AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Yes," I reply. "I don't know what's going on, but look, it's an elevator. Nothing is going to fall on us."
I can hear her scoff. "Cool. What if we're the things that fall?" she replies between gritted teeth.
"For what it's worth, I don't think we're falling," I say.
She turns to look at me. I can only see the white of her eyes as my eyes adjust to the darkness. "Then what?"
"I think we're trapped."
Alana
Myheartdrops.
I knew this city was on a seismic fault, and I knew that they had earthquakes, but I really didn't think one was going to strike when I was in an elevator. I'm not claustrophobic, exactly, but I'm stressed, it's been a hell of a day, and my head is still pounding. I didn't think I was going to get caught in an elevator after a fucking earthquake.
At least I'm not by myself. At least Dom is a local. Maybe he'll know how the fuck we're going to get out of here. I tell myself to take a deep breath. I try hard not to think about the fact that we're trapped in a tiny little box, that I have no idea when we're going to get out of here, and that I can't even see a few inches in front of my face, it's so dark in here. I can feel Dom's gaze on me, but he doesn't say anything.
My legs shake as I get back to my feet, afraid we’ll drop again.
"Okay," I say, pacing around the elevator. "Okay. So what do we do?"
"Well, we can wait for the electricity to come back on," he replies. "That might take a bit, but I expect it's going to happen. I mean…"
"What?"
"This is a hotel. They have to have a generator, right?"
"I don't know. Are you asking me or telling me?"
He doesn't say anything. He takes a step toward me. I think he's going to touch me. He doesn't. He waits for a few seconds, then takes a step toward the elevator doors. "Do you have your phone?"
I shake my head, quite aware he can't see me. "No. I left it in my room. I don't have any pockets in this dress."
"Right," he says. He grabs my arm, his fingers sliding softly down my forearm. I'm surprised by how tender his touch is, by the way his fingers interlace with mine. Then he lets go of me and puts his phone in the palm of my hand. "I need you to keep this steady, alright? I'm going to try to open the door and see where we are, but I need to have light."
"Will that work?" I ask.
"I have no idea. Just keep it steady."
I think he's nervous. I don't know him that well but he's trying very hard to keep his voice from shaking. I know that for a fact.
“You can’t just…I don’t know–manifest a way out of here?” I ask.
I hear him snort. “Like I said, it doesn’t work that way.”
"Have you ever done this before?"
"No," he says.
Awesome.
I turn on the light and shine it on the door as he tries to pry it open with his hands. The doors must be stuck together because he's sweating by the time he actually manages to slowly pull them apart. I shine the light on the space right in front of him and I can see that we're between floors. There's a wall right there that’s about maybe three feet tall, so just tall enough to clear him by a bit. Just tall enough that he won’t be able to clear that, no matter how hard he tries.
There is no light spilling from up above, in fact, everything looks pitch dark. The only definition I can see is the wall and the floor. He backs away from it for a second, his fingers still holding the silver doors open. He tilts his head up and looks at it. "Maybe I can jump?"
"Did you try the call button yet?"
"Yeah. First thing I tried. I don't think you noticed."
