Cocoa Crush

by Jessica Beck

  “What should we do?” I asked, looking frantically around the enclosed space for something, anything, that would make me feel better about the situation.

  “I think we should give it a few minutes. Chances are good that the power will come back on its own if we just wait it out.”

  “Shouldn’t we at least try to call someone in the meantime to let them know that we’re trapped in here?” I asked as I pressed the communication button on the panel and leaned toward the speaker. “Hello? Is anyone there? We’re trapped in the elevator!” A hint of panic crept into my voice despite my husband’s calming presence.

  He reached out and took my hand again, pulling it gently away from the button. “Suzanne, I checked the system out earlier when I was downstairs with Jason. Unfortunately, the other end of that system goes to the front desk, and we both know that nobody’s there.”

  “How long are we going to be trapped in here?” I asked him, the panic starting to grow in my voice despite my best efforts not to let it show.

  “Take it easy, Suzanne. You need to remember one thing; we’re not trapped. If we have to, there are ways to get out of this elevator, even with the power off,” he replied. “Right now all we need to do is wait.”

  “But I don’t want to be here,” I told him a little petulantly.

  “That’s why we’re leaving, remember?” he asked, trying his best to be reassuring.

  “I don’t just mean this building, Jake; I’m talking about the elevator.”

  “You’re not suddenly claustrophobic, are you?” he asked me. “I’ve never seen any signs of it before.”

  “No, not particularly, but that still doesn’t mean that I need to enjoy this experience. Could you please show a little emotion?” His peaceful demeanor was starting to wear on me a little.

  “What do you want me to do, throw myself at the door?” he asked with the hint of a laugh in his voice. “Would that help?”

  “You never know until you try. It just might,” I said with a smile, trying to mimic his calm.

  “Just take a deep breath. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

  I did as he suggested, but it didn’t seem to help.

  After ten minutes, a time span that felt more like ten hours, Jake was ready to admit that the power wasn’t going to come on again anytime soon. “Okay, it’s time for Plan B,” Jake said.

  “Do we actually have a Plan B?” I asked him. “Should we bang on the doors and try to get someone’s attention?”

  “No one would hear us, and besides, even if they could, what could they do?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the one with the plan,” I said.

  Jake released my hand, and I felt its absence in mine immediately. I knew that it was ridiculous to expect him to get us out of the situation one-handed, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss his touch. “Let me try something.” Jake moved to the doors and placed his palms side by side, one on each panel. With a mighty heave, he started to pry them apart, but the going was slow. Once I saw what he was doing, I pitched in and started to jam my fingers into the small opening to get a better grip.

  “Suzanne, don’t!” he yelled, a sound that echoed in the tight space.

  I pulled away instantly. “Jake, this is no time to be macho. I can help.”

  “I’m all for that. I just don’t want you smashing your fingers. Pry from the front of the door, not the gap.”

  That made sense. “Want to try that again? You take that side, and I’ll work on this one.”

  He nodded and grinned. “See? You have a plan, too.”

  His positive attitude was tough to ignore, but I’d smile once we were outside of the little steel box we were trapped in.

  “On three,” I said. “One, two, three.”

  I pushed my palms against my door while Jake did the same on his. Slowly but surely, we managed to force them open enough to allow one of us to squeeze through.

  The only problem was that we were between floors at the moment. There was a substantial opening above our heads and another, much smaller one at our feet.

  It was clear that we were going to have a difficult time getting out either way, but we had to at least try.

  Anything would be better than staying where we were.

  At least that’s what I thought at the time.

  “Crawl through while I hold the door open, Suzanne.”

  I looked at my husband to see if he was joking or to gauge whether he’d lost his mind. “In this? I don’t think so.”

  “We can always get you another dress if you wreck that one. I’m sure your mother will understand,” he said with a hint of ire in his voice.

  I wasn’t sure of that all, even given the circumstances, but that wasn’t what I’d meant. “Jake, I couldn’t do it even if I tried. The space at the bottom is too small, and I can’t boost myself up to the next floor. You’re going to have to do it yourself.”

  “Okay, I get that,” Jake said. “Can you hold the doors open without my help? It should be easier now that they are apart.”

  “I’ll manage,” I said. “Can I put my hands between them now, or do I have to keep my palms on the fronts of them?”

  “You can hold them any way that works for you,” he said. “Go on and try it. I’m not going to let go until you are sure that you can hold them.”

  “If you keep holding your side open, how will we know?” I asked him. The question was logical enough, at least in my mind.

  “Okay. You’re right. I’m going to let go. Are you ready?”

  I braced myself as I moved my right hand onto his door and kept my left on the one I’d been securing. I was surprised by how much tension was still on the doors, even with the power outage, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle if I focused all of my strength and energy on the job. “I’ve got it.”

  “Are you sure? These things are the latest in elevator doors, at least according to Jason. They work on some kind of hydraulics.”

