THE ELEVATOR jolted to a stop, causing the group to all fall to the ground. Bailey tried to catch her breath, but it seemed to her that no oxygen was available. She wiped the hair from her face in distress, as Robin offered her a hand to help her to her feet.
"You okay?" Robin asked her softly.
Bailey nodded, her voice breaking, "Yeah. Thank you."
Dustin asked, "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that the Russians can't design elevators!" Steve shouted, as he tried to press the buttons again.
"I think we've established that those buttons don't work." Robin reminded.
"They're buttons." Steve raised his voice in frustration, "They have to do something!"
"Yeah, if we had a keycard!" Robin shot back, "It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning—"
"We're stuck in here." Dustin finished.
Bailey backed up towards the wall, her back touching the red doors that locked them inside. Tears swelled in her eyes. Her throat became dry. Her hands became sweaty. She tried to blink the tears away, but the burning sensation in her throat became unbearable. She wanted to get out. Bailey hated small spaces, because of what it reminded her of.
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. She forced herself, Only babies cry. Don't make yourself look like an idiot!
"Just so you nerds are aware." Erica lectured, "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 four are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one bye one, and slit your throat."
"I don't care about Tina! Or Uncle Jack's party!" Steve raised his voice in frustration, "Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!"
"Hey." Dustin pointed up to the ceiling, noticing a square hatch, "What if we climbed out?"
Steve and Dustin climbed out of the elevator through the hatch and attempted to call for help through the radio. Bailey, Robin, and Erica stayed inside, whilst Bailey attempted to open the red shutter doors.
"You know they're jammed shut, right?" Robin tilted her head curiously at the girl's strange behaviour, "Are you okay, Bailey? Hey."
Bailey ran her fingers along the doors, trying to find a crack or anomaly which could be used to escape. She pulled on cracks of the doors so hard that her fingers turned white, grunting to herself as she cursed quietly.
Robin repeated gently, "The doors are controlled by a keycard, you won't find a way out..."
"You won't find a way out!" Bailey's stepdad raised his voice, as he dragged her down the stairs, her body stumbling down the steps as she tried to fight back.
"Let me fucking go!" Bailey screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her stepdad held into the scruff of her shirt, forcing her aggressively into the basement. Bailey sobbed, "Mom!"
Her mother watched from the end of the hallway... helpless. Even if she wanted to help, her stepdad had the power to lock her mom in the basement, too.
Her stepdad would regularly punish her when she spoke back to her mom, or snuck out to go to parties. He was drunk most of the time, but he was also just a horrible person— drunk and sober. He would lock her in the small basement for hours, in the dark, with no food or water. She would just curl herself into a ball, after she accepted there was no escape, and waited until he remembered about her existence.
