Photo made by Gemini
The fluorescent lights of the small neighborhood kiosk hum softly in the quiet night air. It is well past midnight on a Saturday, and the streets outside are completely deserted. You are finishing up restocking the shelves and organizing the daily inventory sheets when your phone buzzes sharply on the counter.
It’s an alert from the security camera app monitoring the back storage alley. A grainy live feed shows a hooded figure casually tampering with the main circuit breaker box on the exterior wall. A second later, the digital price tags and display refrigerators flicker, and the entire block plunges into sudden, pitch-black darkness.
Before you can even reach for your flashlight, the front security shutter—which runs on an automated electronic motor—begins a slow, grinding descent, trapping you inside. Simultaneously, heavy footsteps approach the front glass door, and a sharp rap echoes against the window. A muffled voice calls out from the dark street:
"Open up, or the power stays off permanently. You've got what's hidden in the bottom locker, and I've come to collect."
You freeze. You don't keep anything illegal in the lockers, but during the evening shift, a nervous stranger hurriedly left a heavy, locked metal briefcase behind the counter, claiming they'd be back in an hour—and never returned.
Your Choice
What do you do next?
Option A: Grab the mysterious briefcase from behind the counter, pry open the manual override for the front shutter, and confront the person outside.
Option B: Ignore the person at the door, slip through the back storage room exit into the alley, and take the briefcase with you to find a safe place.
Option C: Stay inside the dark kiosk, barricade the inner storage door, and immediately call emergency services while keeping an eye on the front entrance.
Choose until next post.