Emergency Button

“Hello? Can anyone hear me? I’m stuck in the elevator.”

“...”

“Is anyone on the other end of this thing? It– I don’t know who inspects elevators, but there’s usually someone on the other end when you press the ‘Help’ button…I–I think.”

“...ton.”

“Oh! Hey! Is that a person? Was that a person?”

“...ear you.”

“Ear? Near? I’m sorry, I think the connection’s bad.”

“--top! Stop! Stop!”

“What?”

“Stop pressing the button! Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I don’t know how this works, and I’m just freaking out. Sorry.”

“ Yeah yeah, whatever. I can hear you fine, just…keep your hands to yourself.”

“Thank you. I will.”

“Anyway–”

“I’m Elliot, by the way. I just hired– I mean I just got hired, uh, yesterday.”

“Good for you.”

“Thank you, sir. Or ma’am! Or I don’t know what–”

“Boone. Mister Boone. There was a power outage, the fire department is on their way now. Sit tight until they get there, it should take a few minutes at least. Give or take a few more.”

“Oh. So, the whole building is like this?”

“No. Well, it was, but then it wasn’t. Everything’s fine out here, but I guess there’s something about the east wing elevator that we didn’t catch. And I guess it does this thing where it stops even when the power comes back on.”

“That doesn’t seem safe.”

“It’s not. But we know about it now, which means we can fix it.”

“I think that’s good, but I’m not sure I like being the guinea pig for elevator malfunctions.”

“Yeah, well sometimes that’s life.”

“True enough, I guess. So, Mr. Boone? I think I can call you Mr. Boone. Uh, what do you do besides answering elevator calls?”

“Was that supposed to be a joke?”

“What? No! I’m sorry if that sounded like– I mean I wasn’t trying to–”

“Look, we don’t have to chat. Just hang tight. The fire department should be there soon.”

“I’m not trying to chat. It’s just…”

“Just?”

“I’m claustrophobic.”

“You’re claustrophobic.”

“Yes! If I’m in tight spaces for too long, my chest gets tight and I get really warm and I can’t breathe very well and I can kinda feel that happening right now.”

“Wow.”

“It sucks and it’s stupid and I can usually control it by not being in situations like this. But obviously I can’t not be in here, so the only other thing that helps is talking it out but it has to be with someone else because if it’s just me then it’s just me. I hear my voice all the time, it’s not always the calmest thing, and I need to be calm when–”

“What’s your name again?”

“Me? Elliot. That’s my name, Boone. Ah, sorry, I meant Mr. Boone.”

“I’m not a therapist, Elliot, I’m a technician. I fix wires and air conditioners, not people. So, if you’re asking me to teach you how to do deep breathing or whatever, I’m the wrong guy.”

“I already know deep breathing exercises. That’s not what I’m asking you to do.”

“It really feels like that’s what you want.”

“It’s not. It's…it’s complicated, but talking to someone right now would really help. I’m sorry for putting you in this position. If I could, I would just shut up and let you do whatever you need to do. But it's hard to do that right now.”

“Christ. Okay look, I’m not the guy for this, I already said that. I don’t think we have anyone here that’s the guy for this, except for, I guess, Gary. He’s our HR guy, he handles employee shit like this. I’ll give him a call and see if he can come down there."

“Oh. Okay, I guess that might help. Thanks, Mr. Boone.”

“Yeah yeah. I’ll see you around the building. Just watch out for Gary, and watch out for the fire department. You’ll be out of there in like two seconds.”

“I really hope so.”

[Line Break]

“...the carpeted floor, the wall, and the cold railing. Now, two things I can smell.”

“Hey, Elliot."

“Agh! Hi, Mr. Boone. Sorry for screaming.”

“Yeah, so Gary’s out today, actually. Not sure who to call, but the fire department’s always really quick when we need them here. I’m like ninety-nine percent sure they’re rounding the corner or something.”

“Ninety-nine? Not one hundred?”

“Well, you always gotta account for margins of error or whatever. Not everything’s a hundred percent certain except for death and taxes.”

“Oh man, don’t say death.”

“Man, you aren’t gonna die in there.”

“Are you sure? Or are you only ‘ninety-nine’ percent sure?”

“Whoa hey! Cut it with the snark. I didn’t have to call you back, you know?”

“I know. I’m sorry, my head just really hurts. Wait, there’s a camera, right? You can see me?”

“Yeah, you aren’t looking too hot.”

“Sorry. I usually look better than this, but I didn’t have time to do my hair this morning. Also, you know, panicking.”

“If you’ve got the energy to make jokes, I’d say you’re doing better than you think.”

“That…that’s actually kinda nice to hear. Thank you.”

“Eh, I have my moments.”

“Well, uh, I appreciate the update. I guess I’ll keep waiting; you don’t need to stick around.”

“What are you going on about?”

“You’re not my therapist, and it’s not your fault I’m claustrophobic.”

“Yeah, but I also don’t want you dying from a heart attack or something. I don’t need that shit on my conscience.”

“I promise not to die, alright? There, now your conscience is clear.”

“Wow. You’ve got a bit of an attitude. How’d you even get this job anyway?”

“I interviewed for it. Isn’t that how you got yours?”

