Suddenly, the harsh screech of heavy metal echoed through the quiet lot.
The heavy back door of the church had swung open. A middle-aged janitor stepped out into the freezing air, wearing a heavy work jacket and carrying a massive black trash bag.

He heaved it into the nearby dumpster with a loud thud.
My heart stopped beating. The sudden flood of yellow hallway light from the open door illuminated the parking lot, casting a glow directly onto my frosty windshield. I held my breath, terrified.

He turned to go back inside, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw my car. He saw the fogged windows, the faint silhouette of a person huddled in the front seat. And as I slowly, fearfully peeked over the dashboard, we locked eyes through the glass.
Time seemed to stand entirely still. I braced myself for the worst. I expected him to pull out his phone and call the cops. I expected him to march over, bang his fists on the hood, and yell at me for trespassing. I prepared myself for the crushing humiliation of being told to pack up my dead car and move along. I was already crying, shaking from both the freezing cold and the pure adrenaline of being caught.

But he didn’t call the cops. He didn’t come over and tap on the window. He didn’t say a single word.
Instead, he held my gaze for just a moment longer, his expression unreadable. Then, he turned around and walked back to the heavy metal door. He pulled a ring of keys from his belt, unlocked the deadbolt, and pushed the door wide open. He bent down, picked up a heavy, jagged rock from the landscaping, and wedged it firmly against the bottom of the door, propping it wide open to the freezing night air.

He reached over to the wall, flipped a switch that turned on the main hallway lights, and then he simply walked away. He disappeared down the hall, deeper into the church, out of sight.
I lay there in the front seat, completely stunned. I didn’t move a muscle for ten agonizing minutes. I was waiting for the trick, waiting for the police cruisers to pull up with their red and blue lights flashing. But the parking lot remained entirely silent. The only thing calling to me was the warm, golden light spilling out from the propped-open doorway.