Short Stories

Year 9 & 10 Short Story Competition 2015

This got second place out of all of the Year 9's and 10's that entered, me being Year 9, so it must be at least semi-good.

Aya wasn't scared of much. She could handle a lot of things. But enclosed spaces was not one of them.

She had just been at the shop to buy some mushrooms for dinner and was heading up to her apartment on the fifth floor via elevator. Let's just say, the elevator was old and bound to stop working eventually.

But of course, it happened when she was inside, alone with nothing but her mushrooms, heading to the fifth floor.

She banged her fists on the walls of the giant metal cage and yelled curses at it until she felt as if everyone bone in her hand had been shattered into tiny microscopic pieces. She groaned as she sat down and mumbled to herself about how her life sucked and she blamed the government.

Her face lit up as she remembered she had a phone. She had only just gotten it a few days prior and was mentally dancing with joy.

She fished it out of her jean pocket and turned it on. She unlocked it before stopping.

'Who do I call to get me out of an elevator?' She thought to herself. She paced in circles as she contemplated what to do and occasionally wished she could go back in time and make friends in highschool that could help her.

She then realised that emergency buttons existed and face palmed at her own stupidity. She pressed the green button that read 'emergencies only' over top.

Nothing happened.

She started to get nervous as she felt the air get warmer and began banging on the walls again. She tried to stay calm and told herself to breathe in and out before getting fed up with it and going berserk on the wall.

"Let me out, you stupid... Thing!" She screamed as she kicked the wall. "Ow!" She fell onto the ground and stroked her hurt foot as if she were comforting a child.

She started to pace around again and stopped as the one light in the elevator stopped working. She froze and stood still as she waited for it to turn back on. But it didn't.

She sat in the corner of the elevator and took deep breaths as she shone the light of her phone in every direction to make sure there were no monsters.

She was 21 and still believed in monsters. Scary situations made her extremely paranoid.

The phone made a 'bleep bleep' sound and she turned the screen to face her.

14% battery left.

She stared at it as the charge steadily dropped down and down until it turned off. Her stare changed to a glare as she smashed it on the ground.

She instantly regretted it and felt the screen for any cracks before putting it back in her pocket. She stood up and walked around the elevator with her arms spread wide to stop any creatures from coming in.

She didn't know how it would stop them, but she did it anyway because it gave her slight peace. She was still trapped in one of her worst nightmares.

She breathed heavily as she did so, trying to block out the stuffiness of the air. She felt as if she was suffocating in there and wanted out as soon as possible.

She wanted her mushroom sauce with medium rare steak and some pasta to go with it. But she was stuck in an elevator that refused to let her go!

She angrily kicked the wall again and repeated the same process as the last time she had done that. Except in the dark.

She eventually found herself standing in front of the elevator door, lightly kicking it with an exasperated look on her face.

"I'm never gonna get a boyfriend... I'm never gonna finish university... I'm never gonna have my mushroom sauce!" She tried to punch the elevator door, but her fist hit air and she toppled out of the door.

An inaudible, "I'm free!" Came from her mouth before she jumped and kissed the first person she saw on the cheek. It was a woman in overalls and she had a tired expression on her face. Aya grabbed her bag of mushrooms and skipped down the hall, back to her apartment.