The Thing in the Shed

The only exit from the shed was locked. The window was covered with burglar bars, and the door was about the only thing left on the shed that was solidly constructed.

Crap.

“What do we do now, Keisuke?”

“Wait a minute, I have an idea.”

I shined my cell phone light over the door, past the rafters with their collection of agricultural museum pieces, and heaved a sigh of relief. “I think I know a way we can get out of here.”

I told Erika my plan. She nodded in agreement then glanced at her watch, an elegant little Casio on a slender leather band with gold fasteners. “If we hurry, we can still make it back to the classroom before lunch is over.”

I looked around for something I could use to climb up to the rafters. You’d think that, with all the old equipment laying about, it would be easy to find something that could support my weight.

Nope. Everything was too old and crumbled under my weight. I found a length of worn rope, but it fell apart in my hands when I picked it up.

So, on to Plan B.

“Erika, have you ever done any cheerleading or gymnastics before?” She cocked her head to one side, her long blonde hair swaying slightly, and gave me a strange look.

“No, why? Are you planning to toss me up to the ceiling?” Her smile removed any implied sarcasm.

“Hmm. I was thinking of having you stand on my shoulders, then you could climb up onto the rafters.”

“Oh!” She seemed startled by the idea. “Okay. How do I get on your shoulders?”

I scratched my head. “I’m not sure, but it looks easy enough in the movies. Let’s give it a try.”

I stood with my back against one of the columns supporting the roof while Erika kicked off her shoes. A thrill ran through me as she moved closer, placing her hands on my shoulders to steady herself.

Focus, Keisuke! I told myself.

I made a saddle with my hands, Erika placed her foot in it, and I hoisted her up a few feet.

“See?” I gasped as I tried to keep from wobbling. “Nothing to it. Now, just put your right foot on my shoulder. Go ahead.” 

She raised her leg and hesitated. “Can you lift me any higher? I can’t reach your shoulder.”

“Oof!” I was at my limit but wasn’t going to tell her that. “No, this is the highest floor this elevator goes to.” She giggled.

“Well, can you stoop a little lower?”

“Unggh. Yeah, hold on.” She was heavier than I thought she’d be, but there was no way I was going to say that out loud. That way lies death, my inner sage whispered to me.

I bent a little further over. Erika was able to bring her right foot onto my shoulder, but I couldn’t straighten up. She quickly brought the left one up onto my other shoulder.

“Can you reach the rafters?” I asked, trying my best not to wheeze.

“Almost, Keisuke, it’s so close.”

I started to lose my balance. “Erika, jump!”

She did. I was expecting her to leap down, but she must have thought I wanted her to go in the other direction.

The force of her jump drove me to my knees. I went down, she went up. 

I coughed old dust out of my lungs and climbed back to my feet.

“I did it!”

I looked up to see a beaming Erika holding onto one of the rakes stored in the rafters. She used it like a pull-up bar to swing herself up onto a cross-beam, then stood there proudly, with a hand on her hip and the other holding the supports.

“Nice job!” I tossed her shoes up to her, one at a time. “Don’t forget these.”

As she was about to reply, a resounding boom echoed through the shed.

It sounded like something big and heavy slamming into a wall -- or a door. I looked over at the shed entrance in alarm. The boom came again, but the door didn’t vibrate in the slightest.

It was coming from somewhere else. A feeling of dread came over me as I shined my light at the carpet covering the trap door.

Another boom. Erika’s gasp ended in a shriek as the carpet seemed to jump up, sending a cloud of mold and dust into the air.

Someone -- or something -- was trying to batter it's way past the trap door.

“Keisuke! You need to get out of there!”

“Don’t worry about me! Can you reach the vent?”

“Yes!” As quickly as she could, Erika walked across the narrow beam toward the old gable vent near the roof’s apex. Some of those were hinged to open outward once a bolt was released from the inside. She threw the bolt, then pushed the vent without success. “Keisuke, it won’t budge!”

