The Elevator

When an elevator stops trapping the passengers between floors one of them starts revealing the truth about the other passengers.

            Monday morning, the start of another work week, like so many before.  Mike slipped out of the service door near the elevators and fell in with the others waiting on the express elevator.  He looked out of place in his jeans and rock band t-shirt among the others in business attire.  He adjusted the messenger bag on his shoulder and slid a hand into the pocket of his leather jacket to caress the remote in it.  The others ignored him, but he had made it clear that he was there to work not to be their friend.

 

            The elevator dinged as the doors opened and the others trooped on and turned to face the front like good little lemmings.  Mike did little to hide the smirk on his face as he followed them on, but he didn’t turn around but faced them.  Another ding and the doors slid shut sealing them in.

 

            As the elevator began to go up Mike could see the others on it were feeling unease about him breaking elevator etiquette.  He watched the fidgeting as the others tried not to look at him.  He was always amazed at how little it took to unnerve people and he wanted them unnerved.  He ran his finger over the button on the remote as he counted the floors off.  He wanted them higher before he moved his plan forward.

 

            He pressed the button as he braced himself.  The lights went out and the elevator dropped slightly before it jerked to a stop.  He heard the others stumble and bump into each other and smiled.  It was all playing out just as he planned.

 

            “Nobody panic, it is just a hick-up in the power.  It will come back on in a minute,” Frank Miller, the office manager, stated with a little tremble in his voice.

 

            “Sounds like you might be ready to panic there Frankie, are you having flashbacks of your days in the military,” Mike asked, his voice filled with fake concern.

 

            “I’m good Michael.  I can handle it.”

 

            “Yeah, you are a war hero.  All those combat missions taught you how to handle your fear.”

 

            “Just shut up,” Miller’s voice was sounding more and more panicked.

 

            Mike leaned back against the doors and waited.  He knew that given enough time anybody would panic in a dark confined space with no way out.  He gave his fellow passengers the time they needed for panic to start setting in.

 

            “Why isn’t the power coming back on,” Susan Dollie asked.

 

            “Somebody find the call button and let them know we are trapped,” Miller said.

 

            “Isn’t going to work with the power out,” Mike states as he slides his back down the door to squat there.  “I’m sure somebody will notice sooner or later, just hope the breaks don’t fail.”

 

            “Are you trying to panic these people, Michael,” Miller growls, his composure slipping.

 

            “Why would I want that?  I’m just being honest; honesty is a good thing don’t you think?”

 

            “What kind of game are you playing?”

 

            “I just figured since we are stuck here for a bit maybe we should all take a seat and try to be real with each other.”

 

            “Real, honest, stop playing games and spit out what you are hinting at you little f*****g s**t.”

 

            Mike laughs.  “Such a temper, stress must be bringing back bad memories of your time in combat.”

 

            “F**k you, I served my country, have you?”

 

            “You served your country in a supply unit.  You never saw combat, all those missions you talk about are nothing, but bullshit lies.”

 

            “F**k off Michael, what do you really know?”

 

            “I know a lot about all of you.  I’ve seen your service record Frankie.  Served eight years and never once left the country.  First sergeant my a*s, you made it to sergeant then got busted back down to private.”

 

            “Is that true Frank?”  Clive Parker asked.  Clive was a skinny sickly man.  He had tried to enlist and was turned away, so he looked up to Frank Miller because he had not only served but seen combat.

 

            “It is all bullshit.”

 

            “I can prove it, when we are rescued, I’ll show you his service record, it wasn’t hard to get a copy.”

 

            “Why are you doing this,” Patricia Rhodes asked.

 

            “What Patty are you afraid that if he is found out you might lose your position?  F*****g him for it wasn’t a smart move when you have the smarts to earn it all on your own.”

 

            “I... I wouldn’t…”  Her breathing became ragged, and she started to cry.  “He made me, he said if I didn’t, he would fire me.”

 

            There were several gasps and Mike could almost see the others looking at Frank with disgust.