“Nah, I’m contracted out. Wasn’t even supposed to come in today, but the regular guy called in sick. Hell, I ain’t even supposed to answer these calls, but Mo’s out taking a piss and I was the only one in here when the lights went out.”

“Mo?”

“Maurice, the security guard. He probably interviewed for his job like you did.”

“They don’t contract out security guards?”

“Ha. Good point. Maybe they did.”

“I don’t even have my ID yet.”

“Don’t they give you that stuff during your orientation or something?”

“Today is my orientation. Or, I guess, it was supposed to be. I was already running late before I got in the elevator, and now I’m not even sure if I’ll stick around.”

“Pretty sure the boss man’s got bigger fish to fry; this kinda thing will slip through the cracks. No need to get all doom and gloom about this job before you’ve even clocked in.”

“Do you really think that?”

“Probably.”

“No, seriously. I really need some assurance. And, I know, not a therapist– but…it took so long to get any job. I need this.”

“I mean it’s never a good look to be late on your first day, but there’s a chance they’ll be too busy getting all the computers back up to notice anything.”

“So, you don’t know for sure?”

“Nah, I don’t.”

“...”

“Ah shit. Are you crying?”

“...”

“Hey. Hey come on, man. Fire department’s gonna get here real soon, you don’t want them to see you all snot-nosed and whatever.”

“...”

“This job isn’t worth all this. Don’t let it get you all worked up like this.”

“It–It’s not the job. It’s everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t want to know. You’re not my–”

“Yeah yeah, I’m not your therapist, but that doesn’t mean I’m some cold-hearted bastard, alright? So just, like, tell me what’s up. What do you mean by ‘everything’?”

“I…I moved here a month ago. A lot of bad stuff went down back home and I needed to get as far away as possible. But now I’m broke and I literally don’t know anyone here and I’ve already got these, uh, my dad always called them ‘mental issues’. But he always said it like I had some kind of contagious disease.”

“Your dad sounds like a dick if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Ha. I don’t.”

“So things go to shit back home and you move out here. Then what?”

“Then I apply for every job I can and barely get any calls back for an interview. And the ones I do get interviews for don’t call me back after those. Except for this one, obviously, and I was panicking inside my apartment every day until they sent me all my onboarding paperwork.”

“Sheesh. Man, like I said, this job isn’t worth all that.”

“I wish I could agree with you, Mr. Boone.”

“You don’t gotta call me ‘Mister’. Boone’s my first name anyway, so yeah, it’s fine.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“And you don’t gotta apologize so much either. Apologies don’t mean much if you need to say them all the time.”

“Sor– um…okay. Yeah. Got it.”

“Well alright.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Feels like you ain’t been nothing but honest already. Go ahead.”

“I’m scared. This is probably going to sound really dramatic, but I’ve been at rock bottom for so long and I thought finally– finally– I saw a little bit of light, and now that light feels like it’s slipping away. It feels like I’m going to go back to waking up every day wondering what other hit life is going to give me. I just want to live and it’s like everything around me is telling me that I’m not strong enough to do that. I’m not allowed to.”

“That’s a pretty fucked up way to live, man.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Uh, I don’t know if this will help– it probably won’t– but can I be honest with you now?”

“Sure, Boone.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be here today, but I think I would have found an excuse to come here anyway. Yesterday, my girlfriend and I called it quits– nah, I’ll be straight, she broke up with me. We fought a lot, so I saw it coming. She said I’m too closed off and don’t know how to express my emotions. Can you believe that?”

“I–I don’t know if I should agree or not.”

“Nah, you can agree. Truth is that she deserves better than me, and I’ve known that for a really long time. The fact that it took her this long to break up with me is a testament to that. What I loved most about her, though, is that even on my worst days, she would still show up for me. Good or bad, rain or snow or sunshine, she was there because she believed in something better than I was giving her. And hell, if I can say so, I can see you doing that for yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You've had a lot of really shitty days lately. But no matter what, you’ve been showing up for yourself. You wouldn’t still be here if you weren’t strong enough to handle the worst of life. So, you just gotta keep showing up for yourself, Elliot. Even if that just means waking up and brushing your teeth so your breath doesn’t smell like shit.”

“But what if life doesn’t get better?”

“Then you tell life to give ol’ Boone a call and I can give it a good talking to.”

“Ha. I…guess I’ll hold you to that.”

“You better.”

“You know, for someone that’s not a therapist, you sure know how to talk people off ledges.”

“First time for everything, right?”

“Thank you, Boone. Sincerely.”

“Don’t mention it. Hey, perfect timing. Fire department just got here, they’re headed your way.”

“I almost forgot they were coming. Guess I should get up and try and make it look like I wasn’t crying my eyes out.”

“Fair enough. Hey, come on up here after you get your ID and all that, alright? I know Mo’s got a couple of cold ones stashed up here for the long shifts.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to drink on the job.”

“Relax, I’m talking about cold brews.”

“Oh! Well then, yeah, I’ll head over. I didn’t have time to get coffee today because…yeah.”

“Yeah, he won’t miss ‘em. You ready to get out? Ready to get moving?"

“I...I don't know. But I think I'm willing to try."