know that she is dating him. You tell him that you know that he would sooner kick your ass than let you have her. That's why you never tried anything with her. He seems to like what you're saying. He lowers his knife a little bit and you see your opportunity. You go even further and say that you are dating someone yoursalf, even though you're not. That you could never cheat on your girlfriend with someone else's girlfriend. That would be ridiculous. He puts down his knife and looks you dead on. You know you've made him understand. You drop your knife for good measure and tell him that you don't want to fight. You extend your hand to him and you make everything okay. You are able to leave safely.

You're not experienced enough. You try and swing your small knife at him but you don't have the skills. He easily dodges you advances and takes his knife and stabs you in the chest. He tells you this is what you deserve and does it again. The pain is too much and you collapse to the floor. You try to breath but there is no air left in your lungs. You are left there on the floor. Chris takes Sara and runs away. You weren't able to save her.

You go at him and shove your paring knife into his chest and twist it before letting go of it. He screams and stumbles backward and falls while looking at the knife. [[Take Sara and run.]] [[Continue fighting.]]

You take your opportunity and run. You grab Sara's hand and run to your car. You bot get in and you drive yourselves to the police station. You explain the situation to the police, you also tell them you wounded him, but it was only in self-defense. You were able to save the both of you.

You are determined to save Sara. You know that he'll get up and try to keep fighting so you kick him in the ribs while he's down. You do this several times until you're sure that he won't get up again. And he doesn't. He's stopped moving breathing all together. No that couldn't be. You lower yourself to look at his face. He's not breathing at all. Although you might have saved Sara, you destroyed yourself. You destroyed your life, in order to protect someone else who had their happy life taken from them too. Congratulations. You saved Sara.

You had to work late tonight with Sara. You've been here for hours and it's about 11:00pm. The office is so different at night. [[Anyway|Start]]