Locked Out

Hear the story read by the author.

In the town of Normal, Pennsylvania, there’s a little church at the corner of Wilson and Elm. One Wednesday evening Associate Pastor Michelle Tellum was working late by herself in her basement office when she thought she heard the sound of glass breaking outside. “The raccoons are in the trash again,” she thought. She grabbed the squirt gun she kept to frighten the furry bandits away and headed upstairs.

But when she exited the rear of the church she found the trash bin lid tightly in place and no sign of masked troublemakers. She shrugged and turned to go back inside.

Only to discover the door had locked behind her.

That’s when she realized she’d left her purse with her keys and her cell phone down in her office. She knew Jose the janitor had already finished up for the night and would have locked everything down tight. But she figured the coffee shop down the block would still be open and would probably let her use their phone.

She was halfway across the lawn when the sprinklers came on. She dashed back to the church porch, thoroughly soaked. Now, Michelle was not overly vain but she didn’t relish the embarrassment of going into the coffee shop with a clingy wet shirt and stringy damp hair. She decided to look for an alternate way into the church first.

The sound Michelle heard was not raccoons. It was a man named Don who broke a window in the choir room door to gain access to the church. Don was not really a bad man but he was not really a good man either. Mostly he was lazy and an alcoholic. And when he was out of money and really needed a drink he would occasionally steal something. He figured the church would be easy to break into and would probably have something lying around that he could pawn.

If Michelle knew about the broken window she could have easily gotten back inside. But of course if she knew there was a prowler on the premises she wouldn’t have been so anxious to get back inside in the first place. Since she didn’t know about the broken window, she made a different plan.

She could see that the window of the teens’ room on the second floor was open a crack. There was a small lip of roof below it, just above a side door. Michelle rummaged through the garbage and found a crate. By using it as a step she was able to pull herself up onto the little bit of roof.

The window was small and only opened half way but Michelle thought she just might be able to slither through. With a little effort she wriggled her head and shoulders in. From there she easily slid the upper part of her body through. But as she squeezed her hips under the sash, the seat of her pants caught on a screw that had worked its way loose. As she pushed forward, she heard her pants tear. The more she pushed, the more they tore.

Finally, she decided she better back out and try again. She reached her foot down to find the roof and it slid into the gutter. As she shifted her weight back, the gutter tore away from the roof. Without its support Michelle hurtled backward.

Fortunately she didn’t fall directly onto the gravel path or she might have been badly hurt. Instead she landed in the bushes beside the path. Unfortunately they were rose bushes and full of thorns. She didn’t sustain any serious damage, but she scratched her face and arms up pretty good.

Michelle crawled out of the bushes and stood up. She craned her body around to try to ascertain how big the tear in her pants was. It was big. And then out of the corner of her eye she noticed the security camera. She knew the church had security cameras, of course, but was so used to them it had slipped her mind. Currently she was mooning this particular camera. She made a mental note to delete that tape once she got back inside.

Meanwhile, Don hit the jackpot. He had found his way to Michelle’s office and discovered her purse. He dug out her wallet and took all her cash. He left everything else. Cash was easy and untraceable.

Outside Michelle was beginning to get cold. She had to find a way back in. She circled the building and finally discovered the broken window. “That’s odd,” she thought, “Nobody told me this window was broken. I bet one of the kids did it and was afraid to say anything.” Regardless, it was a way in.

Don was just coming back to the choir room as Michelle entered through the door. He heard her in the nick of time and pressed himself against the wall of the hallway. He held his breath and peeked into the dark room. From his vantage point Michelle was silhouetted in moonlight. He could tell it was a woman, but not much else.

Then Michelle took the squirt gun out of her pocket.

All Don saw was the silhouette and his blood ran cold. It was not worth getting shot over a few twenties. He scurried back up the hall looking for any other way out and found the side door. He dashed through, glancing back over his shoulder to see if the woman with the gun was pursuing him.

And he hit his head on the dangling gutter that Michelle had broken. He let out a yelp and fell to the ground, out cold.

Michelle heard Don’s cry. She began to piece together what was really happening. She crept up to the suspiciously open side door with growing dead and looked out. When she saw Don sprawled on the walk she clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress a scream and ran downstairs to her office.

With her office door safely locked, she called the police. The dispatcher sent a patrol car to the church and stayed on the line with Michelle while she waited. That’s when Michelle remembered the tear in her pants. She put the phone on speaker and changed into some sweats she kept in her bottom desk drawer.

It wasn’t long before the dispatcher informed her that the patrol car had arrived and apprehended the intruder. Michelle went out to meet them. She was greeted by a tall and rather handsome officer. “I’m Officer Johnson,” he said. Michelle wished she’d also taken time to fix her hair and put make-up over the scratches on her face while she was waiting.

Michelle told handsome Officer Johnson what had happened, leaving out the part about her pants ripping. He took notes then complimented her on her bravery.

“What do you do here at the church?” he asked.

“I’m the associate pastor,” Michelle told him.

“I didn’t know pastors could be so pretty,” he said with a wink. “I’ll have to start coming to church.”

Michelle’s cheeks reddened. She tried not to grin like an idiot.

“Well, I’m done here,” Officer Johnson said, flipping his book closed. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“I hope so,” Michelle said.

Officer Johnson started to turn away, then stopped. “One more thing. I notice you have a security camera above that door. We’ll want a copy of the tape for evidence.”

Michelle cheeks went from red to pale.