 

            “All those acting classes you took in college paying off for you Patty.  I just want to know how do you make yourself cry on cue.  Is there some trick to it or is it just a natural ability?”

 

            “What the hell are you saying, you little pervert?”  All the pain and sorrow were gone from her voice, replaced by anger.

 

            “Come on, if Frankie had the balls to force you why wouldn’t he be f*****g half the girls in the office?  You came onto him and then forced him to promote you.”

 

            “What if I did?  Is there any other female in this company in my position, no.  Why because it is a boy’s club, and I did what I had to.  F**k off you little s**t.”

 

            Mike just squatted there smiling as people shuffled their feet unsure what to do and more importantly who’s secret will be next.

 

            “What is this game making you all nervous?  Are you all hoping that the power will come back on, and this will be over before your secrets are revealed?  Who should we do next?”

 

            “F**k you and your stupid game.”  Frank lunged forward, but he hadn’t noticed Michael was now squatting.  His fist smashes into the doors causing him to grunt in pain.

 

            Mike punched out putting his shoulder into it, smashing Frank’s groin.  Frank dropped to the floor curling up.  “Such a hot head.  So, any volunteers, or should I just pick someone?”

 

            Feet shuffled as the others shifted around.  They tried to figure out what Michael could know about them, which of their secrets he knew and how the others would react to them being revealed.  Mike for his part waited patiently, he knew they didn’t want to be part of the game, but they wanted to watch him destroy the others it was all part of the sick demented side of human nature.  If they stood together, they could have stopped it, but Michael knew they wouldn’t.

 

            “No volunteers?  Okay, I choose Clive.”

 

            “What secret are you going to reveal, that I sometimes steal office supplies or maybe I cheat on my taxes?”

 

            “Clive, you are ruining the game and I wasn’t going to mention either of those since most of the people in this elevator have done one or both of those before.  No, let’s talk about your girlfriend, that cute little piece you have set up in an apartment your wife has no clue about.  You know the one I’m talking about.  She is what twenty-one, twenty-two, young enough to be your son.  Oh yes, she is a very nice girl that just happens to have been born a boy.”

 

            “It isn’t like that.  I’m just helping her out.”

 

            “Come on Clive, be honest, that is what this game is all about.  You do her don’t lie, she told me already.  She was more than willing to tell me it all in great detail.  I especially loved the part where you can’t even get it up unless she calls you daddy.”

 

            “F**k you, how do you even know about her?”

 

            Mike laughs.  “You visit her every Thursday after work.  It wasn’t that hard to learn all about her.  She is really a nice girl, and it is a shame the way you treat her like a dirty little secret.  I arranged to meet her, and we became friends.  She won’t be there this Thursday because she is gone, but before she left, she sent your wife a video.”

 

            “You b*****d,” Clive yelled!

 

            “I know who my father is Clive and now your son will also know,” Mike said with a laugh.

 

            “Why are you doing this?”  Susan Dollie demanded.

 

            “I’m bored, and it was time all of you were knocked off your high horses.  I see you every day with those fake smiles on your faces telling lies to each other.  None of you can be honest, so I decided to help you all reveal a few secrets”

 

            “What the f**k about you?  Why don’t you tell us your secret?”

 

            “Dear Susan, such language from a woman that attends church every Sunday.  To answer your questions, it is simple, I’m completely honest and open about who and what I am.  If any of you had taken the time to get to know me you would know this, but I’m just a runner, nobody of importance so I was ignored.”

 

            “So, since none of us tried to get to know you, you have to ruin us?”

 

            Mike snorts, “No.  I’m not so egotistical that everything has to be about me.”

 

            “Then tell us the truth as to why you are doing this.”

 

            “I will just not yet.  I do want to know Susan how a married woman, with two kids, a woman that goes to church every Sunday ends up doing camera shows on the internet.  The kind of camera show you only see on the worse of the worse sites.”

 

            “I have no clue what you are talking about.  I don’t even know what a camera show is.”

