Richard Stelkey hated his job. He finished stacking packages of tofu onto the shelves and proceeded to climb down the ladder he was perched upon, making sure not to hit his antlers on the way down. After packing up the ladder, the tall deer got back into his forklift, and began to back to the main hub of the storage warehouse. This place is so dreary, they should liven it up a little bit. I'd love to see some colour in here, or maybe some balloons! Richard continued to get lost in his thoughts as he continued his long drive back to the employee lounge. After scanning and putting away his key card, he hung up his orange safety vest onto the rusty coat hooks that had been there for longer than Richard had been around, and walked over to the company coffee machine; bringing your own drinks would get your wage docked. He pressed the glowing buttons, and coffee started to dribble out of the machine. Ugh, it's watered down, but I guess I shouldn't expect anything more from whichever cheapskates own this company Richard thought as he took a sip of the weak coffee, At least it's hot though.
He continued putting the various things of his back in their places. He put his hearing protection back into the gray bin with the label that was slowly falling off, and he tossed the keys to his forklift into the draw that was the only place in the facility that he could call his personal space. He shut the drawer, locked it, and sauntered towards the door when he heard a noise behind him, it sounded as if someone was flicking a butane lighter. Then he thought he saw the orange ring of a cigarette, but it was only there for a split second, or even not at all.
"Mike, is that you?" he called. This elicited no response. Of course that didn't make sense, Mike had quit smoking a couple years ago, he moved to cigarettes. Richard wondered if the building was playing tricks on him, maybe he had spent too long in the building, and he was just getting spooked, or if it was the flickering of the fluorescent lights, Yes, that must be it, just the flickering, I'm just being paranoid that's it. Even as he thought that, he continued to look around the lounge. He searched underneath the old plaid couch to check if the noises were caused by any bugs, but all he found was old popcorn. He made his way back to the door, careful not to step on the copious amounts of trash that covered the floor. Just as he opened the door he heard another door slam, and footsteps. They sounded like they were running no, sprinting away. Richard caught a brief glimpse of fur. But before he had time to process what he had just seen, he saw a great flash of light, felt a searing heat, and then darkness enveloped his vision.
