He pressed the floor of their room and waited for the elevator to close as they stood in silence. He likes how the day went and couldn’t remember the last time he had fun… not the bed kind of fun but this kind of fun.
He, his friend and cousin had gone out too but it isn’t like this. He kept stealing glances at her and noticed she had her eyes closed and the bucket of ice cream tightly held by her.
He frowned and turned his body to her. There was a little furrow on her brows and she shook her head once in a while then mutters something under her breath.
She was trying her best to keep calm so as not to give away the fact that she is scared. Her heart rate escalates as the elevator goes up. She kept muttering ‘it’s okay’ over and over again to herself. Nothing could happen, right? That was in the past and nothing of such could happen to her. She should just calm down, at least someone is here with her and she would have to go through that again and alone. Someone is here to calm her.
The elevator suddenly shook and the lights inside blinked for about some seconds before it finally went off and the elevator stilled. Dimitri looked at the buttons and saw no sign of light then he looked back to Audriana who he can’t see clearly because of how dark it was.
He noticed she was still and didn’t make any form of movement. Her eyes were opened but it was like she wasn’t here at all.
…
She was in the elevator and with a big smile on her face even though she was freezing from being wet by the rain but it was not too long before it was wiped off her face by the sudden shake of the elevator before the lights start to blink. It didn’t go off but it just blinked.
She was shaken by that and had her eyes wide opened, she was frozen and didn’t know what to do, probably because she was experiencing a shock that was why she couldn’t react. Her heart lept as time goes on and she managed to put her palm over her chest to calm it down.
She looked up at the blinking lights and the elevator shook again before it stopped. She felt the tears trail down her face.
She starts to shiver but wondered if it was her wet clothes causing it or her present situation. Shakingly she approached the buttons by the elevator door and tried to press the buttons but nothing, the light that shows its functionality was absent so she went in front of the door and knocked a bit.
“Is-is anyone there?” she said in her small voice. “Hi, I want my mommy,” she said again.
…
“I want to leave” he heard her say and walked up to her as she slid to the floor with her back to leaning on the elevator walls.
Her hands were limp beside her and her body slouched.
“Are you okay?” he asked but she just kept looking at the elevator door not answering him and she was getting pale which made him more worried.
He led her hands and they were cold and shaking a bit. He knelt down and drew closer to her, taking her face in his hand so she can look at him but her once bubbling brown eyes were no longer glowing and bubbling like before but were dull and teary.
“Audriana, can you hear me?” he asked but it seems like whatever he says to her either entered through her ears and goes out of the other or it didn’t even get to her.
…
She was shivering and had no other dry clothes to keep her warm so she did her best to rub her small palms together to create heat and place them on her face but it did little to keep her warm.
She tried again but banged the door to alert anyone passing by to help her out of the place.
“Mommy, can you hear me?” she shiver-scream.
After banging for a while to no avail, she went back to sit on the floor with her knee raised to her chin level and begin to rock herself hoping someone will notice something was wrong and come to her aid.
“Someone will come, they would”
…
“They would,” she said in a small voice.
Dimitri confused as to who she was referring to sat on the floor and brought her to sit on his lap.
“Are you okay Audrianan?” he asked again and still got no response from her. “What the hell is going on?” he asked looking up.
He had tried calling earlier but there was no network on his phone and the elevator’s power hasn’t been restored. Trying his luck again, he took his phone that he had carelessly laid on the floor and thankfully there was a network signal on his phone so he dialed the management’s phone again to call for help.
“Audriana, what is happening to you? Are you scared? Are you cold?” he asked trying to rub her skin for warmth.
He could hear faint footsteps approaching the elevator and talking from what seems to be like a group of men.
“Hey! we are stuck in here,” he said and heard the footsteps coming closer in their direction.
“I want my mommy, I don’t want to be here” Audriana kept saying those words and he tried to ask her what is going on but got no response just the repeated words like she was some broken tape. Playing over and again.
Then there was a bang on the door before a voice followed.
“Hello, is anyone in there?”
“Yes, we are stuck here” he replied.
“We? How many are you in there?” the man asked again.
“Two, we are two in here” Dimitri replied and stood up carrying Audriana in a bridal style.
She put her hand around his neck and let some tears roll down her cheeks as she continues to mutter those words under her breath.
“Please can you help us out of here? My wife is scared” he shouts.
“Please calm down sir, we are working on it.” the man assured him and Dimitri could hear the man shout orders to his men.
“Audriana, be calm we will be out of here in no time. Relax, okay?” he said to her ear but she kept muttering them under her breath.
She was still shaking and her skin was pale and felt a bit cold.
“I want to go home” her voice breaks when she said those words.
“Shh, Love, we will be home in no time” he began to rock his body a bit to try to calm her down. It was like he was trying to calm a crying baby down.
“Sir, can you step back a bit,” the man on the other side said.
So he stepped back and heard the metal moving. Then the door opened slightly before it was fully opened by some men in engineering uniforms and hats. Flashlights were shown in their direction and he walked out of the elevator with Audriana still in his arms.
“We are very sorry sir for the inconvenience, is she fine? Let’s check her to be sure” the man pointed at some men and they walked over to Dimitri who was walked towards the stairs.
“Come check up on her in our room,” he said over his shoulder and continued walking up the remaining stairs to their room.