It’s hard to be inconspicuous when you’re hanging upside down. Maybe that’s why this wasn’t such a good idea. But it was the only way.

Sure, my ankles hurt, pressed against the dry ceiling bar. My abs were on fire, already sore. But I couldn’t make a sound, so I breathed as softly as I could. He couldn’t know I was up here. Everything that mattered would be lost if he saw me.

It was getting hot up here. The worst part was I didn’t know how long it would take until he gave up. Or found me. Hopefully not that. He couldn’t find me.

Another eight minutes and forty-two seconds passed, and I heard noises. I perked up, holding my breath. The lights turned on.

“Do you see her?” A man asked out.

“Nah but it’s packed in here. Look around, under the tables and chairs.”

Wrong direction, suckers.

They spent six minutes and eighteen seconds looking for me, but didn’t. Thank goodness. If only he’d just gave up.

“She’s not here, either,” he said.

“But how? We checked all of the other rooms, and she was nowhere to be seen. We locked them to, so she couldn’t have gone to one we already checked.”

“Oh, yeah, we’re smart like that,” he replied.

Pfft, I scoffed. Oh…

“Did you hear that?” He whispered with wide eyes. “Where’d it come from?”

Please don’t look up.

They checked behind and under all of the chairs and tables again.

“Where the heck…”

My legs hurt. I was tired. I was hungry. I desperately wanted a Subway sandwich with some root beer. My stomach growled. Shoot.

They simultaneously looked up.

“HAHAHAHA, I FOUND YOU!” He smiled.

I took a second to jump down, then took a breath. “Took you long enough. Plus, you cheated! You had help.”

“Oh, please, you’re just upset you lost,” my brother replied. “But I gotta say, those gymnastics lessons paid off. Now I hide?”