  “You can lecture me about their construction later,” I said, starting to feel some of the strain in my hands, arms, and shoulders. Was it from the door pressure, or was my imagination playing tricks on me yet again? “Can you boost yourself up there without any help from me? I’m kind of busy at the moment.”

  “I shouldn’t have a problem,” my husband said, and I suspected that he was right. Jake had left the force some time ago, but he still worked at keeping himself in shape. He took off his tux jacket and folded it before putting it on the floor. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” I said, trying not to let the strain I was feeling come through in my voice.

  “Suzanne?” he asked me softly. Of course he’d be able to tell. “Are you okay?”

  “Just do it, Jake,” I said, snapping a little in spite of my promise to myself not to let him see me strain with the pressure.

  “I’m on it,” he said, realizing the situation offered no time to delay.

  As Jake tried to step between me and the doors so he could climb out, I could see two things wrong with our plan immediately. There was no room for him, and the doors weren’t open wide enough.

  I was going to have to take a step back, something that was going to make my job three times as hard as it already was, and I was going to have to push harder.

  “Suzanne, I hate to say it…”

  “Then don’t. I can do this,” I said through gritted teeth. Mustering my strength, I willed myself to push the doors farther apart first. They budged a little at first, and then a little bit more, until I was sure Jake could get through.

  Then I took a deep breath and stepped as far back as I could manage it. “Hurry,” I said as I felt the strain coursing through my entire body. Every ounce of my being was quivering with fatigue, and it was getting worse by the second.

  Jake looked at me for a split second as though he was about to say something, but there must have been something on my face telling him not to. Making it look almost too easy, Jake put his palms on the floor and leapt,
driving upward and kicking his body through in an instant.

  He had just managed to pull himself completely through the opening when I knew that I’d reached my limit.

  I couldn’t hold the doors one second longer, and they slammed shut as I lost my grip.

  I was alone, and based on how my arms felt, there was no way I was ever getting out of there now.

  “Suzanne? Are you all right?” I heard Jake call out from above me on the other side of the doors.

  “I’m okay,” I said, though I was most decidedly not. It was one thing being trapped in the elevator with my husband. His mere presence had given me a calm self-assurance that everything was going to be all right.

  But he wasn’t there with me now.

  After a moment, he admitted, “I can’t pry the doors open from here. You’re going to have to do it, at least a little bit, so I can get my hands in.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t,” I said as I leaned my back against the elevator and tried to catch my breath. I was already feeling a little better, but I was a long way from being able to do as he’d asked.

  I must not have said it loud enough for him to hear me, though.

  “What was that? Suzanne, don’t quit on me now. What did you just say?”

  “I said that I’ll try,” I answered. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell my husband that I was quitting. Rubbing my hands together to loosen them up, I put one palm on each door and put every ounce of energy into pushing them to the sides.

  It was a thousand times harder opening them both myself, and I felt my grip slip a few times, but I couldn’t let my husband down.

  At the very end, just when I thought I was going to fail, the doors finally started to budge a little. The moment there was the least amount of flickering light coming from the other side, a pair of strong hands reached down and pulled them apart.

  Our problems were far from over, though.

  I had to somehow manage to climb out while Jake held the door, and I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to do it.

  “Do you have a new plan now?” I asked him lightheartedly as I felt my arms go weak.

  “I’ll take it from here,” Jake said, his voice brimming with confidence. I don’t know how he did it, but he somehow managed to force the doors open even more.

  “Suzanne, I need you to hold them open again for a second.” I could tell by his voice that he hated asking me to do it.

  “Even if I could, I can’t hold them open and climb out, too.”

  “You won’t have to,” he said. “Do you trust me?”

  “You know I do,” I said.

  “Then hold them open.”

  I did as he asked, and after a moment, Jake wedged something into the opening toward the top.

  “What is that?” I asked him as I let go, not waiting for his order.

  “I found a fire ax in a case in the hallway,” he replied. “Now give me your hands.”

  “I can’t climb, Jake. I’m too tired,” I said.

  “I’ll pull you up. Come on. You can do this.”

  I wasn’t at all sure that I could, but I wasn’t going to stop now. After grabbing his tux jacket and handing it through, I couldn’t put it off any longer. Reaching up, I gave my husband my hands, and the next thing I knew, I was lying in the hallway beside him just as the ax slipped and clattered to the floor. The doors slammed shut, and I realized that I’d come close to being injured by the elevator doors, even when there was no power going to them. What genius had designed them to be so unwieldy when there was no electricity going to them?

  I quickly forgot the question though, mainly because I didn’t know who to ask, and at that point, I was honestly too tired to care.

  It didn’t matter. I was free of at least one of my prisons at last, and I had my husband by my side again.

  For the moment, that was all that counted.

  CHAPTER 11

  “Suzanne, are you okay?” Jake asked as he helped me stand.

