SHUTTLE BUS

When I saw the automatic door go down, I panicked. I didn't know what was happening. All I could think of was that I didn't want to get trapped inside the cold storage.

And so I ran towards the closing door and slid myself onto the slit that soon closed, and touched the ground. I successfully escaped but when everything had sunk in, I realized, Joe wasn't with me.

The wall that was supposed to be the automatic door slowly went up again.

When it reached a safe height, Joe emerged from behind it. He was furious.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, sliding yourself into a closing door like that?! Do you want to die?! Does this place look like a playground to you?! That's dangerous, what you just did!"

"If anything happens to you on your first day while with me, I will have to answer to the superiors!!"

He gritted his teeth as he added under his breath, but I could still hear him anyway, "What an idiotic new hire. They said she came from a state university and all..."

I sighed. Joe was right. What had gotten into me? Ugh... I'm so stupid. Idiotic like what he said. Ugh, I had been reprimanding myself for the rest of the day.

After that short unfortunate near-miss incident, Joe wasn't in the mood to further continue with the tour. Actually, there's still a laboratory on the second floor that we needed to visit but he left me to it, saying that I could finish it by myself. True enough, I could.

I roamed around on my own and familiarized myself with my surroundings, and the people in the laboratory. They were kind to assist me and answer my questions. They were accommodating. They were all smiles.

The rest of the day passed by uneventful. I returned to the office and did some simple tasks, which included enrolling and submitting the samples into the online system and into the laboratory afterward for testing. When I was done with that task since I didn't have anything else to do, I lingered at the laboratory - a haven compared to the labyrinth that was the assembly line. Because they were kind enough to accommodate me even if my business there was done, I took the leisure to ask them questions out of my curiosity.

"How does it work?" I asked one of the personnel about the failure test.

"The test is called a drop test. Basically, it measures in the most simple method if the product part or sample is reliable enough. As the name implies, the method entails dropping the product from a certain height... so it is a destructive test." The analyst gave me the warmest smile after explaining. Maybe she also felt good that somebody finds her job interesting.

"How about this one?" I pointed onto a machine.

"It's a gas chromatograph. It..."

I zoned out while she supplied me with a more than sufficient supply of jargon. Out of respect, I smiled, too, and nodded once in a while. She was really kind to explain everything to me. It's just that I somehow got saturated with the information already.

I occasionally replied with "Oh" and "I see" and made my reactions animated. Admittedly it was some sort of pretense, but I really tried my best to reciprocate.

"I might forget about these things..." I somewhat attempted to inform her of the near future, just to prepare her. That's the least that I could do not to waste her sincerity and the time she allocated to me.

She was all out in explaining, that little deed would do justice, somehow.

She waved her hand in dismissal. I was surprised by her understanding nature. "That's okay. Feel free to ask me anytime again in the future if you forget. It's part of learning. Just ask away."

"Hehehe. Thanks." I came to like this person. She's a treasure.

I noticed that some of the analysts were going out of the laboratory. A girl my age even bade goodbye at me sweetly. She carried her bag with her.

"Why are they leaving? Is it the end of their shift already?" Clueless, I blurted out randomly.

"Yes. Aren't you going home? In fifteen minutes, the shuttle bus is going to leave."

"Oh, yeah! I'm covered by this shift too! I have to go! Thanks for today!" I panicked as I checked out the time on the wall clock. It's fifteen minutes past five in the afternoon. The shuttle bus will be leaving by thirty minutes past five. In other words, I only have fifteen minutes to get out of the laboratory, go back to the office, pack my things, and bid my teammates goodbye. Only after that will I be able to head over where the shuttle buses were parked outside the company building I was currently in.

Oh wait, even before that, I would have to run along the white-washed corridors that seemed to be never-ending.

Oh, gosh. I don't want to miss the bus!

It was only the first day but then it ended up eventful - in fact, too eventful compared to my usual boring life.

I hurriedly completed the sequence of events that I needed to accomplish first before going out of the building. In my mind, these were in the form of a checklist.

Twenty-five minutes past five. Five minutes left before the buses leave the premises, one by one.

Panting and out of breath, I ran and ran and ran, never caring about what the spectators would think of me. Perhaps their thoughts were in the line of 'What's this newbie doing?!' or 'Does she think it's the playground?' or 'Is she still a kid to be running along a corridor?' Just like what Joe said to me when he was scolding me earlier.

Or maybe they understood that I would barely make it to the bus. I certainly hope they understood.

Three minutes left.

I finally reached the lobby. I swiped my identification card to record my time out, removed my special shoes and carried them with my hands to where the lockers were and walked with only my socks on. I had reached the yellow line that couldn't be crossed with the special shoes on.

Shoot! At first, I couldn't even open my locker. Sweat started trickling down my forehead and temples. How much time do I have?

I hadn't finished putting on my street shoes properly yet, but I started to run outside the building.

What a buzzer-beater. Wait, it's not over yet.