Grady Hendrix
Orsk is like IKEA. Each chapter is preceeded by an add for an Orsk product.
1. Amy arrives at the Cuyahoga County Orsk store for work with the rest of the employees to find the doors aren’t working. This is not the first time strange things have happened at the store. Once the employees are inside, their phones start receiving text messages only saying “help.” It takes the manager Basil, a few minutes to get them open and let the throng of employees in. The escalator is going backwards and it takes another few minutes for the maintenance guy to fix it. Amy spends this time trying to avoid the manager because she knows he wants to fire her. She is hoping she can avoid him until her transfer to Youngstown goes through. She takes the long way around to avoid him and starts going through the store backwards to get to the employee’s room to clock in. Before she can get there, she runs into the manager. He tells her to take the new hires on a tour of the showroom layout. She starts to tell him she has been assigned a different duty, but he cuts her off and tells her to do what he says. She starts the new task before she even has a chance to clock in. Once they are far enough away from the manager, she lets her sarcasm into the tour. When they run into Trinity, a punk rock looking girl who is a display designer, the new hires lose interest in the tour. She goes off to find the inventory set list to work on because their computers have been messing up their inventory recently and it has to be checked manually daily. Trinity finds Amy again and tells her Basil wants to see her in his office. Trinity thinks it is obvious Amy is going to be fired.
2. Amy goes to the employee break room to meet with Basil and finds Ruthann is also there waiting on him. Ruthann is one of hardworking employees and Amy finds it odd she would be fired. When Basil comes in, she immediately tells Basil she is okay with him firing her, but he is an awful person if he fires Ruthann. Basil says he isn’t firing anyone. Since they have had so much product damaged, they are having corporate come down to check on their store. All of the vandalism hasn’t been caught on video because the lights go down at 2 am and don’t pick anything up. He asks the two of them to stay for a shift from 11 pm - 7 am so they can find out what is going on. Amy is reluctant at first, but Basil tells her she will get double her pay and he will approve her request to go back to the Youngstown store. Amy need a the money because she owes her roommates $600 for rent and she doesn’t have it. She agrees to take the overnight shift and so does Ruthann.
3. Amy decides to wait out her time between her shifts in her car in a parking lot down the highway rather than going home to her angry roommates. When the overnight shift starts, she, Ruthann, and Basil sit in the break room waiting to make their rounds. Basil starts to lecture her from the employee handbook. He tries to convince her to apply herself more. She had taken the management test, but failed by two points. She tells him she has other plans than staying in retail for the rest of her life. She excuses herself to go to the bathroom for the third time in an hour to avoid Basil. She notices there is graffiti all over the walls; she swears there is more than the last time she was in the bathroom. All of them have a name, the word “beehive,” and then a period of time. She hears slamming noises. She goes out of the bathroom and follows the sound to the first floor. She finds the partners’ door open and looks out at the parking lot. She tries to close the door and finds gum in the lock to keep it from locking. She goes back and tells Basil and Ruthann about what she found. Basil thinks they should split up and patrol the large store. Amy suggests she and Ruthann go together for liability reasons. Basil agrees and tells them to start right away. He tells them to call him immediately if they find anything strange.
4. Amy and Ruthann decide to start their patrol of the sales floor. Amy complains about Basil, but Ruthann says he is a good guy that grew up in the East side of Cleveland (scary!) and is raising his 9 year-old sister by himself. They are making their way around the kitchen area when a rat climbs out of one of the sink and freaks them both out. They quickly move on and Ruthann admits she was afraid of the dark as a kid. She said she would tie socks around her head to cover her eyes to keep the creepy-crawlers from getting her because if she couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see her. They keep moving and come to find Trinity and Matt in the aftermath of sex. They explain they are there to capture the haunting of the building and ask them not to tell Basil. Trinity explains the location used to be a prison, but it just disappeared into the swamp (note: I have never seen a swamp in all of Cuyahoga County). They explains all the ghost shows are fake, but they are going to get proof. Trinity takes Ruthann with her to set up ghost trackers.
5. She helps him set up the devices to read energy changes and mark them on a map. Amy doesn’t think he believes in any of it and is just going along with it for Trinity. Matt admits he doesnmt believe in ghosts and Amy tells him he is disgusting for doing all this just to have sex with Trinity. Matt uses his video camera to take some creepy shots. They start heading back to the bedroom section, but keep getting lost. Matt explains there must be a heavy electromagnetic field under the building messing with their brains. They use the camera as evidence that what they are seeing is not what the camera is seeing. They use the viewfinder to make their way back to where Trinity and Ruthann are waiting. Amy and Ruthann head back to the break room.