Another boom. Whatever was trying to get out sure didn’t seem like it was running out of energy.

Without hesitation, she scooped up a long-handled hoe, spinning it effortlessly like a samurai yari, and lunged forward, smashing the handle into the vent. A thin sliver of sunshine spilled past as it cracked open.

I ran toward the shed door, going over or around piles of dilapidated equipment. “Hurry, Erika!”

Above me, the louvered circle moved slowly outward on its rusty hinge with each frantic thrust of her hoe.

Another boom.

Erika disappeared through the opening the vent had covered. She clung to the edge with her fingers, then jumped down.

A moment later, I heard the beautiful sound of a padlock snapping open.

Erika yanked the door wide. I jumped through and we both slammed the door shut. Her hands shook so badly it took her several tries to lock the padlock again.

While she was securing the door, I reached up with the hoe and tapped the vent back in place. Now, at least from the outside, the shed looked like it had for the past several decades.

I exhaled heavily and tossed the hoe behind some low bushes.

Then we ran as fast as we could back to the main campus. As we entered a stairwell, I felt a touch on my shoulder.

I turned around. Erika was trying to catch her breath. “Just -- just a minute, please, Keisuke, I need to --”

“Me too.” I was sucking in lungfuls myself. “Erika -- what was that thing in the shed?”

She gave me a sheepish look. “I guess the rumor of a monster in the shed… may have some truth behind it.”

“You don’t say! Did you notice the expression on that caretaker’s face? He was scared stiff, and couldn’t wait to leave. Now we know why.”

An idea came to me. “You don’t suppose that someone is trapped down there, do you?”

“No.” She shook her head emphatically . “They would have been shouting something, wouldn’t they? No, it was something else.”

“Maybe.” I still wasn’t convinced. “We’d better get back to class.”

The look on Erika’s face changed. She looked me up and down like I was some treasure she’d just discovered. “Keisuke. You are really amazing. I’m still terrified, and you’re already thinking about class!”

“I was scared too! I’m just glad -- no, overjoyed -- that you were able to get out through that vent and unlock the door.”

Before we could say anything else the period bell rang.

We walked back to class side-by-side, our hands occasionally touching.

-----------------------------------

There was one more surprise left in the day. It turned out that Erika was an old friend of Yoshida Hayami. My buddy Takeda had described Hayami to me as “my more-than-just friends-but-not-yet-girlfriend friend.”

There has to be a simpler way to express a relationship, I thought. I just hoped Hayami wasn’t keeping Takeda on a string for her own amusement. She struck me as that type of girl.

When school let out, Erika turned to me. Her face was lit up with anticipation. “You don't have any plans for after school, do you?”

"Yeah, I'm afraid I have to go to work." I was relieved to see that she looked disappointed.

“Oh, okay. We’ll talk more later about -- well, you know what.” She gave me a meaningful look as she stood up and grabbed her satchel. “I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow!”

I received another of her supernova smiles, then she walked off with Hayami. The two chattered back and forth as if they’d known each other for years. I remembered Erika mentioning she only knew one other person at the school. I guess the riddle of who it was had been solved.

The two of them were joined by Takeda and Endo, who joined in their conversation without effort. Takeda gave me a cheerful wave, Endo ignored me, and the four of them left.

They disappeared into the hallway. “Hey, how about some karaoke?” I heard Endo saying. “Yeah!” came the enthusiastic response.

For a moment, I gave in to envy. I wished I could join in with them, go enjoy some karaoke before going home to a dinner cooked by a loving mother, go to bed surrounded by the sounds of television and voices from my family floating up from the living room.

But, I reminded myself, I’d just had one of the best -- and most thrilling -- days of my life. I couldn’t wait to find out more about that trap door and what lay underneath it.

And maybe find out more about Erika, too. How did she know about the trap door in the first place?

Not to mention, I had work to do. And I have the most interesting part-time job in Japan.

I gathered up my things, loaded my plastic bag of uneaten junk food back in my satchel, and headed home by myself.