Assistance

Miles was not claustrophobic. He had spent plenty of time as a child hiding in small cupboards and tight toy chests, making the spaces almost comfortable to him. Sure, they could be uncomfortable in a literal sense, with his back hunched over and his knees tucked in, but it gave him peace of mind, knowing that he could so easily hide away. 

But it had been years since he last had to hide. Now, in his well fitting suit and heavy briefcase, he took up space with ease. Broad shoulders pushed past anyone or anything that stood in his way, with a stern face quickly shutting down any complaints about it. And as he stood in the elevator, accompanied by his assistant, he felt no need to change any of that at all. He was the boss, after all. Why should he?

Creeeeeeeak...thunk!

The sound of metal grinding against metal filled the space. Miles cringed, covering his ears and waiting for it to stop. That didn’t take long, as the elevator slid to a stop between floors, leaving the two men stuck. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered briefly, before going out altogether, leaving them in pitch black. 

“...Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Miles muttered to himself, fishing his phone out of his pocket and turning on its flashlight. He reached towards the controls and started mashing the “open door” button, but it was no use. 

“God...Hold this.” he said, shoving his phone into his assistant’s hand. After a bit of fumbling, he managed to balance the warm coffees he was carrying, his own briefcase, and the phone steadily enough to aim the light where Miles needed it. 

Miles tried to stick his fingers in between the doors in an attempt to pry them open. It was no use; the doors were sturdy, and weren’t going to move any time soon. Once Miles realized this, he groaned with annoyance and threw a halfhearted punch at the door. 

“This is such bullshit. I don’t have time for this.” he said, voice raising ever so slightly. “Didn’t they just fix the wiring in the building? While the hell is this happening?”

“Maybe there’s just a power outage in the area?” his assistant suggested, reaching out his hand to give Miles back his phone. Miles just frowned at him, begrudgingly taking it. 

“If that’s the case, it should hopefully be taken care of right away.”

The two continued to stand in the elevator, thinking that the ride would resume at any moment. Minute after minute passed, each going by so slowly that they may as well have been hours. Still, though, nothing changed. 

Eventually, Miles gave up hope for a quick rescue. He sighed before lowering himself to a sitting position, resting his head on his hand. His assistant followed the motion, resting the coffees on the floor between them. 

“Send a message to all of my morning meetings. Let them know that I’m not going to make it.”

“Of course.”

The assistant pulled out his own phone and unlocked it, the sudden bright light causing him to squint. She sent out the messages, leaving the clicks of his typing as the only sounds in the space. Soon after, he pocketed his phone again, took his coffee, and sighed.

“Welp, my phone’s lower than I thought. If you want light, we’ll have to use yours.” he said before taking a sip. 

“I’m not wasting my battery on that. I still have important calls coming in today, and I don’t want to miss those too.”

“Then it looks like we’ll be in the dark until help comes. Are you alright with that?”

Though the assistant couldn’t see Miles’ face in the dark, he could hear him shifting in place.

“Of course it’s fine. What do you take me for, some kid afraid of the dark?” Miles asked with an edge on his voice. His assistant couldn’t tell what kind of edge it was, so he chose to ignore it. 

“Not at all, not at all. Just wanted to be sure. No need to freak out or anything.”

“When’d you start talking like such a smartass?”

His assistant made a small noise as he realized how he had been talking. 

“Sorry, sir! It won’t happen again, sir! Please forgive me, I promise-”

“God, shut up. It’s fine, Jesus.”

“...Oh. Alright.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, the awkwardness of the situation seemingly lost on Miles. Finally, his assistant spoke up once more. 

“...Are you going to drink your coffee? It’s going to get cold if you just leave it like that.”

“Oh, right.”

Miles reached over for his coffee, only vaguely aware of where it was. Unfortunately, his attempt only caused him to knock the cup over, making a small noise as it fell and spilled all over the elevator flood. 

“Ah!” Miles shouted, pulling his hand away. “Dammit.” he added a second after, calmer this time. He stood up, just narrowly avoiding getting his clothes dirty.

“Sir? Are you okay? Did you burn yourself?” his assistant asked, becoming a bit panicked. 

“What? No, I’m fine. Just clean this up. I don’t want to sit in this mess.”

“Uh, sure.”

Reaching into his briefcase, his assistant pulled out a few emergency napkins and reluctantly pulled out his phone for light. As he cleaned the elevator floor, he spared a glance towards Miles, who wore the same stony expression as always. Now, though, something was different. He seemed stiffer, as he was making a conscious decision to act like himself. He wasn’t looking at his assistant, but instead off at some unimportant corner. 

It didn’t take long for the mess to be cleaned up. The assistant was able to return the cup to an upright position before the entirety of its contents had been spilled, leaving about half of the drink salvaged. The rest was absorbed into the napkins and piled in a corner for him to throw out once they left. The assistant turned the light off after handing Miles his coffee, returning them both to darkness. 

“So...are you sure you’re okay?” the assistant asked cautiously. 

“I told you, I’m fine. The coffee didn’t even touch me.” Miles sighed, finally taking his first drink. It had turned lukewarm, but that didn’t matter to him. 

“Then what was with that shout? You seemed...I dunno, scared? Surprised?”

“It was nothing, it was just...Look, don’t worry about it.”

His assistant didn’t buy it, but he hesitated before pushing on the subject. Miles was never known for sharing personal details, nor for showing vulnerabilities. However, it was always something his assistant was curious about. Throwing caution to the wind, he continued. 

“But-”

Before he could finish that thought, the lights flickered back to the life. Both men shielded their eyes from the brightness as the doors began to be forced open from the outside. Help had finally come. 

“Fucking finally.” Miles groaned, grabbing his things and kneeling to where the exit had appeared. “Took you all long enough!”

A few apologies were quickly spoken as they helped the two men leave the elevator. Once out, Miles gave his assistant a look.

“You were about to say something. What was it?”

All of the confidence had been drained from the assistant once he could see Miles’ face again. That stern glare was enough to know that whatever he wanted to ask was not going to be answered. 

“...It was nothing. Now, should I set up those meetings again? We might have time for a couple, now that we're out.”

Falling head first into the distraction, Miles considered it for a moment before shaking his head. 

“No, leave them. They can be rescheduled. I’m taking the rest of the morning off, so go find something to do with yourself.”

“You...are? I thought there was some important stuff we had to-”

“Cancel them, and stop arguing. Now get lost.”

Before his assistant could say anything else, Miles marched off, just as purposely stiff as he was earlier. His assistant watched him leave, hesitant, before running off somewhere else. Both forgot about the mess they’d left in the elevator, leaving it to be dealt with later.