The footsteps rounded the corner.
All five of them tried to become a single body. It didn't work.
Esen flattened against the vending machine. Arashi flattened against Esen. Ichiro flattened against Arashi. Obi tried to flatten and discovered Raizen was already squished there.
"Smallerrr" Arashi hissed.
"I am already… Compact" Ichiro wheezed.
Raizen whispered "I can't feel my left lung."
"I don't know man, breathe with the other one" Arashi hissed.
The doctor's shadow stretched long across the floor. It stopped right in front of vending machine.
Then silence. Absolute. One heartbeat. Two.
The shadow moved away. Footsteps faded down the hall.
For a moment, no one spoke. The hall stayed quiet except for their ragged breathing and the vending machine's low, judgmental hum.
Arashi slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. "I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."
"What did you see?" Ichiro asked.
