suıʞʍɐɥ oʇ ǝɯoɔlǝʍ sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Flayed

pǝʎɐlɟ ǝɥʇ
oʍʇ-ʎʇuǝʍʇ ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ

July 2, 1985

Everyone was screaming as we free fell. I was clung to Steve, face buried in his chest as I screamed. He had one arm around my waist and the other holding onto something. Dustin was frantically hitting the buttons on the wall. "Shit! Shit! We're going down! We're going down!" Steve yelled. "Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin said. "Why don't these buttons work?!" Dustin screamed. Eric went over to him, pressing buttons. "Press the button!" She told him. "What do you think I'm doing?!"

"Come on, press something! Just press the button!" Steve yelled at them. Everyone was just freaking out and the buttons were not working. "We're all going to die!" I yelled. Then it came to a stop and we all tumbled to the floor. I moved out of the box before a box could fall on me only to hear Steve groan in pain. "My groin. It fell on my groin. Dustin! Get this off of me!" He said. Dustin went over to try and move it, "I can't move." I helped him move it off Steve and helped Steve up. "Is everyone okay?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!" Steve yelled, his face red with anger and frustration. He pushed Dustin out of the way and started pushing buttons. "I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work," Robin told him. "They're buttons. They have to do something," he said. "Yeah, if we had a keycard," I told him. "A what?" He asked. "It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door.  If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning..." Robin said. "We're stuck in here." Dustin finished. "Yeah."

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow and my mom finds out you three are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat," Erica said. "I don't care about Tina! Or Uncle Jack's party! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" Steve yelled. I put my hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Erica just gave him a death glare.

"Hey. What if we climbed out?" Dustin said, pointing up at the grate above up. Steve helped Dustin as he climbed up and then I climbed up after him with Steve right behind me. We looked up to see that we were extremely far down. "What were you saying about climbing?" Steve asked, his voice echoing. We climbed back down and just sat around. Eventually the kids and Robin fell asleep. Steve and I stayed up a little longer.

We sat on the other side in a corner. I sat between his legs, back leaning against his chest, head laid back on his shoulder. His arms were wrapped around my waist, head leaning on mine. "This is not how I pictured my summer. I wanted to go to the fair so you could win me one of the big stuffed animals," I poured. Steve chuckled quietly and kissed my temple. "I'll just buy you one when we get out, how about that." I hummed, turning so I could cuddle into him more.

July 3, 1985

The next day Dustin tried using his walkie to get through to anyone but we were too far out of range. He's been trying for a couple hours. Steve went up to him, "hey. You gotta take it easy on that thing. You're gonna drain the battery," he told him. I had climbed up there with Dustin just needing out of that damn room. "The mall just opened," Dustin said. "So?" Steve asked. "So someone could be in range."

"What do you think Peter the Mall Cop is gonna rappel down here and save the day?" Steve climbs up the rest of the way. "All right, why are you such cranky pants after getting to spend the night with my sister," Dustin said. "I get to spend the night with your sister all the time." Steve winked at me and Dustin scrunched up his nose. "I heard you guys talking all night."

"Yeah, we were trying to figure out a way to open the door while you children and Robin were sleeping," I said. Steve came over to me, leaned down and gave me a kiss before walking over to the other side. "After eight hours, we're still exactly nowhere, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just... a tab cranky," he said. He unzipped his pants. "What're you doing?" Dustin asked him. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak. Look away. Look away!," he said. "Gross." I covered my ears not needing to hear it but that didn't help at all. Then I heard Robin telling him to redirect his stream. Then a minute later she was popping her head up to us. "We got company." We helped her and Erica up and stayed quiet.

The door opened and two guys walked into the room. Erica was holding the canister with the green liquid inside and we looked at her n's she just looked back. When the two guys were gone we hopped down. Steve's hands were on my waist as he helped me jump down. The door was quickly shutting. "Hurry. Skid under before the door shuts," I said. Steve used the canister to stop the door and the kids climbed under, Robin and me right after them.

The canister started to crack from the pressure from the door. "Steve, hurry." Just as he got out the canister broke and the liquid ate through the floor. "You still want to drink that?" Robin asked Erica. "Holy mother of god." We turned at Dustin's words to see a very long corridor. "We'll... hope you guys are in good shape. Looking at you, roast beef," Steve said, patting Dustin on the shoulder.

His hand laced with mine as we started down the corridor. "Let's go, come on." The other three walked after us. "Can't you just like... I don't know... carry me?" I asked Steve. He looked over at me and shook his head. "No!" He laughed. "Why not? This is such a long hall," I groaned. "Yeah, Steve, why can't you just carry her," Dustin laughed. "Ugh! Fine. But only for a little while!" He stopped, pointing a finger at me. I smiled and jumped on his back hearing him sigh. "You love me," I said, kissing his cheek. "Yeah I do."