Bastard

peculiar missions

    Greetings to anyone joining me here. I wish you blessings.

    Today was quite a day for me. On my lunch break I'd went downtown to pay my life insurance and was waiting for an elevator. When one opened up for me I was advancing my way inside when a woman called out "hold the elevator please!" The guy who was inside already held the door for her to come in. The doors closed and we were off. The woman gave me a smile and asked me how I was doing.

    As I was about to reply, there was a sudden jerk, so forceful all three of us were thrown to the floor. The woman started screaming, and the fellow looked more than perplexed by it. I helped her to her feet and tried making sense of what was happening.

    We'd stopped moving; it's not like we were many stories up but I believe we were maybe between the third and fourth floors. I'd seen an old white guard when I'd walked in, and hopefully he'd heard the commotion. The white guy in the elevator with us quickly pulled out his phone and called for help.

    The young woman, who is black, couldn't stop shaking. She started hyperventilating and was having serious trouble coping with the fact that we were all stuck. I tried to calm her down, telling her that old boy was calling for help as we spoke. I had a chance to see her face when she pulled down her mask and started fanning herself. Tears were streaming down her face and I felt so bad for her. She looked as if she were about to go into overload. I did the first thing I could think of and bear hugged her, trying to steady her. She was shaking violently.

   The guy said "I've contacted the sheriff's office and they have already dispatched... we'll be out of here in no time." His words were of no comfort to her, as she kept crying and holding onto me. I tried to make her calm, to talk about anything. I asked her name and she told me. I'll just call her J to keep her private. I asked her about herself, anything to get her talking. She was still trying to catch her breath when she said "I like your fangs" when I pulled down my mask. I was glad she had stopped crying.

    I realized I'd been holding her still so I released her. My head started hurting suddenly, then my chest got to feeling weird, then the feeling vanished. I looked over at J and she was clenching her chest. It was as if we'd partook in some sort of exchange.

    We stayed trapped in that elevator for close to 45 minutes before the power came on and the cabin started moving again. During that time, I'd kept J preoccupied when I myself was close to losing my shit. I woulda found me a way to climb out of that bitch, I promise you that.

   All three of us exited on the fifth floor, wanting to get the fuck off of that elevator. Since we were both going to the same insurance office, I took the short walk with J, for she was still visibly shaken. We both took the stairs down this time. When we got downstairs, something made me ask for her number. I told her I'd like to check up on her and see how she'd make it home.

    By the time I got back to work, my nerves had calmed, thanks to my blunt I'd smoked in my car on the way. I thought about the events of the day and how shook J had been. I was so grateful to be back amongst the smell of rubber tires,  as things could have gone way worst.