Chapter 2

I stepped into the elevator with four other harried workers and pressed the second-floor button. It appeared that it was not going to be my day because the elevator abruptly stopped with a jolt between the third and second floors. My companions made alarming noises. A thirty-something lady with pristine hair yelled in terror and panic. In her contemporary skirt suit and flawless jewelry, she looked like something out of a magazine. The only sign of her age was the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. "What happened?" from beside me, a slender middle-aged man with a receding hairline asked. I had a feeling his name was Justine, but I really wasn't sure and positive about that. I only knew who he was because I saw him in the break room from time to time. "The elevator stopped," one of our coworkers answered. All I noticed about the man was that he had a bit of a beer gut and that he was somewhat closer to my age. The guy stood closest to the buttons, and I glowered at them as if they'd put us in the predicament. Thank you, captain obvious. 'What do you mean stopped?" the woman shrieked again, much too loudly for the small, enclosed space. 'I mean we're stuck," the beer-gut man, which I believe Daniel suddenly spoke, proceeding to press all of the buttons. 'You know that pressing all the buttons isn't going to help, don't ya? Just press that goddamn button there," Justine said, pointing to the red button at the bottom of the panel. The beer-gut man pressed the open-door button a few more times for good measure before pushing the emergency button. Speaking directly into the intercom, he informed the emergency services of our situation. 'Sit tight, we are sending someone over right away. You should be out in no time," the voice on the intercom assured us. 'So, how long will it take?" the woman asked no one in particular, her hands fluttering to her chest. I noticed her breathing was beginning to get rapid and I wondered if she was claustrophobic. 'Long," the beer-gut man mumbled. His attitude suggested he was completely oblivious to the frail nerves of the woman next to him 'It will probably take hours." Another person, which was Peter who was with us groaned. 'What? Oh Jesus. I need to pet my golden retriever. Poor Aztrazenica." 'We have no choice, do we?" Justine replied. Everyone in the room sighed. Justine at least seemed to notice the woman's deteriorating mental state. So, he gave her a gentle smile and tried to relax his own stiff frame. 'It shouldn't take that long," he soothed. 'You heard the guy on the intercom. He said that people will be here soon so just relax." And with that, everyone calmed down. Three hours later, I didn't even realize I've been looking down at my phone and saw that it was already one thirty in the afternoon. That means that we had been stuck in the elevator for three miserable hours. My pants had finally dried but were stiff and uncomfortable as I sat cross-legged on the elevator floor playing with my phone. Daniel, the kind middle-aged man sat across from me. He had spent the last forty-five minutes doing breathing exercises with Marina in a new attempt to keep her calm. I couldn't help but think that this would be a great beginning to a love story for those two. Peter was a whole other story. The beer-gut man seemed to only get more agitated with each passing hour. He sat in front of the elevator panel pressing buttons occasionally and muttering to himself. For some reason, we'd heard nothing from the intercom since the first time we had spoken to them. It had worked Marina up into a fit, but I figured that whoever sat on the other side of that emergency line must have better things to do than talk to a bunch of agitated, bored, and now kind of hungry office workers. However, after checking the time, I was also starting to wonder if elevator repairs normally took this long. "That's it!" Peter snapped, getting to his feet. I guess he was done with the buttons. Poor Marina flinched and jumped at the outburst. Justine shot Peter a glare before getting back to the breathing exercises. "We need to get out of here. It's been hours! What could possibly be taking this long?" Peter ran a hand through his short dark hair in frustration. "You know what? I'm calling 911. This is unbelievable..." He pulled his phone out of his pocket. As he dialed, I noticed that he grasped the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "It's busy," Peter muttered, his face crumpling with confusion. 'Busy?" I spoke up for the first time, immediately feeling alert. Everyone looked in my direction because of that. Why would it be busy? "Let me try. Maybe it's your phone?" I unlocked mine and tried calling. It rang twice, then gave me the obnoxious busy signal. "It's busy..." I said, lowering the phone from my ear. I looked up and made eye contact with Justine. His bewildered expression probably mirrored mine. "Told you," Peter huffed. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't plan on staying in here all day. I'm getting the hell out. Now." Peter turned to the elevator doors and started to try and pry them open. This led to a complete relapse with Marina "Don't do that!" she panicked, then started to cry. Justine attempted to comfort her by taking her hands in his. It soothed her a bit. "Stop it. That isn't going to help the situation. We just need to stay calm and wait. I'm sure there must be a delay of some kind. Maybe there's a fire nearby? That could explain why we can't get through to the police," Justine said. It was clear he was trying to rationalize the situation, but I didn't buy it. For the first time in the last three hours, I found myself actually taking Peter's side. We'd been waiting long enough, and something just didn't feel right. Standing up, I put my phone in my trouser pocket and wiped my sweaty palms on the front of my pants. "I think we should at least try to get the doors open. No one is responding. Maybe we should at least try to see if we can get out through the doors," I suggested. Peter's eyes met my blue ones. I think I'd caught him off guard, but he gave me a look of approval as he moved beside him and took one of the doors while he took the other. "I really don't think-" Daniel started as we began to pull on our respective doors. At that moment, there was a scream. Not one of the yelps of fright that we had been hearing from Marina, but muffled screams that came from the other side of the elevator doors. The sound pierced the air, and I felt my heart jump in my chest. Every hair on the back of my neck stood up from that noise What was that? Peter and I both stood frozen in place, just gaping at the doors and trying to comprehend what we were hearing.  As jarring as the scream was, the way it abruptly cut off was worse. One second, we were listening to a sound filled with such terror that, even muffled, my entire being felt it, and the next, nothing. You could have heard a pin drop the air in the elevator went so still.  "What was that?" I broke the silence, unable to take it for a moment longer.  "I don't-" Daniel started again but was again cut off by another muffled scream. This time, Peter and I jumped away from the doors as though they might have come and attack us. We all stared silently at the doors and listened. It seemed with every passing minute a new scream or yell was added to the chorus coming from the other side. It could have been minutes or an hour, but eventually, the sounds became too much for me.  I didn't know what it was exactly that I was hearing, but it sounded like people were in agony. Are people being attacked? Is it a terrorist attack? Frankly, at that moment I didn't care about the reasons behind the screams anymore I just wanted them to stop.  I covered my ears with my hands and backed away from the doors, moving to stand beside where Daniel was sitting. With my ears covered, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to imagine I was anywhere else. I pictured my mom and me laughing as we watched yet another cheesy romance on television. I pictured my sister on her wedding day smiling brightly at me as we laughed and danced together at her reception. My mind flooded with happy memories as I tried to block out my reality.  Eventually, I sank to the floor next to Daniel and dared a glance in his direction. All the color had drained out of his face and his gaze was still fixed on the doors. He continued holding onto Marina's hands, but it now looked to be more like a death grip than a comforting embrace. Marina was as pale as Paul, if not more so. I couldn't even tell if she was breathing, she was so still. It looked as if her claustrophobia had taken a backseat to whatever was happening now.  Even Peter seemed shaken. He stood stiff as a board, seemingly unable to make a move in any direction. With the horror still going on, it surprised me that it was Marina who broke the shocked silence that had taken over us.  'W-what, what's going on?" she asked breathlessly.