 

            “Oh, the mask would keep most people from recognizing you, that is unless they have seen you in shorts.  You have a birthmark on your right calf, there is that plus you never put away the picture of your family on the nightstand.  So, does your husband know?”

 

            “You know so much you tell me, you f*****g a*****e.”

 

            “If he didn’t before he does now.  So, do all those nice ladies from your church group.  I wonder how your kids are going to react when they learn their mother is such a pig?”

 

            “F**k you.”

 

            “No thank you, I have standards.”  Mike laughs.  He could feel the anger in this metal box.  It was all directed at him, but he didn’t care.  He was ready to leave this company and after today he was gone.

 

            “So, we have two left.  Either of you wants to volunteer, maybe confess as Clive tried.  It worked so well for him.”

 

            “Okay do me, Michael.  Tell all my dirty little secrets.  You are getting off on this aren’t you, ruining us, destroying people is what you enjoy isn’t it?”  Linda’s voice was thick with fear and anger.

 

            “Truthfully, yeah, I’m kind of enjoying it.  It would be so much better if I could see your faces, the disgust on the other people’s faces as they hear the secret of their friends.  What I would enjoy even more is in the weeks to come to hear the snide comments made behind each other’s backs.”

 

            “We aren’t like that.  We would never talk about each other.”

 

            Michael laughed hard at that statement.  “I have only been here a short time, but I have seen it.  Hell, I have heard it, bad mouthing this person or that person.  Making fun of people for no more reason than they are a little different, but never to their faces.”

 

            “Everybody does it, it is just how society works.”

 

            “Maybe that is because nobody tries to change it.”

 

            “Like you have?  You barely talk to anybody, or you did until you started this crap.”

 

            “This crap as you call it.  Okay, it is time I told you all why I did this.  Her name was Kellie.  Worked here three years ago, sweet girl, and worked long hours without a complaint.  She was a little different, but she tried to be friendly, tried to talk to you people and make friends.  You f***s shunned her, treated her like a damn leper.  Talked about her behind her back, and even started rumors about her just to have fun, I guess.  I know you all remember her; I have heard the little comments about this new girl or that one being another Kellie.”

 

            “This is all about that freak?”

 

            “Freak!  You f*****g b***h.  Does any of your good friends here know you slept with her Linda?  Do they know how you used her to do your work for you?  Maybe you could tell them how she came to you in tears after the rumors started and you rejected her.”

 

            “That is how the game is played and she wasn’t up to it.  She didn’t understand people use you unless you use them first.”

 

            “You went further than that though, didn’t you?  You saw she was coming apart and you kept pushing.  You wouldn’t lay off until she slit her wrists.”

 

            Everybody gasped, they hadn’t known.  Only three people besides the police knew the truth.

 

            “You pushed her to the edge, but you weren’t alone in that, was she George.”

 

            “I don’t know what you are talking about.  I barely knew her.”  George was a chubby guy.  Somebody you see and know he is the life of any party.  He always has a story or a joke to tell.

 

            “Oh, Georgie, you knew her, not in the biblical sense, but you knew her.  She thought you were a friend a confidant, but all you did was take what she told you in confidence and spill it to these others.  Even after the rumors started and she was shunned she still thought of you as a friend, that is why she called you that night.”

 

            “What night, she called whining all the time, so I have no…”

 

            The voice was George’s only slightly distorted from being recorded.  “Kellie if you think that is the only way, then go ahead and do it.  It will end all the pain you are feeling, it will save you from any more humiliation.”

 

            As the recorder clicked off the elevator was plunged into total silence.  Mike gave them a few minutes for what had happened to sink in then he turned the elevator back on.  The others refused to look at him or each other the rest of the way to the top floor.  As the others exited Mike hit the down button, he had already dropped his resignation on George’s desk.

 

            The guard was waiting for him on the first floor and escorted him from the building.  Mike pulled his phone out and made a call.

 

            “Jacob, tell the client that they paid all of them.  I’ll be surprised if any of them have a job after the tapes are delivered to the company’s CEO.”