Page 6 of Lift Me Up

“Ma’am?”

“I’m stuck in this goddamn elevator, call Franny!”

“Ma’am, I’ll need to gather–”

“No,” I stop them. “No. I’m freaking the fuck out. This elevator is probably one snap away from plummeting to my death, and so help me God if I get out of this elevator alive, I will come after you and anyone else who works for this phone that doesn’t do what I am telling you right now. Call the supervisor, Francis Douglas. NOW. Tell her that Georgia is stuck in here and if she doesn’t get me out, I am going to pass the fuck out and she’ll have to pronounce me dead.”

The voice blurts out static. “Ma’am, I–”

“Is that–? Pass her to me, Val.” N. I can hear his voice on the tail end of her mic.

“Yes, pass me to him, Val,” I snap, hating that my fear is making me react this way. She doesn’t deserve this.

I hear her scoff. Then, as the hold music plays, I think about how this would be a horrible way to go out; listening to generic waiting music in a stuck elevator before falling down, down, down.

“G, it’s N. The line disconnected.”

“I swear to God if it happens again, please just have them send me to you. I can’t do this.” I swallow, unsure what to say next.

“I will, I promise. And you can do this. I want you to know I didn’t stop working during the cutoff, I called Francis and told her what was going on. She should be there soon. I’ve dispatched an elevator company technician…”

“Okay, how long until they get here?”

“They’re… coming as soon as they can. I can either place you on hold or disconnect and–”

“No. No, please. Stay. I’m… apparently, I’m afraid of elevators, a fear I didn’t know I had until now. You’re the only thing keeping me sane in the darkness. Please don’t go,” I beg.

I can hear his voice speaking softly but can’t hear the words definitively. I think he might be speaking with someone wherever he is working, but I can’t be sure.

“G, I am going to place you on hold for just a minute–”

“No, I just told you–”

“I am going to call Franny again. I need to get permission to stay on the line, it’s against our typical protocol here. If she says yes, I’ll stay with you.”

“Oh.” I sniffle, tears drying and chest feeling less tightened with each inhale. “Okay. Um, tell her it’s her best friend in here. Tell her I told her so, that I knew this thing was going to break down and kill someone. Tell her I love her and—oh god—tell her to call my mom and let her know I’m going to be really late for dinner. Forever is a long time to not eat her pot roast dinner if I don’t get out of here.”

He chuckles. “I will be right back, I promise.”

The elevator shifts, making a terrible groaning sound that can’t be good. Part of me wants to stand, to see if I could pry the door open somehow, but the other part of me knows it’s best to stay where I am and wait for the inevitable doom or—if it actually happens before I die—the rescue.

“Georgia?” His voice returns, the beacon in the dark again. The way he says my name is soft and simple, kind. I close my eyes, resting my head back against the elevator wall, and take a deep breath.

“Present.” My voice is the complete opposite: defeated, raw, and shaking. I am shivering, but the elevator is far from cold. Fear does strange things to you.

“How are you feeling? Franny’s asking. I told her you look a little more relaxed now, all things considered.”

I freeze, eyes snapping open to look around. “Wait. You can see me?”

“Top left of the car, there’s a camera.”

Of course. Of course, there’s a camera. Franny has access to them in the main office, to check to see who is messing with the elevators from time to time, and to stop depraved fiends from having sex in them—among other things. Of course he has access to that camera; of course he can see me. I’m sure it’s got in-the-dark vision, like some creepy supervillain spying on the heroine of a comic book… I tell him as much, which makes him laugh and that makes the corners of my lips twitch into the smallest of smiles.

“How long is it going to be?”

“Do you want the honest answer, or do you want the company policy answer of ‘as soon as possible’?”

I swallow. “Honest.”