The Life of a YouTuber

Fear (Part 3)

Matt Sturniolo POV

I shut my eyes tight. For my part of the challenge, to top it all off, I have to be shut away in an elevator for at least most of the day. I can't do an all nighter, because one, this is a public elevator we're renting, and two, I might lose oxygen of some sort by staying in here for too long. That small thought terrifies me. Since an elevator moves and everything, like all elevators do, I had to push the emergency stop button. Im not sure if that's illegal to do on purpose or not, but we got permission from the hotel's owner. I'm beginning to get claustrophobic, and I can't stand another minute in here. All I can see around me is my reflection, and I hate it. I never thought I'd hate seeing myself. Nick and Chris made sure that I brought my anxiety medication in case I have an anxiety attack while I'm in here. And if I'm being honest, I think I'm really close to having an outburst. I don't know if this elevator's really old or if it's just me, but I feel like every time I move the whole thing shakes. I keep worrying that it'll actually break, and it'll drop down the ten floors. I'm on the eleventh floor at the moment which is making me dizzy just to think about. I don't know how long I've been in here, but it feels long enough to me. At some point, I finally broke. I began pounding on the elevator doors, begging to be let out. But no one can hear me. No one is coming to help. Not even my brothers. Gasping for air, I backed my trembling body into a corner and slowly slid to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my legs tightly and hugged them close to my chest as I rocked back and forth. I buried my face into my knees, trying to gain control of my breathing. My nerves are just really on edge. When I lifted my head up, I found that my face is wet with tears, although I'm not sure when I started crying. I sniffed pathetically as I mumbled to myself in a small act of comfort. I'm forced to stare at my knees, because I don't want to take another look at myself. I make myself sick. I never knew how bad I looked until now. It's making me think horribly of myself. But I try to keep this going, because this is what we do as YouTubers. My feelings don't matter as long as the video gets good views. It feels as if I've been in here for forever. After awhile, I was struggling to even breathe in here. I clutched my chest, clawing through my shirt as I tried to breathe. It's like I can't get enough air. Am I dying? Am I losing that much oxygen that I'm about to die? Will anyone miss me? Will it just be better off with Nick and Chris? Everyone's always liked them better anyway. It's not like they'd be missing much when I'm gone. I never really spoke in the videos, right? That's mainly because I never got the chance, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm most likely going to die in this stupid elevator. The tears slipped down my cheeks again as I thought about my life and all the good things that happened to me in the past year of being on YouTube. I can't believe that I'm about to die, and the viewers will see it all. I closed my eyes, ready to take my final breath, accepting my fate, but apparently fate had something different in mind. The elevator doors opened with a ding, and I reopened my eyes to see my brothers looking a little worried. Almost immediately, I jumped up and raced into their arms, literally sobbing. It's embarrassing, yes, but they're always there for me when I need them. And I've never been more grateful for that.
"I c-couldn't... breath," I cried in their shoulders, clutching them tighter.
"You're okay, Matt, we're here," Nick soothed, softly rubbing my back. "Don't worry. We'd never let anything bad ever happen to you."
"P-promise?" I sniffled, pulling away to look them in the eyes.
"We promise," Chris told me with a small smile.
After that, we all decided that these moments were way too private for us to be broadcasting across YouTube, so we didn't post it. The things we do for YouTube...