Locked
Arielle Lemoyne
One Sunday evening, Arielle was hanging out in her apartment. She was trying to catch up on cleaning - she'd washed dishes, taken out the trash, and even started a load of laundry. She was tidying up the living room, when her alarm went off, reminding her to go collect her laundry from the laundry room.
She grabbed her laundry basket, pulled her door...but it wouldn't open. Setting the basket down, she turned the lock and tried the door again. It still wouldn't move. She flipped the lock back and forth and pulled and pulled but she could not get the door unlocked. She called the apartment manager, but he didn't answer.
In a panic, she texted three of her friends, with the same desperate message "HELP I'M LOCKED IN MY APARTMENT". One of her friends responded and said he wasn't home, one suggested calling the fire department, and one wasn't answering. Arielle was not too excited about calling the fire department, so she started considering other options. She tried using knives, screwdrivers, and old credit cards to move the lock. That didn't work.
She thought about climbing out the window. She was only about a half story up so she probably wouldn't get hurt if she jumped, and that would at least get her out of the apartment. But if she couldn't get the door open from the other side, she'd have no way of getting back in. There was nothing to hold onto to help her climb back up the building.
Maybe she should call the fire department after all. All she really wanted to do was go get her laundry. Just as she was about to give up, the phone rang - it was the manager, telling her someone was on the way to help.
Only a few minutes later, the maintenance guy showed up, and after a lot of hammering, broke the door open. Arielle was so relieved. She thanked the maintenance guy, who said, "The lock's broken but it's Sunday and I'm not supposed to be working so just leave it open for now."
Well, at least she could go get her laundry.
