Beth sighed loudly and leaned back in her seat. Her husband Michael chuckled in the drivers seat. "It's just one retreat, relax," he said.
"A company retreat," she snapped. "You know everyone, it's fun for you. For me it's a lost Saturday."
"Let's just play the game and we'll gone by five," Michael said, looking over at his young wife. "You know I couldn't make an excuse for you this year."
That was true, Beth knew. Every year the CEO of Michael's company, Worler Tech, invited everyone for a day-long game of "hide and seek" in an old grand hotel he rented out. At first it was just supposed to be a team-building exercise for the sales department, but after a few years he started throwing an after-party after the game, and then spouses started to show up, and now a couple decades later it was an annual event that everyone in the company was expected to attend.
Michael had been going to the retreat since he was hired a few years ago, and he always found an excuse for Beth not to show up. But every year his supervisor Roger kept asking when Beth was going to come, and Michael was feeling the pressure. Even when Beth went to the company holiday parties or summer outings, Roger would always tell her, "I expect to see you at hide-and-seek soon, pretty lady!" It creeped Beth out, especially when he would give her a greasy grin right after. He thought he was super charming, but with his pudge and balding head he just came off as a major pervert.
"We'll just hang out with people we know," Michael said. "Donny and Sheila will be there, and also Brad, who you like so much." Michael grinned as Beth slapped his shoulder. Once during a holiday party Beth had gotten a little drunk and talked to and mentioned that Brad was the hottest guy at Michael's company, and Michael never failed to bring it up to tease her.
Donny was Michael's office roommate and his only real close friend at the company, and in the years since they worked together he and his fiancee, Sheila, and Michael and Bet became good friends. They would visit each other's houses for football games and even took a few trips together. Beth and Sheila even went shopping together about once a month. Seeing them would be the only good part of this trip, Beth thought, and she would probably spend the whole time talking with them.
====
When Michael's car finally pulled up to the hotel, Beth's mouth dropped in awe. It looked like something out of the Great Gatsby, with two huge wings and smaller cabins and pool houses all around the campus.
They were a little late, so by the time they parked the car and entered the hotel through the enormous front doors, almost everyone was already there in the grand room. It was a huge crowd, full of the employees and their spouses or significant others. Beth was worried that she had underdressed, with just a nice long-sleeve shirt and yoga skirt leggings, but almost everyone looked dressed in casual clothes or exercise-wear like her.
"Oh hey, look, your knight in shining armor is here!" Michael said, pointing into the crowd. Beth looked and saw Brad in the distance.
"Oh hush!" she said. Although she had to admit, she was still right, he was still the handsomest guy in the room, with a broad chest and million-dollar smile. He saw them and waved to them. Michael and Beth waved back.
Every one was milling about enjoying the open bar, so Beth waited while Michael went to get them a drink. She looked around, trying to see if she recognized anyone — there was Catherine at the bar, and Travis chatting with some people, and some girl she dimly remembered but couldn't name.
"Hey, look who made it!" Beth heard. She turned and saw Roger, walking up to her with a slimy grin. "You are looking very nice, Beth, VERY nice!" he said with a wink, running his eyes up and down her body. Beth instinctively crossed her arms over her chest. She had been whistled enough in her life to know she had a good body, and she worked out enough to keep herself taut and perky, but it was for Michael, not for creeps like Roger to leer at. She regretted wearing the leggings, which were probably showing off her butt.
"Hi Roger, Michael will be here any minute," she mumbled. Roger ignored her. "Very glad you're here. It's a fun game. We get to run around all over this beautiful hotel. Here's a tip, the beds are a great place to hide," and he winked at her again before going off to schmooze with other people.
Michael joined her soon after and the two wound their way over to Donny and Sheila, who were in the corner. Beth was relieved to their faces — sweet and perky Sheila, and goofy, kind Donny. The four of them chatted about recent TV shows they had watched.
After a half hour, an air horn blasted and everyone got quiet. Beth looked in the direction of the air horn and saw the CEO standing at the top of the stairs. He welcomed everyone and went over the rules: everyone would play a game of hide-and-seek, where everyone would hide except for one person who would hunt for the hiders; once the seeker tagged a hider, the hider became the seeker and had to find another person to tag. The whole compound was free to hide in unless the door was locked. In order to keep the hiders moving, every time the air horn sounded, all the hiders would have to emerge from their hiding place and hide in a new place that was at least 20 feet away.
This year, the CEO added, the seeker would have to carry a GPS unit and enter their name into it once they were tagged. Whoever stayed seeker the longest would not be eligible for the Christmas bonus that year. This was to encourage the seeker to aggressively look and to make sure that nobody would just zone out and hang out like in years before.
There was a murmur in the crowd at this new rule. Donny said, "That's a bad idea, people need those bonuses."
"I don't think he's gonna go through with it, he just wants to keep the game moving," Michael said.
He turned to Beth. "I guess we have to make sure we don't get caught," he added.
Beth nodded and gulped. She wasn't ever any good at games, and she wasn't excited about Michael losing his bonus because of her.
The CEO announced that Charlie, one of the accountants, was going to be the first seeker and, on his signal, everyone would have two minutes to hide. He then added that, like always, employees and their significant others had to start the game in different wings.
"I didn't know that!" Beth whispered to Michael.
"It's okay," Michael said. "Have fun and I'll find you soon."
Beth sighed inside. Looks like she would have to just find a room and hide until Michael found her.
The CEO then held up the air horn and blew it. Michael kissed Beth and ran left into the west wing. Beth watched him run and then followed the stampeding employees to the right.
Clearly everyone had played this game, because as Beth ran down the main hall she found the crowd quickly disappearing as people ducked into rooms and hid. Panicking, she opened the first door she could and ran inside.
She looked around. The room looked like a guest bedroom, with a bed she could hide under and a closet she could hide in. Thinking fast, she ran to the closet and yanked the door open — but Brad was there!
Beth almost yelled in shock but caught herself so it was just a high-pitched yip. Brad said "shhh!" and grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into the closet with her.
