"Allie! Psst.!" A woman's voice cut through the quad's nightly festivities. It was rush week and ...

Okay, truth be told, I have no idea what's going on.

Just a bunch of drunk and or high twenty-somethings running around like tonight's the last night of their lives.

"Allie! Over here!" The woman kept hissing.

"Uh, Pam, that's not her name," some other middle-aged faculty lady I didn't know interrupted. "Aella! Can you help us?"

Crap... I don't want to get involved.

I put down the full trash bags in my hands and snorted an irritated puff through my lips.

"Yes, Ma'am," I trotted up to the two professors. No wait, according to their badges, they're members of the librarian staff. "How can I help?"

I had three years left in high school. Still, no matter how my grades panned out before my senior year, I had no intention of applying to this party pit of a state college.

"There's someone asking for you," Pam snooted her chin over my head with a weird, crooked smirk.

Yeah, I know lady, I'm short. Tell me something we both don't already know...

"This way," Pam spun on her practical flat heel and waved for me to follow.

"Right-O," I bounced in the affirmative. Then I ticked her off when I darted back to collect my custodial cart with the two full trash bags tossed up on top.

...

"They need you down there," Pam and her cohort huddled together, pointing down a dark, steep concrete stairwell.

We were way out on the dead-end of campus. No one else was around, and I knew for certain that the two enormous buildings towering on either side of the alley were locked up tight for the night.

I assumed hazing was only inflicted on the real freshmen.

And these bitches don't even know my name!

"Okay, thanks for coming to get me," I smiled bright and padded happily down the bleak, empty, unlit staircase.

The women were whispering to one another, not about me.. no.. they're scared!

Ugg, I just want to do my job!

I didn't let their stupid hang-ups stop me, I just kept my size five's hopping straight on down to the bottom.

I saw a corner and spotted movement. Something above tucked away into the shadows.

I made the turn and suddenly there was a face coming right at me!

"Ah!" I yipped with a jolt.

A man was hanging from the ceiling sideways, tangled in a bunch of wires.

"AHHH!" He screamed when my face stopped abruptly in front of his.

"What the hell, dude!?" I laughed and pushed his face.

He was a young fellow, kinda slender with short straight platinum white hair.

Was it just me, or were his eyes purple?

"How did you get in here?" The man squirmed, but couldn't break loose from the wires. He wore a jet-black zipped-up jumpsuit with a slick embroidered name patch that read Teku. "It's not safe here."

"I think I'm here to help you," I spotted a conspicuously thick yellow wire and yanked.

THUNK

The man crashed to the floor with a groan.

"Wha-?" He fumbled against the noodly rainbow and flailed to his feet. "I slacked maintenance to send a janitor more than an hour ago!"

"Yeah, you must be new," I helped brush the tangle off his arms and legs. "Those guys don't know how to use that app. Every once in a while someone will butt-dial a stream of emojis, but that's the farthest they ever get."

I opened my staff-issued cell to the incoherent message thread. "See."

"For the love of.." the man pinched his brow. "But how did you-? Are you even old enough to be a student here? This place... I need to finish this contract..."

"You ok and all set then?" I patted his shoulder and smiled up at him, signaling that I was going to head out.

"Wait," the man was genuinely flustered. "You really are with maintenance? This isn't some bizarre fraternity prank?"

"Yep and nope," I tossed my hands on my hips then flashed him my name tag tethered to the lanyard on my black pleather belt.

"Aella..." he pronounced my name with skepticism.

"Damn, skippy!" I slapped him on the chest. "Let's fix what needs fixin'..."

I leaned in and squinted at his name tag. "Mr. Teku."

"Oh.." he stammered, then scrambled for his toolbox. "Yes... Let's go!"

He led me deeper into the bowels of the building. The lighting was poor, and there were cobwebs covering everything.

"So what's the damage, Mr. Teku?" I scoured the dark wire-entrenched basement.

"I'm... uh.. with IT. A contractor," he corrected. "I'm trying to integrate a nano-fiber hardline into the library's central archive, but everything on this campus is convoluted and looping into buildings it's not intended."

"Gotcha," I nodded, not having a clue what he was talking about.

"The wires I need to switch out are under this flooring. I... we need to move some... equipment," Mr. Teku stared at a pile of old moldy desks.

"It's trash," I threw my boot up on a sideways table and crunched off a protruding rusted leg.

Mr. Teku laughed. "Yes, it's in the way."

I pointed to an empty corner, and he nodded, confirming it was beyond the area he was trying to access.

Then I tugged on my leather gloves, cracked my knuckles, and got to pushing. Mr. Teku helped too, but I did most of the heavy lifting.

"Wow, I've never seen a girl your size with that kind of strength," Mr. Teku struggled to catch his breath.

"Eh," I stretched my arms and dusted off my hands in satisfaction. "That's just cause most girls my age have never had to work a full shift after school to pay for groceries, bills, and rent on the regular. So what's next, Mr. Teku?"

"Uh, actually," he pinched his lower lip. "Teku is my first name.. And the name of my company."

"Oh," I chuckled, then tossed my palm out proper. "So, what should I call ya? Mr...?"

"Teku," he reached out to shake my hand.

"Huh?" I crimped my brow. "But you just said not to-"

Suddenly, my stomach went wonky, like I was on the first hump of a rollercoaster.

We were falling.

The rotted-out basement floor had given way and the two of us were tumbling into a pit of darkness.

...

"AHHHH!!" I screamed in absolute terror. "Spiders!!!!!"

I was stuck hanging upside down in wires... THEY BETTER BE FUCKING WIRES!!!

And there were tiny legs crawling my hair!

"It's ok!" Mr. Teku, or whatever his name was, shushed and pulled me into his arms. He was upside down right next to me, padding my long brown hair with his slender pale hands.

"There, see, nothing there," he cooed to calm me.

"NO! I CAN'T SEE!" I shivered, on the verge of an all-out panic attack. "It's fucking dark! And there are spiders everywhere in this entire goddamn building!"

"Aella," he hugged me. "I assure you, there are NO spiders."

"For realz?" I panted and stared off into the empty nothing around us.

"For realz," he echoed back with confidence.

I tried my best to hold still and not pass out.

"We're not too far from the floor," he whispered in my ear.

"How can you see?" I darted my eyes toward his voice. "There's no light in here."

"I'm used to working in the dark," he slowly stroked my back and arms. "My eyes have always adjusted quickly."

"That's good," I was still huffing in dread. "...I guess."

"You can call me Teku."

"What?"

"My first name," he tittered and wriggled around, I think, to face me. "I'm barely older than those dumbasses streaking in the quad outside."

"But ain't you the boss man?" I twisted toward his voice. "Of your company?"

"Yes," his voice made a jaunty hitch. "I finished college early and created my own software and tech."

"So you're like, a super brain," I chuckled and almost snorted. "And you still wound up down here in the middle of nothin' dangling upside down right beside me?"

"Heehehe," he made a cute little rasping giggle through his teeth. "I did!"

"You make my life look stupid awesome!" I chortled uncontrollably at him.

"I have a doctorate," he tugged me closer and laughed all out.

"I'll be lucky if I graduate!" I jeered back.

Teku and I snickered together in that unquestionably spider-infested vacuum for what felt like hours until after a bit of yanking we managed to pull up right and find our footing on the concrete floor.

Mr... oh, right.. Teku decided it was safest to finish his work in the morning and we said our goodbyes, but the thing was...

I never wanted it to end.