*based on a true story*
I stepped into the elevator, hand in hand with Frank, and the rest of us filed in, still laughing from the reminiscent jokes of the just-past lunch.
“Are you guys sure we can all fit in here?” Tiana asked, nervously looking at the metallic entrance.
Holly, who was already in the elevator, looked at a sticker plastered on the wall.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine!” she assured Tiana, gesturing to the sticker, “Look, it says that it can fit 13 people at a time, and there’s only seven of us. Come on!”
Tiana hesitantly followed into the elevator, huddling into Ella and allowing Mica and Theo to squeeze in. It wasn’t the best fit, but we had room to breathe at least.
I was stood near the back of the elevator in-between Holly and Frank, so I waited for Mica to press the button for the second floor. We had a good amount of time before class was meant to resume, so we could take our time when we got out at the top and linger for a few moments more.
“How come we aren’t moving?” Frank questioned, looking towards the button panel.
I joined him in his curiosity, looking to Mica.
“Have you not pressed the button?” I asked.
Mica nodded, a confused look on his face.
“Yeah, I just did. That’s weird…”
We all paid close attention as the button was pressed again, all seeing the action, but the elevator didn’t budge.
Tiana’s face dropped, holding tighter onto Ella as Mica pressed the button again, his face lighting up.
“Hold on, wait, it says something when I press it,” he announced.
We all fell silent, listening closely as he pressed the button a third time.
“Out of service,” the robotic voice spoke from the control panel.
Tiana squealed with fear, Ella hugging her in an attempt to comfort her as the rest of us erupted into nervous laughter.
“No fucking way this is happening-,” I laughed, trying my best to keep my composure as Frank and Holly creased next to me.
“Ughhh, I’m claustrophobic…” Tiana whimpered nervously.
Holly and Ella lifted their heads to look at each other, the same glint in their eyes.
“I’m claustrophobic, Darren!” they said in unison, laughing to themselves.
I wasn’t quite sure what they were referencing, but at least they were keeping positive.
Tiana questioned the reference, looking quizzically to Ella.
“You don’t know Jemma Collins? Tragic,” Ella joked.
Mica pressed the open doors button on the control panel, hoping to fix the problem manually. Unfortunately, it wasn’t such a simple fix. It seemed that we were, in fact, stuck.
“We should take a picture,” I said in true teenager fashion, slightly cringing at my stereotypical suggestion.
A chorus of yeses came from everyone, me handing my open phone to Frank – the tallest of those of us trapped – to take the picture.
“Everyone say cheese!” I called out, posing with my thumbs up.
Frank took the picture and handed me back my phone for me to look over. I laughed with everyone else as I saved it, putting my phone back in my pocket.
“I’ll send this to you all once we get out,” I said to the group, still chuckling.
“Hey, I can cross this off my bucket list now!” Holly exclaimed excitedly.
Frank and I turned to Holly with a confused – and slightly concerned – look.
“…Excuse me?” Frank asked.
Holly’s smile went unwavered as she nodded.
“Yeah! Damn, I’ve crossed a lot off my bucket list lately; first getting into a car crash, now getting stuck in a lift!” she explained between laughs.
Frank and I shared a look before turning back to the situation at hand, watching as Ella and Mica tried to decode the button pad.
“Okay, we can call for help, we just need to hold down this button for five seconds,” Mica said nonchalantly, doing as instructed.
As he held down the button, an ear-piercing screeching sound filled the room. We all flinched, Tiana hiding into Ella’s body as I linked my arm with Frank’s for comfort. We waited for what felt like far more than five seconds before the button was released, the trill of a phone line filling the small space instead. We all breathed a sigh of relief as the line was answered, the sound of a female voice surrounding us.
“Hello?” it questioned, as if not having expected to answer any calls today.
“Hello!” we all spoke, then allowing Ella to do the speaking.
“Hi, yeah, we’re stuck on the ground floor of the UCH building, could you send someone to come open the doors please?” she stated calmly, as if unaffected by the situation.
“…The university building, correct?” the woman asked.
“Yes!” we all replied, confirming our location.
“Okay, we’ll send someone as soon as we can,” the woman said before hanging up.
We all cheered, happy that a solution was in sight. Well, most of us were happy. Tiana was still panicking, taking comfort in the rhythmic strokes Ella was giving her hair.
“Hey, it’s alright,” I assured her from a meter away, “We’re on the ground floor, we’re practically in the safest place this could’ve happened in.”
Tiana gave me a nod, not moving her gaze from Ella as she took deep breaths.
About five minutes had passed before the space started to warm from excess heat. The seven of us packed fairly close together was making the air go stuffy quickly, which gave no help towards current tensions.
“Jeez, I like escape rooms as much as the next guy, but this is too much,” Theo, who had previously been quite quiet, joked.
This got a good laugh out of a few of us, distracting us from the growing heat between us all.
“Hey, should I stick on some obscure video essay to pass the time? I know a good few,” I half-joked, pulling my phone out of my hoodie pocket.
Frank and Mica cheered, turning their attention towards me with a chuckle.
“I know a good one! There’s this six hour one on the intricacies of the Toy Story movies?” Theo suggested.
“That’s perfect,” I replied with a nod and a laugh.
“Okay guys, shush, I think there’s someone outside,” Ella said, putting her ear to the door, “Hello? Is someone there?”
“Hello?” a voice questioned from outside.
“Hello!” we all called back. It was like routine at this point.
“Are you guys okay?” the voice asked.
“No, we’re all stuck in here, could you get someone please?” Ella asked quickly.
“Yeah, okay, back in a minute,” the voice said before footsteps sounded from outside.
Ella shook her head, clearly unimpressed.
“They said this would take a few minutes, this is ridiculous.”
A hum of agreement came from around the elevator.
“You alright in there, guys?” a different voice asked from outside a few minutes later.
A chorus of yeses and no’s came from everyone, I’m not quite sure who said what.
“Are you gonna get us out?” Ella asked, having been ready to leave about a minute into this whole situation.
“Yep! Just give me a few seconds and you guys can be on your way,” he said, a banging noise coming from outside.
Within a few seconds, just as promised, the door was open and a waft of fresh air came blowing in. We all cheered, filtering out of the elevator and laughing to ourselves. Our reward for getting through that? Having to go back to class. Great.
Our photograph shows the students keeping their spirits up with a selfie in the ‘Hell-evator’ at Harlow College.