6. Basil is mad when they get back because they were gone too long. Ruthann tells him they were talking to Matt and Trinity and how she thinks it is cute they are attempting to make a ghost show for Bravo. Trinity comes running in saying they found and recorded a ghost. Matt follows saying it wasn’t a ghost but a person. They argue about it until Basil yells at them both for being there illegally. Trinity shows them the footage and they see the person. Amy says she saw the man that morning when she arrived. Matt and Basil are arguing about the best way to find him when Ruthann points out the security footage has been brought up in the tv and shows them the man’s foot. After more arguing, they decide they need to get to the man before he hides again. Amy shows them the graffiti in the bathroom, but there is more than before. It is more than could be done by a single person in one night. Trinity keeps insisting it is a ghost and Matt tells at her saying she is too smart to believe in ghosts. Amy refuses to go back out into the floor and notices there are stains on the ceiling tiles that weren’t there before. She says they should call the police, but Basil refuses. Basil takes Matt and Trinity with him and leaves Amy and Ruthann in the break room. Amy calls the police and tells them what is happening. She asks them to send police. Ruthann asks her not to because she can’t lose her job. Amy hangs up, but the dispatcher calls back and says there is a car in the way to their location in independence from the Brecksville Police Department. Ruthann tells Amy they need to go help the others before the police arrive. Amy refuses at first, but Ruthann tells her to stop being an angry, spoiled child and to get moving.
7. When Amy and Ruthann join the others, they have cornered the man in a room. They are deciding the best course of action when Ruthann goes and opens the doors to show them no one is inside. They start discussing their next move when Amy spots a hand and points it out to Basil. He calls out to him and the man, Carl, shows himself. He says he is a homeless epileptic and has been staying in there at night, but not destroying things, though he admits his epilepsy does make him black out. They cote on what to do and decide to let him go. He promises to never come back. Ruthann tells them the police are already on their way. Basil says he will go out front to tell the police everything is fine. The dispatcher calls Amy back to verify her location because the Brecksville officer is having trouble finding it. Matt tries to get back in Trinity’s good side after yelling at her. They decide to do a seance. The lights go out on schedule at 2am.
8. Matt and Trinity set everything up for the seance. Ruthann and Amy are reluctant at first, but are ultimately convinced to go along with it. Matt pulls out several sets of handcuffs and tells them it will keep them from breaking the circle. Amy insists on keeping the key in the center of the table so they can all see it. After their filming equipment is set up, they all chain themselves together in a circle. At first, they are all giggling over the situation. Trinity calls out to the spirits saying they want to hear their stories. A weird mucus substance comes out of mouth and goes into Carl’s nose. He tells them he is the warden and it is his mission to make them all better. He points out the issues with each of the girls. He tells them his beehive is one way. Carl then takes a tool and cuts his own throat. The key has disappeared. Trinity slumps over pulling Amy across the table. Ruthann goes into Carl’s pocket and finds the key. Amy is unable to unlock her. Ruthann takes off her shirt to stop Carl’s bleeding, but she feels his pulse and he is dead.
9. Basil comes back and demands an explanation. They fill him in and Amy tells him they need to call the cops and tell them to come back. Basil tells her they never showed up. He sends Trinity and Ruthann to get Ruthann a new shirt from the break room. When they look back at Carl’s body, he is gone. Basil decides they need to go look for him. Matt gives him the flashlight and the three of them stick together. They get to a door that shouldn’t exist and Amy’s phone goes off. The dispatcher tells her the police cannot find the building and doesn’t appear to exist. Amy’s phone dies and the call is cut off. They go through the door, but Amy feels like they are in a different world. She tells Basil they are going the wrong way, she is afraid, and they need to go back. He agrees to go back if Bedrooms isn’t around the corner. Amy and Matt wait for him, but something seems to fill the hallway. They both agree to run away. They get back through the door and run to kitchens and hide behind a cabinet. After a few minutes, Amy reaches out to Matt to make sure he is still there. What she grabs is not Matt.
10. Amy is tied up to one of the Orsk chairs so she cannot move any part of her. The blood flow to her brain is limited and she is forced to stare out into nothing. The warden, Josiah Worth, comes to her in Carl’s body and tells her this is her treatment to make her better. She starts thinking this is what she is meant for and starts to come to terms with it.
