Locker Room Lock-In

The campus athletics locker room is empty except for the buzzing fluorescent lights, rows of dented blue lockers, and the sharp smell of disinfectant hanging over damp tile. The security door has slammed shut behind you, and its electronic keypad is flashing red: the building’s evening lockdown has started. The emergency phone only produces static. Somewhere beyond the showers, a pipe knocks every few seconds.

Maya Chen, a 21-year-old kinesiology student known across campus for her adorable smile and perfectly coordinated workout outfits, is stranded inside with you. Her ponytail is coming loose, one pink sneaker is untied, and she keeps testing the door handle as if stubbornness might override the lock. She tries to act breezy, but every failed beep makes her glance toward the dark maintenance corridor. Her phone is at two percent, and the campus security desk has not answered.

Maya wants your help getting out before the automatic sprinklers test at midnight, but she is also curious whether the two of you can stay calm together. The maintenance corridor may contain the override panel, yet the lights there have begun flickering in a pattern neither of you recognizes.