Going Down (A Niall Horan Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Six

*Mindy's P.O.V*

"Have a good night!" I called out of my office as Andi's therapist, Lorrie, left for the night. Before her leaving, I had brought up the fact that Andi had called me in desperate need of help. Leaving off the part of her trying to come back, I informed her about Andi's suspicion about the janitorial closet.

And much to my amazement, she agreed to having a hunch about Tony too. Apparently, she had noticed Tony having heated arguments with the other janitors, but never said anything. I wasn't quite surprised, Lorrie was a very timid around men. One of the reasons why she only worked with females for one on one therapy.

Turning back to the papers on my cold metal desk, I read through all of the information I had gathered the day before. To what it seemed, most of the employees left for the day around 7:45 except for the janitors, who stayed here during the night. Right now, it was almost 7:00, so I had time to go ask around for the keys to the closet.

But before leaving, I pulled a tiny can of Pepper Spray out of my purse and slid it into my jacket pocket. I was always thinking that the worst could happen. So now, I had a small way to defend myself. But hopefully the opportunity wouldn't rise, and tonight's search would be an easy one.

I exited my office and locked the door behind, some patients liked to come in and search through the medicine cabinet. I made my way to the elevator alone, humming along to a fast pop song playing from one of the meeting halls. Once I reached it, I pressed the down button and began to wait for its arrival.

Just as a new foot-tappin' song come on the radio, the elevator let out a small ding! sound to alert me. Stepping inside, I pressed the 5 button and waited for the door to close once again and take me down.

The thick doors were about to shut just as a strong looking hand squeezed it's way in between, making the doors open again. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming! I would have held the elevator for you," I said apologetically as the stranger entered.

It was one of the janitors, wearing jeans and a faded tee-shirt. "It's no problem, I needed the exercise," he said charmingly.

Taking a quick glance at his body, I noticed that he was quick fit. "I wouldn't say that, you look like your in shape!" I said with a flirty chuckle.

He nodded thankfully, "I don't believe I got your name?"

"Mindy," I said sticking out my hand for him to shake. Normally, I liked knowing my co-workers, but I never got the chance to meet all of the janitorial staff.

I'm Paul, it's to meet you Mindy," Paul replied happily.

And all to soon, the elevator came to a stop, signaling me to exit the shaft. Sighing, I turned to Paul and flashed him a smile. "It was nice to finally meet you Paul, I'll see you tomorrow morning," I said waving a girly hand at him.

He smiled, "It was nice to meet you too, but I'm not leaving yet," Paul corrected.

Puzzled, I point a finger at his casual outfit, "Aren't you heading home for the day?"

As the doors began to close once again, Paul responded with a smirk, "Not yet."

And then, I was alone. Shrugging my shoulders at that weird encounter, I return my focus to heading to the main office to get the keys. Walking the halls, I waved and smiled at all the patients who were going to their rooms after dinner. I was hoping that none of the teens decided to pull a "Andi" and go wandering the halls tonight.

Entering the head office, I looked around to see most of the people present in the room packing up their bags, eager to leave. This was going to be helpful, as they wouldn't want to spend more time at work, and give me the keys faster.

I walked over to the front counter, and waited for someone to take notice that I was there. Finally, somebody turned around and hurried over, "Sorry, how can I help you?"

"I work up in the teen clinic and were out of peroxide, do you have an extra key to the janitorial closet? I cant seem to find any of them to ask for some. I wanna stay stocked up on all of my supplies," I cheerfully said, using the excuse Andi gave me earlier.

The girl who was helping me cocked her head, "What was your name? Not that I don't believe you," she laughed nervously, "I just wanna be sure."

I giggled at her innocence, she must be a new assistant, "My name is Mindy, would you like to see my ID card that the hospital uses for identification?" I asked as I went to get into my pocket.

"Oh no, that's okay," she responded in a hurried tone, "I'll get the key now." I nodded thankfully and watched as she opened up multiple drawers in the front desk, desperately looking for the key. Just as her face began to run red with embarrassment, she let out a sigh of relief and handed me a small silver key, "Here you go ma'am."

"Thank you! I'll return it whenever I can," I replied graciously and talked to the doors. "And your doing a lovely job sweetie, keep up the good work," I added quietly, earning a blush from the nervous teenager.

In no time, I was back in the elevator, heading back up to my original floor. I thought of why the man named Paul was dressed in casual clothes, when most of the janitors work through the night. Maybe he was just coming to work? I don't know, but even though he was cute, something was off with him. But I shoved it out of mind, thinking it was just me overthinking the situation.

Once I returned to my office, I unlocked it and entered. Glancing over at my wall clock, I notice that it was 7:50. Looking out the small window on my door, I begin to see the lights throughout the hallway dim down, signaling the patients to go to their rooms for the night.

I decided to wait a good 10 minutes before venturing out into the halls, giving the teens a chance to get settled. So to waste time, I packed up my things, as I expected to leave to the cops as soon as I got back from the search.

Looking at the clock again, I pushed myself out of my chair and exited my office, shutting the door behind me again. The halls were very dimly lit, making it hard to see. But then again, people weren't suppose to be out of their rooms now.

