[DISCONTINUED] The Elevator

Chapter 2 - Part 1 of 3

"So...what now?" Questions Sloane. Everyone is looking my way silently. The claustrophobic girl with curly hair stops screaming. No one talks, they just all look at me.

I glower, forcing a slow-rising panic back down. "Come on!" I whisper to myself harshly, pressing the button once more.

A loud and sudden whir comes from behind one of the walls, and my heart hurdles dangerously far. Almost everyone jumps, and a few scream, angst re-entering the air. It's as if the elevator is starting up.

My heart lodges itself at the base of my throat as my breaths become shallower and shallower.

The lights flicker. Just for a moment. They haven't done that before, meaning power was needed for something else...something –

"Welcome welcome!" Comes an animated voice from above, I look up and spot two large black speakers hanging overhead, though I can hardly hear it over the top of the cries for help.

"Hey!" I yell, but it's no use. Astrid glances at me, then turns to the group.

"Shut it!" She screams, and everyone stops at once, then she points to the speakers. I nod in appreciation.

The voice starts again. "Welcome teenagers to our little experiment."

"Hey!" Cries the mohawk boy. "What's all this for?"

"As you have noticed, you are in an elevator, but that's just part of the fun!"

I see disappointment and helplessness wash over his face, realising it's a pre-recording. Ethan swallows.

An uneasy hole in the pit of my stomach grows, and...so does the whirring. My mouth pinches shut. The way the voice talks to us is sickening, like we are all at a children's party, and the staff are being overly enthusiastic about everything, though it continues.

"Let us give you a rundown of the game! There are exactly 20 of you. 20 strangers all wanting the same thing in life. Adventure! And you are going to get it. Your only job here is to survive 6 levels you will be taken to. Spend the total duration of five minutes in the level, and you get to leave for the next one! It's that simple! But...if you choose to stay in the elevator during a level or leave part-way through, this does not count towards a point. Complete a grand total of six levels and you get to go home." 

I anxiously eye the wall again, where the whirring is still increasing in pitch, like a plane engine getting ready to take off.

"You may also be wondering what the black stripes are on each of your arms. Well! These stripes are called 'deaths,' apposed to 'lives' these 'deaths' will determine you getting out of here. You survive a level, you lose a death, lose a black stripe, lose your six deaths completely, are you are able to leave."

The whirring is getting louder, almost louder than the voice.

"You may be wondering what we mean by surviving a level. Well, our intricately designed levels are intense! And our elevator is designed as a forcefield, so you are protected from anything outside of it. So do your best to get through, and always remember to think cleverly! Look up at the elevators' screen to see the level. Have fun, and enjoy!"

The whirring turns into a rattle when the voice shuts off and the lights dim, I feel the only blood I have left draining from my face, just as a roar of uprise erupts from the group.

"What do they mean survive?"

"What do we do!?"

"Where is the exit!?"

There is no exit. We're stuck in here.

That's when the elevator tilts to the side and more screams arise while I fall into a nearby corner, Astrid collapses into me. More screams.

"Sorry!" She shouts against the screaming, grappling onto the closest railing to pull herself up.

"It's okay!" I yell back but I don't think she hears me.

Strangely, it feels like we are moving, soaring perhaps, but not in a usual up and down pattern. The elevator doesn't move drastically, although it's almost like we're floating. And perhaps it's the drugs wearing off that makes it worse, as the lights begin changing colours; flashing blue, to yellow, to red, to green. I need to shut my eyes, and even then, that's not enough.

The first level; snippets of the automatic voice repeats in my head; surviving a level; think cleverly; forcefield. These are just words to me, none of them connect in my already racing mind.

Perhaps I'm still dreaming, I'm still in my room and I had taken something the night before, maybe something else by accident and this is the result.

The room jolts, then rave music starts blasting out of the speakers, the only thing cutting through the screams. My heart thumps to the rhythm. This must be what it's like going to a club, it's exactly as it is in the movies, minus the elevator and the distress.

I grip with all my might onto the railing with sweaty hands, along with Sloane, Astrid, Logan, Ethan and the mohawk boy. None of as are panicking like the others are, we just stand, frozen to the side. There's no point.

Levels. Survive six levels. Levels of what?

The last of my courage clinging on to the hope that this is all a prank, slowly slips down the drain.

The girl with long curly hair continues banging on one of the side doors again, crying.

The noises. The sounds. It's too much! Too –

The rave music stops, then the whirring and soon everyone looks at each other in the same blue-white fluorescent lights in deathly silence full of heavy breathing. A small elevator ding sounds from one of the speakers. 

I look up to the small electronic sign above all the buttons and it reads 1.

Level 1.

I then glance around at my newly formed friends. Astrid's right-hand shakes violently against the side of her denim shorts, picking at the loose threads that hang at the bottom. Sloane's eyebrows are knitted together so intensely, she's squinting. Ethan's entire body is visibly shaking and slouched against the wall's railing, his mouth is open as he silently hyperventilates. The mohawk boy's mouth is twisted into confusion, his eyes darting around the elevator, as well as Logan's.

"What did you do!?" A short girl with a pixie cut cries from the crowd, slicing into the silence. My heart drops when I realise she's staring directly at me.

Then, the elevator doors open slowly and smoothly. Everyone turns to stare, though I can hardly see from remaining at the back.

A slight crackle and the automatic voice begins again through the speakers."Welcome welcome to your first level! As you can see at the back of the elevator, there is another set of doors." I turn around, and there they are. I don't know how I missed them before, but they are closed and not as obvious as the front ones. The voice continues, "Your only task is to complete the maze, return to the back of the elevator and hit the button to open the doors before the five minutes is up. Or, you can always choose to stay. Don't worry! It's no mark off your arm, only your confidence!"

Sloane elbows me in the ribs. Once I turn, she points up to the elevator screen above the doors. A countdown. 0:15, 0:14...

I peel myself from the back wall and take a couple steps forward to the open doors everybody looks through.

I stare into barely lit-up darkness. Tall corridor walls do in fact, begin a maze. Someone cuts in front of me and reaches out their hand, instant impact soon effects the hand, stopping it immediately from entering the room, like glass, but no reflection in sight.

"It's about to begin," says the mohawk boy.

0:11, 0:10...

A few turn to each other in alarm, whimpering and anxiously looking out into the barely lit up corridor.

"Do I go? Do I stay?"

I could stay. But would I get off at the next? The only ostensible way out of here is to lose all six black stripes. I am here for as long as I choose. I look back at the timer.

0:05, 0:04, 0:03...

Loud beeps accompany the last few seconds.