by Adelle Holmes

Created on: August 05, 2009

I've been trapped here for days, months, even years. My life is crumbling before me. I'm starving, weak, and haven't slept in a while. The air I have is limited.

Yes, I'm trapped in an elevator.

Not as fun as you think it would be. My only companions are a young woman and her dog. I don't like dogs. Never have. They have extremely sharp teeth and you never know when you've pushed them too much. Besides, if you have one then you have to go get it during thunderstorms. I don't like thunderstorms. If you're in the wrong spot then you're a goner. There are stories, after all...

I don't like elevators and being stuck in one is the worst thing for a person like me. With the doors shut and no knowing when they could be open or if someone knows you're trapped, there is no telling when you could be freed.

I glance over at the young woman and she is now sitting on the ground with her dog. Clearly, we've been here a while. And clearly I should have put on a watch this morning, maybe put peanut butter crackers in my pocket so I could eat them, closed my windows (the forecast had said it would rain), called my mother back telling her that I love her, and several other things now that my life has ended to being stuck in an elevator.

"So, what do you do for work?" the young woman has spoken.

"I-I'm a writer."

"Oh, do you do freelancing or are you a book author?" She pulls out a treat for her dog and gives it to him. "His name is Tucker."

"I, um, just write. I post things on-line." There's an awkward silence, probably because I never said anything in reference to the dog. "What do you do for work?" I ask, hoping she'll ignore me.

"I'm a vet. I help animals get well again, you know, things like that."

No wonder she has dog treats in her pocket. I decide to sit down too, for I've been standing for a while.

"Are you alright, sir? You're particularly green in the face."

I clear my throat, "I'm not a big fan of elevators. My worst fear is being trapped in one." I close my eyes and imagine myself somewhere else, a beach maybe...someplace with a lot of open space.

The young woman's voice brings me back to the elevator. "Then this situation doesn't help." She laughed. "What time do you think it is?"

I opened my eyes. "Don't you have a cell phone or something?"

"No, do you?"

I shook my head. I hoped she would shut up. Random strangers talking to me wasn't in most of my daydreams.

"You're a very self-absorbed fellow," she comments.

I don't answer. When will the elevator open? Maybe we can open the top of it and escape through there? But then what after that? If the elevator falls we go to our impending doom? Except sitting here wasn't the way to solve problems. We could starve to death. I don't like it when I'm hungry.

The doors of the elevator burst open and a security officer peers in through the doors. "Sorry about that folks, if you'll just kindly exit the elevator." Is that all he can say after I wasted my life in here? While I'm starving, near a dog, and trapped in an elevator?

Before the young woman can even move, before she acknowledges the fact that the doors are open, I stand up and run through them to the nearest bench and sit down. It's green. The young woman follows with her dog.

"Sir, are you going to be okay?" she sits down next to me.

"Yeah," I mutter, "It's just that..."

"That...what?"

"I don't like elevators. Now that we're talking I don't like the color green either." With that I stand up and leave her sitting there, pondering that last thought. And that's where I'm leaving you.

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