Trapped

Chapter 12: Crashing Down

Gavin watched as Jeremy took the lead, admiring his ability to stay calm and calculating. He admired the way his back muscles arched under his shirt, and how his black hair complimented his dark mocha skin.

"You doing okay?" Jeremy glanced behind at Gavin.

"Yah, fine enough anyway" Gavin hated how he was always seen as the weak one because he did theatre and was a little nerdy. He wanted to show Jeremy, and everyone else, that he could handle himself. After all if he could lift fifty pounds of rope, so that had to count for something in the real world.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure." Jeremy dropped his voice, "This is kind of fucking crazy right?" Gavin then could hear the fright hidden under his football jock exterior.

"Batshit crazy" Gavin agreed, "But we'll be okay. We'll find a way out." He added reassuringly. They stopped when the saw the elevator, next to a sign that read "For disabled persons only". They looked between the elevator to each other.

"So, if the lights in here don't work there's no way in hell this works huh?" it dawned on Jeremy. Right as he said that, the lights under the up arrow button flashed blue and stayed on. The arrow above the elevator pinged blue as well, and the motor began to whirl. The sound was horribly loud in the unnatural silence of the building. The doors slid open, revealing an empty cart with ugly old style carpeting and mirrored walls. 

Jeremy went to step in but Gavin put a hand on his chest,

"We shouldn't go in" Gavin spoke quietly. He began to look around for signs of someone watching them. Jeremy rolled his eyes and stepped in, wanting to look like the big man.

"I'm going, and can either come with me or not" he taunted at Gavin. The doors pinged again and Gavin quickly made up his mind and jumped into the elevator after Jeremy. He glared him down,

"If we die it's your fault" he mumbled grumpily. It was meant as a joke, but those words hit Jeremy hard, "what if we die? what if it's my fault?" he worried. If he was the reason Gavin got hurt, or worse, he would never be able to forgive himself. 

But it was too late to change his mind. The doors slid closed, revealing more mirroring on the inside. It gave the elevator a dizzying effect, leaving them both wondering whether this was the actual reason the college shut down. After a couple seconds, the whirring stopped and elevator grinded to a halt. They stood in anticipated silence for a moment, wondering to see what would happen. Their hearts dropped when they realized the doors weren't about to open, that they were stuck inside the elevator.

"Hey." Jeremy began to sweat, "Hey!" he shouted into the elevator. He spun around nervously, seeing the many duplications of himself following suit. "Let us out!" He yelled again. Gavin remained quiet and still, looking around him to figure out any possibilities they had of escape. He smacked Jeremy in the arm, trying to get his attention.

"Help me open the door, maybe we're close enough to second floor to climb up" he said. Jeremy nodded and they both grabbed a side of the door. They pulled as hard as they could, grunting and cursing. The door slowly and unwillingly budged open just wide enough for them to fit their head through. In front of them was a solid concrete wall, once grey but now black and stained with grime.

"Hold on," Jeremy stuck his head out the doorway and looked up. All Gavin could imagine was the doors closing on him and he had to repress the urge to vomit on the floor, when finally Jeremy squeezed his head back inside. "The second floor opening is only maybe ten feet above us.", he tried to say cheerfully.