behind the curtains

You follow the closing door to a sign that says Staff Only,walking in anyway. "Phil?" You call out, eyes trailing over the masses of shelves sprawled out before you. You frown at the lack of response, realising the only way to get to him would be through the jungle of the backroom of Iris and Co.

As you carefully step over discarded topiary materials, you hear a soft thud from the back of the room, followed by scuffling footsteps.

You voice out another 'Phi-il?' before making your way towards the hushed noises emanating from behind the thick curtains hiding the staff break area.

"I'm- just a second." You hear hurried footsteps and soft cursing. "Don't - come – back - here."

You're frowning now. You can't understand what Phil would have to hide. Shoving past the curtains hiding the back, you start to say, "Phil, I don't th-"

Then - you freeze. Your mind goes a little blank as it tries to process what you're seeing.

"Please don't tell anyone." Phil's voice is a pleading squeak and it brings your eyes slowly to his.

"What the-" You can't seem to form coherent thoughts. "Phil. What did you do."

Phil's hands pull at each other and his eyes are guilty when he mumbles a quick, "It was just a small thing and I didn't know how to tell you so I brought them here but I couldn't help myself and apparently neither could they and they just multiplied and I didn't mean to."

"Oh my god." You run a hand over your face. "Small? This- I don't even know- what were you thinking?"

"I know, I know. It was dumb but- I didn't expect this." You raise your eyebrows. "Okay, maybe I should have but I didn't."

"Do you realise what could have happened if it was the manager that walked in? You've spent all your life working for this shop and I can't believe-"

"I knew you wouldn't even consider bringing them into the flat."

You mouth the words, trying to mould them into sentences, but nothing comes out. Your mouth is gaping as your eyes flit around the scene again. You shake your head and when you meet Phil's guilty expression once more your voice is nothing but a croak. "I'm going to drop out of law." Your brain spits out the statement you'd previously been preparing to say and now you both look shocked. You think you need to take a seat.

You let out a sigh as your hands shred a Queen Anne's lace that you found on the floor. The rattling of metal against metal of the numerous cages piled up around you accompany the silence that's built up.

"So this is where we are, huh?" The quiet is broken and you drop the remnants of the flower before leaning back into a fake bush, eyes wandering to the wired ceiling, examining it in hopes of finding some meaning in your life, disappointment caking your face as you find nothing but loose piping and a barren expanse of grey. "A law school dropout and- and whatever this is."

"It's a problem." You can hear Phil fiddling around with a cage as he speaks. "A very cute problem I don't think I can control."

"At least when I inevitably end up homeless and sad I can take up a hamster breeding business with you." Swinging your head to the side, you squint at the cages. "From the look of your already compiled thirty seven hamsters, that shouldn't be too hard." You wonder if that number is even an exaggeration.

Phil eyes the destructed flower and mutters absentmindedly about some alstroemeria and aster arrangement.

"I mean, I'm glad you weren't hiding a body. But," You pull yourself up to follow Phil back to the main store, "No way are you bringing any of those monsters home."