Locked

I wasn’t even tall enough to reach a light switch yet, nowhere close, so I don’t know who thought it would be a good idea to let my young self go and use the bathroom by myself. The party hall was loud and the bathroom was just past a door and down a hallway. I don’t imagine anyone thought I would’ve gotten lost. But still… anything could’ve happened.

In fact, something did happen. I doubt I was so small that nobody noticed me go to the bathroom, but the beats of the party must have had every responsible adult feeling joyfully neglectful because when I returned from the bathroom, the door to the hall was locked. It was the only way in or out of the party hall save for a dark stairwell that looked like it led to some demon’s hideout. I was trapped.

It’s fair to say that I was less than gassed about the whole situation. I imagined never seeing my parents again. I barely had any concept of death, so I thought I’d be locked in there forever. Or at least for days. They were both the same at that age.

It also came to mind that whatever devil that was living in the dark stairwell could come to investigate the crying kiddie, banging at a door only to be drowned out by party music. An offering snack left for him.