text: [11:00AM] Ugh... I hate this place. I can’t wait to go back to college. Only a week left and I’ll be on the road to my final year and the next step to my dream job, which is not a frozen yogurt cashier. I am happy, though, after tonight I will have a day off and I can spend time with my mom before I head back. Just one double shift and I will have a free day. [2:00PM] Now that I am on lunch, I can finally check my phone. I hate that my boss makes me put my phone in her office. Like, I am old enough to keep it in my pocket. But, I just have to keep my head down for this week and then I will be on my way. [8:00PM] I can’t believe she wants me to clean out the freezer tonight. I am going to be here forever, and the new person can’t stay and help. So I will have to stay here and close the shop then I have to clean the freezer out, all because the new person spilled yogurt all over. At least I will be getting paid overtime for staying late and I still have tomorrow off. [10:00PM] The shop is finally closed and the new person is gone, so I can hurry and get this done. The hardest part will be taking all the boxes out and putting them in the back freezer where we keep all the spare food. I have to turn off the freezer, then I’ll have to mop up the mess and then I can leave because the ground will need to dry before I move the boxes back and turn the freezer back on. I rush to prop the door open on the spare freezer, it is stuck. My boss has had a broken key inside for as long as I can remember. [11:00PM] Taking the last box to the freezer and I am sweating. These candy boxes are so heavy. When I put the last box on the shelf I noticed the door to the freezer latched behind me. This freezer always gets stuck and you have to push pretty hard to open it. I wasn’t too worried about it. I put the box on the shelf and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I walked back to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge. I pushed even harder but still wouldn’t open. My shoulder hurt a little but I had to keep trying. I wipe my hands on my pant leg to get the sweat off, and continue to push but the door won’t move. I am starting to panic, if I can’t get the door open I will freeze in here. [12:00AM] The door must be frozen shut, I can’t get it open. I feel my heart racing as I reach for my phone, forgetting it is in my boss’s office. I sit on the ground and look at my watch. 12:32AM. The shop doesn’t open until 11:00AM. So I will just have to keep my blood pumping until then. I stand up, and as I start jumping in place, it’s so cold that I can see my breath. [1:00AM] I am doing jumping jacks every five or so minutes, but it’s getting so cold that it is hard to breathe. I am having trouble breathing but I cannot tell if I am just out of shape or it is just cold. I start to hop around and shake my hands, because they are getting tingly. I bounce some more and can barely keep my breath. I stop and squat down; I put my arms and my head in my shirt. I blow on my hands and rub them together. I look at my watch; it’s now 1:42AM. I sigh and think about how long it felt since I looked last. [2:30AM] I am bouncing around and talking to myself now. I heard that talking while doing physical exercise helps you keep your breath. I am not sure if that is true, but anything to make time go by faster. I look at my hands, and I swear they are turning purple. It might just be from rubbing and clapping them a lot. Or maybe I am dying, who knows. I put my hands in my pockets and keep walking around. I am starting to feel tired, but I know I can’t stop moving. If I do, I could die in here. Freezing to death would be so painful. I don’t even want to think about it. But it keeps coming up in my head. A chill goes down my spine and I think about my mom and what would happen to her. She would be left all alone because I am all she has left. I shake the thought from my head and keep moving. [4:00AM] I am rocking back and forth on the ground. My chest is so tight. I feel like my lungs are barely working. You know the feeling when you run a mile for the first time and your chest is on fire but you can’t seem to catch your breath? I am starting to panic, and a pit in my stomach starts to form. I might be hungry; I look over at the boxes I loaded in here hours ago. There are only yogurt toppings and that just doesn’t sound good. I feel like I could eat my own hand right now, I stare down at my fist and push the thought from my mind. I am not that desperate. I look at my watch and I can’t tell if the hands are moving. Or maybe time just stop when you are close to death, it gives you time to remember the good days... and the bad. I try to stand and stumble a little. I am feeling weak. I have been nonstop moving for about five hours now. I feel like there are 500 pound weights on my legs. I lean against the door and try to shout but I know no one could ever hear me. I slide down the door and rest for a bit. [5:00AM] I start to jump around to get my blood moving. My feet and hands definitely are getting frostbitten. I can feel my chest getting tight again. I lie on the ground, and try to focus on my breathing. It is now becoming impossible to stand on my feet. The pain is too much for me to keep jumping. I turn onto my side and curl my knees up to my stomach. I think about my life and wonder if people will miss me. I know my mom would, she is my best friend and all I have left. [7:00AM] I feel something drip on my face. Was that water? I can’t believe I fell asleep my head is swimming and I can barely keep my eyes open. My body is so cold and my heart rate is slower. I know I need to increase it but I just can’t deal with the pain of standing up. My knees are shaking as I fall back to the ground. I lay on my back to do a sit up, but the pit in my stomach hurts more than it did before. I am so scared I can’t help but cry. My breathing increases uncontrollably and my chest gets even tighter. I lay flat on my back and try to calm down. My body is shutting down, am I dying? It is almost 11:00AM and I am going to die before someone can get me out of here. I just need to make it three more hours. I rub my eyes and start to see discoloration. [8:00AM] I try to stand and prop myself on the wall. I try to walk towards the door, and I feel my feet slip from under me. I feel a sharp pain form in the back of my head and starts to travel to the front. I am so scared, I can’t stop crying. My body is so numb, I can’t move my legs. I feel warmth over my head and touch my wet hair, I pull my fingers back and they are covered in blood. I start to panic, my breathing increases and my mouth starts to go numb. My whole body is paralyzed; I close my eyes one last time. [10:30AM] I arrive for my shift and notice Greg’s beat up car still in the parking lot. I wonder if his car broke down again and had to get a ride home with the newbie. I walk up to the door and notice the inside lights are still on. I wonder what else he forgot to do last night. I walk to put my stuff in the office and notice his keys and phone still there. I walk to the back of the store and notice the freezer a huge puddle of yogurt on the floor. I am not cleaning that up. I shiver and close the door, why did he have the door propped open to clean it but leave the freezer on? I walk to the spare freezer to grab the topping and the door seems to be stuck. I pull as hard as I could and hear something fall. I look down and see the broken key sitting by my foot. It has been in there since I started and always caused the door to stick. I open the door and the first thing I see is a pudding of red. Did they spill yogurt in here too? As I pull the door open even more I see him lying on the floor. I freeze in my tracks, my legs won’t move. I need to get my phone I keep thinking. I blink and take off running towards the office. I call 911 and they ask if he is breathing. I rush to him and kneel down next to him. I am scared to touch him. I place my finger on his neck and feel no heartbeat. The door closes behind me and I start to sweat. I look around and see that things are melting. I rush to prop the door open and see the control panel. The freezer is off. The paramedics arrive, along with: the cops, my boss and some woman I don’t recognize. Maybe that is Greg’s mom. The cops keep us back until the paramedics declare that Greg is gone. They completed an autopsy and found that Greg had died from a heart attack. He ran out of oxygen and couldn’t breathe. I quit my job at the yogurt shop. I couldn’t bear to see the freezer and pretend that I was okay. My boss eventually closed her shop and moved out of state. I still visit Greg’s mom and she tells me that she still feels Greg with her. I will never forget him.