11. Basil finds Amy and starts cutting the restraints. Her blood starts flowing again but she cannot think clearly. She tries to tell him to leave her because she is where she needs to be. Moving is painful, so Basil puts her in a chair with wheels and starts pushing her down the hall aiming for the exit. She tells him they can’t escape the beehive, but he is determined to keep her safe. They come to a barricade that Basil cannot wheel her over. He continues down the path, but they are overcome by the warden’s minions.
12. Amy crawls under furniture to hide from the creatures that take Basil away. She grabs his cell phone from him so she will have some light to make her way out of the store. She sneaks around making her way to the customer entrance and finds Trinity bound to a chair along the way. She frees Trinity and helps her along as best she can, but the elevator is too much of an obstacle for her to continue with Trinity. Matt calls saying he just saw Trinity and is going after her. Amy tries to tell him it is a trap and Trinity is with her, but he doesn’t listen and hangs up. Amy leaves Trinity behind to get out and go for help. She makes it to her car and starts to drive away but stops. She thinks she is giving up and being a coward, so she makes her way back into the store through the partners’ entrance.
13. Amy starts searching for people and finds a hole in the wall. Ruthann clawed her way behind the drywall in a supply closet and is keeping her eyes shut so the creepy crawlies don’t get her. Amy tells her to come out and Ruthann starts to crawl out. When the creatures grab her and start to pull her away by her legs, Amy scramble to get in the hole to go after her and grabs onto her arms. Ruthann suddenly becomes very calm and tells Amy it isn’t her fault. She claws her own eyes out as the monsters drag her away. Amy gets out of the hole and continues to look for the others. She sees shadow men passing chairs around in a sort of circle. More start to head her way and these have bludgeons on their belts. She runs for the children’s section. She heads into the display that looks like a clowns mouth and enters the heart of the beehive to find the others.
14. Making her way down a hall of hands, Amy tells herself to keep going. She finds Basil bound to a piece of furniture and is able to free him. He isnmt sure if his arm is broken. He tells her to get herself out, but she refuses to leave him. She reminds him of his sister and he tells her it is her birthday. Amy lets him rest for a minute, but then starts to drag him back to the show room. They go back down the hall of hands and hands clean and them. Amy has her hair ripped out, but they make it through and into bedrooms. Amy leads the way and finds Matt’s bag of equipment. She opens it and hands Basil a flashlight. Josiah Worth in Carl’s body finally finds them.
15. The penitents surround them and Josiah tells them he put the prisoners into coffins and then filled the basement with water to slowly drown them. He has so many more methods he needs to try to cure them. Any turns her attention to the penitents. She tells them they have served their time for their crimes and no one even remembers what they were. She points out the prison is gone and nothing is holding them there. The penitents turn on Josiah and he is carried away by them. Amy is glad they cannot see what they do to him. They grab Amy and put her into a box and start nailing it shut.
16. The box (an Orsk wardrobe) starts to fill up with cold water and then starts floating. Amy realizes the model she is in is notorious for breaking. She gets the magic tool out of her pocket and is able to get the screws off the top enough to break out. She starts looking around frantically for Basil. She finds another wardrobe covered in cling wrap and knocks on it. She hears Basil’s answer and runs to get a knife. She gets him out and they decide they need to get out and then come back for Matt and Trinity. A pack of rats starts to come towards them in the water. They swim away best they can until they get to the front doors and spill out into the parking lot.
17. The police, firefighters, and EMTs are there with the corporate team as well as the store’s general manager, Patrick. Amy and Basil are looked after by the EMTs and told they both need to go to the emergency room. Before they go, a phone gets a text message saying help. Amy recognizes Matt’s number. They try to call, but there isn’t an answer. They text back asking where he is. Another text comes in just saying help. Patrick tries to bribe Basil and Amy for their silence about the ordeal with desk jobs in Pittsburgh. He refuses to acknowledge that Matt and Trinity were there because they weren’t clocked in. Amy is full of righteous indignation, but Basil points out there isn’t anything else they can do for their fallen coworkers. Amy is floored.
EPILOGUE
Orsk claims there was a water main break and closes down the store permanently. Amy moves back in with her mom and step-dad in their trailer. She stays up all night and sleeps all day while they beg her to do something with her life and get a job. Amy doesn’t listen. When a new store decides to buy the old Orsk property and build a baby store there, Amy applies and gets an assistant manager position. She picks up some supplies before trying to sneak in one night with the cleaning crews. She just misses catching the door, but Basil is there with his manager key card. He tells her he couldn’t accept the job offer from Orsk and has been working at the new store for several months. He has already gone on one overnight mission and has every intention of finding the others. He opens the door while giving her pointers on the penitents new anachronistic order.