  “I’m fine, but I’m afraid I might have ruined my dress,” I said. It had torn in a few places upon my release, and there were several smudges of grease along the front of it that I suspected would never come out.

  He laughed and hugged me, not caring about anything else but my well-being. “I’ll buy you a dozen more when we get out of here. Let’s go.”

  “Are we going back upstairs?” I asked him, not sure my trembling legs could make the journey.

  “No. We’re much closer to the bottom than we are to the top. You can tell your friend what happened later, but we’re not going to risk getting trapped here again. We need to get out of this building right now. Are you okay with that?”

  I’m not ashamed to admit that I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, sir. That sounds like a great plan to me.”

  “Good. Then let’s go.”

  We walked the three flights down and finally reached the lobby. A few emergency lights were on, but the entire area had a weird vibe to it, and I wanted nothing more than to escape this building that was clearly trying to kill me. I knew the thought was irrational, but it was the way I felt nonetheless.

  Soon enough though, it was clear that we weren’t going anywhere.

  “It won’t open,” Jake said as he tried the door for the dozenth time. “How can they design an electronic lock that won’t open in a power outage?”

  “Can we break out?” I asked, looking around for something we could use as a battering ram.

  “The glass is shatterproof and bulletproof, remember?” Jake reminded me.

  “There has to be some way to bypass the lock,” I said.

  “I’m sure there is, but I don’t know how to do it. Jason didn’t cover that earlier.”

  I looked outside and saw that we weren’t the only ones without power. The entire area was dark, with the exception of a few flickering lights off in the distance. Apparently some folks were relying on candlepower, but we didn’t have a single thing to help us. Then I remembered that I had a flashlight app on my phone. I couldn’t afford to drain the battery needlessly, nor did I need any supplementary illumination at the moment, but it was nice to know that I had it in case of an emergency.

  As if this wasn’t emergency enough.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked Jake.

  “There’s only one thing we can do. You wait here. I’m going back upstairs and find out from Jason how to get us out of here.”

  “You’re not going alone,” I said firmly.

  “Suzanne, you’re exhausted. Don’t worry about me. I won’t be long.”

  “No, sir. It’s not happening. Besides, I’m starting to get my strength back,” I said as I followed him to the stairwell despite his protests. “Whither thou goest and all of that.”

  “You don’t have to do this, you know,” Jake said softly.

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to,” I said, and it was true. I would rather trudge up thirteen flights of stairs and back down again than stay there in that lobby alone. “Come on. I’ll race you to the top,” I said with a grin, trying to make light of the situation and my weariness. The truth was that I really was feeling better. I’d used a good amount of energy escaping from the elevator, but my strength was starting to come back.

  He laughed at my challenge, and the sound of it buoyed my spirits even more. It was odd, but by the time we got to the top floor, I was feeling much better. I wasn’t sure if I’d just bounced back or if I was on an adrenaline high, but I wasn’t going to question it. I took a few moments to catch my breath before we went into the penthouse, but in no time at all, I felt completely like my old self again.

  It was time to find out how to get out and then make our escape once and for all.

  “Where have you two been?” Jennifer asked us as we walked in. “We’ve been worried sick about you both.”

  “We got trapped in the elevator on the way back up,” I said.

  “Oh, dear. You ruined your dress,” Hazel said sympathetically.

  “I kno
w. Climbing out of a trapped elevator and crawling across the floor will do that. It doesn’t matter.”

  “It most certainly does,” said Elizabeth, who had been holding back in the shadows. The place was so dark that I couldn’t really see who was there and who wasn’t, and I’d missed her presence entirely. They’d all changed into more comfortable clothing while we’d been gone, and I was going to do that myself at the first opportunity. Party dresses were fine for parties, but this had become an issue of expediency now, and there was no way I wanted to drive home in heels and a ruined dress.

  “Jake, let’s go change,” I suggested.

  “In a second,” he said as he looked around the room. “Where’s Jason?” he asked. “Does anyone know where he is?” The other two couples were present, though the two employees were nowhere to be found. The two pairs hadn’t joined us when we’d come in. Bernard and Candida were keeping to themselves by the bank of windows that looked out over a mostly dark area, while Henry and Lara were on one of the couches, whispering like a pair of co-conspirators trying to avoid an indictment.

  “He’s probably still sulking in our suite,” Elizabeth said. “Why do you ask?”

  “We need the bypass procedure to get out,” Jake said.

  “You’re leaving?” Elizabeth asked, clearly unhappy with his announcement.

  “We want to get out of here before the roads get too bad,” I explained. “I’m surprised everyone doesn’t want to go. It’s going to get chilly in here with no power, and there’s no telling how long it’s going to be off. We’ll be right back. We just want to change first.”

  After Jake and I changed and quickly packed our bags, we rejoined the others.

  “We want to leave, too,” Henry and Lara said the moment we emerged from our suite back into the living room.