It was a little ways away, the janitorial closet, so I had time to think through what I was planning to do. In simple terms, it was breaking and entering. But, I had a key, so it wasn't as bad as people make it out to be. Right? Either way, I promised Andi that I would help her and Niall, and that's what I planed to do. I just hoped that if I was caught, a good lie would come to mind to avoid confrontation.

As I got closer, I slid my phone out of my pocket and used its light to guide me though the hall. Running my hand along the wall, I see the café doors approaching. Moving my phone around, I see two doors on either side of the double doors. I choose the one on right, as the door to the left was leading to the stairs.

With slightly shaking hands, I stick the key into the hold and twist as slow as possible. Once I hear it click, I pull it out and twist the door knob, letting the fumes smack me in the face. Coughing, I wave my hand around my nose and feel around for the light switch. Once I found it, I flicked it with my finger, letting the light shine.

Squinting my eyes, I pull the door so its closed behind me. With the lights being that bright, I didn't want anyone's attention to be brought to me.

The closet was quite big for being full of chemicals. Taking a step forward, I began my hunt. There was the normal cleaning supplies, rags and mops, and other things. Ironically, they didn't have peroxide. But they did have two shelves flanking the doors. The majority of what the shelves held were boxes and bottles of things I could see. Standing on my tippy toes, I tried to look into the boxes, but most of them held nothing new.

I sighed, feeling that this was going to be a bust. I took another look around the room, hoping to find something that I missed before. But the only thing that I could focus on was the strong smell of bleach and sand scented soap. I knew that they weren't the nicest of smells and that I was in a closed room , but there was another smell that made my nose twitch.

Craning my neck around, I looked for the source of the funk. I turned around so I that I was facing the door, and stared up at the shelves with determination in my eyes. Then, on the left shelf, on the very top, I noticed that one of the boxes was pulled out farther then all of the others. It could have been by accident, but I didn't trust it.

Being the short lady I am, I couldn't reach it just by stretching out my body. Whipping my head around, I hoped for some sort of chair or stool, but I was let down. Puffing my cheeks out in frustration, I place one foot on the shelf, testing its strength. Thankfully, it was pretty sturdy.

I gripped onto a bar attached to the shelf and pulled myself higher, pushing the box out of the way. To my surprise, behind the box was anther box, only smaller. Thinking for the best, I took both.

Carefully stepping off of the shelf, I bring the boxes and set them on the floor. Returning to my younger days, I sit down with crossed legs on the grimy floor and peer inside the first box. It primarily held keys and box cutters, so I shoved it away.

Then pulling the other box in front of me, it's flaps were folded down, hiding its contents. Flipping them so they were open, my mouth dropped in shock.

Peering inside, the only things in there were ziplock baggies filled with a certain substance, and two to three video tapes. Shoving my hands in, I rip out the tapes and examine them closely. Checking the date on the side, it was the day before Niall and Andi left. And looking at the others, they must have been the one containing the footage of Tony harming Andi. Sighing happily, I hugged the tapes to my chest. I had finally found the stolen tapes.

I then returned my focus to the baggies on the bottom of the box. Placing the tapes on the ground next to me, I grabbed the bags gently and looked at its contents. This was clearly where the old smell was coming from, as I was looking at multiple bags of green marijuana.

To be completely honest, I wasn't surprised that Tony was apart of this life style. He had always had a odd smelling aroma. But still, I shook my head in disappointment at the realization of it all.

"Andi was right about Tony all along," I mumbled to myself as I packed everything back into the box, ready to turn it into the cops as soon as I left. And I was hoping to be leaving soon, as I was starting to get light headed with all if these fumes.

Before leaving, I clicked off the light and checked to make sure everything was back in its normal place. So far, so good.

I opened the door and exited quickly, breathing in fresh clean air. It felt wonderful to my lungs. Fishing the key out of my pocket, I inserted it into the hole one more time to lock it. Turning away from the door, I smiled triumphantly to myself. I was quite the snoop, if I said so myself.

I began walking down the hall, already thinking of ways to explain my story. Because I couldn't just said I searched through somebody else's personal stash, right? But then again, it was ironically a stash of marijuana.

Thankfully, I made it all the way back to my office without running into anybody. But when I went to enter my safe haven, the door was slightly cracked open. I had closed it when I had left, and the patients usually try to get in during the day, when the door is unlocked and there's easier access.

Opening the door, I immediately let out a surprised gasp and accidentally let the box slip from my grasp and clatter onto the floor.

With my car keys swinging on his stubby finger, Paul smiles deviously at me and directs his eyes sight to the spilled bags and tapes on the floor.

"Going somewhere, Mindy?"

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I'm sorry if the chapter is lame, it's kinda a short chapter, but it's important to the rest of the story :(

What do you think is gonna happen to Mindy? Poor girl, she got all flirty with Paul, and now he's stalking her! Do you guys ship it? Pindy or Maul?...... I don't even know.

Quick announcement; as we grow closer and closer to the end of the story (which is sad), I want everyone to tweet/message me their questions about me/the story/future stories because I will be doing a Q&A page! And if I get enough questions to make a page, I'll give everyone a sneaky peek of my NEXT fanfic!!

I just hit 1K votes and I'm SO close to reaching 30K reads, so lets push a little harder to get 35K reads before my birthday? It's August 20th, so lets go!

Read, vote, comment, share, and ask questions! Stay beautiful my little addicts <3

Twitter - taymariemurph

-TaylorMarie