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  The elevator lurched beneath their feet. Esther grabbed onto the railing beside her as the lights flickered on for a brief second before dying again. In that moment of light, all she saw was the confines of their boxed room, and that Hensley had fallen on the other side. They continued to wobble in place. She clutched the railing, focusing on anything other than the shaking. She focused onto the sounds on their panicked breaths. Breathing meant life. She and Hensley were alive. For now.

“A-Are you alright?” Hensley’s voice asked within the darkness.

“I’m fine, yes,” she breathed, gradually lowering herself to the floor. “What happened?”

“That’s a good question,” Hensley replied.

  There was a pause before he gave a more substantial answer.

“Something must have happened to the secondary power supply that the emergency power runs on.”

“So we’re stuck in here?”

“There’s an emergency exit on the roof of the elevator, but...”

“How’re we going to get up there? There’s no light.”

  She didn’t vocalize the other current problem. Their surroundings were still shaking, although it had slowed to a light swing.

“For now, just stay put. We need to centralize the weight first, and then we’ll figure out the next step.”

  Esther nodded, but then realized he couldn’t see her. Instead, she placed her hands against the cold ground. Across from her, she heard the shifting of clothes against the floor. Hensley must've taken up the other corner. Each slow swing became shorter and shorter until, although not completely stilled, she could safely assume they weren't going to drop again.

“Let's meet in the middle,” Hensley's voice suggested.

  She nodded, more to herself this time. One hand or knee at a time, she crawled to where his erratic breathing was coming from. Carefully, she patted the floor, searching for him as he occasionally called out to her, his voice getting louder as she got closer. Eventually, he caught her before she headbutted him.

“Emerson?”

  Hensley patted up her arms, grabbing her shoulders. His hands relaxed as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

“You’re okay.”

“I said I was?”

  The technician only laughed as he leaned away from her.

“Okay. Now we need light.”

“You’re a technician, surely you have a flashlight?”

“Ah...”

“Hensley?”

“It’s on the second floor...,” he replied meekly.

“Useless.”

  He coughed, trying to laugh it off. She rolled her eyes, patting her chest pocket. There it was. She pulled one of the implements out and clicked the end. A tiny LED light illuminated the space between them.

“You had a light?” Hensley asked, accepting the mini flashlight.

“For checkups,” she answered.

  Hensley stood carefully, the swinging lulling to almost a standstill. He pointed the light at the ceiling. Above them and a bit to the right, was a small latch.

“Now what?” she asked.

“We need to get up there.”

“Okay, how?”

  He glanced at her, then at her legs, and then handed back the flashlight.

“I'll lift you up.”

  Hensley helped her up, handing the light back to her. He crouched, clasping his fingers together and holding them out for her. Using his shoulder as support, Esther stepped onto his makeshift step, and reached her hand out for the handle as he heaved her off the ground.

“Can you see it?” Hensley asked.

  The light was in her other hand, held by her fingers against his shoulder, as she reached up. The darker than dim lighting and shifting wasn’t helping. Esther reached up, straining her fingers against the ceiling, narrowly missing what felt like the handle bar each time.

“Almost... there...”

  Her fingers hooked onto something, and she yanked it down. The latch made a click, and she pushed it open. Hensley lowered her back to the ground.

“How're you going to get up there? I can't pull you up.”

“There’s a short ladder attached to the outside,” Hensley huffed. “You need to climb out and lower it for me.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  She nodded, waiting as the technician clasped his fingers together again for round two. She clipped the mini-flashlight to her coat pocket with the light pointing up before readying herself. This time, Hensley lifted her higher, with enough momentum for her to easily reach the edge of the opening.

  Hensley held her as steady as possible as she gripped the opening with both hands. She clambered upwards, her hands finding that ladder he mentioned, and pulled herself out. Esther sat there, her legs dangling down, taking the light out of her pocket.

  As expected, the inside of an elevator shaft was drafty and dark. The thick cords holding them up had stilled, although it had shook as she climbed up. There were what seemed like footholds on the walls, out of the way for normal elevator operations. She saw no exit from where she sat.

  Putting the flashlight back into her pocket, she set about lowering the ladder down to Hensley. When he had said “short ladder”, she thought he meant a ladder that could still reach the floor of the elevator. Nope, he meant it when he said a short ladder. The end of the ladder reached just low enough for him to reach up and begin climbing, his legs dangling until he swung himself up.

  She pointed the light at an angle that lit his climb. Hensley crawled out of the elevator, standing beside her as he patted his hands clean of dust. He accepted the light from her with a nod.

“So? We’re out of the elevator.”

“There’s a ladder against the wall for maintenance purposes,” Hensley said.

  The technician flicked the light towards some corners she had ignored. In one behind them, the light revealed a red ladder that spanned the wall up and down. Esther followed Hensley over, wary of tripping.

“Judging from when the power cut, I’d say we’re between the third and second floors. We’ll climb down to the second floor landing.”

“And what will we do once we’re there?”

  Hensley scratched his head.

“Soup and I saw the situation from the other end, but the elevator door is blocked with rubble. We’ll have to see, but if we’re lucky, it won’t be as blocked from this end and we’d be able to take the stairs down.”

“Otherwise?”

  He gave her an awkward glance.

“Well, the maintenance ladder leads all the way down to the first floor landing.”

“I’ll be fine,” she affirmed, brushing away his concerns.

  Hensley stared at her, another moment of silence encompassing the two of them. He gave her an obviously reluctant nod.

“I’ll go first. We’ll go slow.”

  The technician held the flashlight between his lips, staring at the path downward as he placed his feet on the first rung. He held onto another rung, slowly moving one foot at a time downwards. Once his head cleared the area halfway down the elevator, Esther did the same.

  The heels to her heels hung precariously off the rungs as she descended. Esther stared at the next rung, putting one foot on it at a time. First the right, then the left one joined it on its perch. Right. Together. Right. Together. Right. Together.

  She chanted the mantra in her head. Her hands followed her feet.

“Emerson? I can see the platform.”

  Esther zoomed in on the light below her. Further past Hensley, just within the bare reaches of her checkup light, was a gray platform. It protruded from the wall enough to give them foot space, but was too narrow for two people to stand side-by-side.

“I'll go ahead and check the situation. Take your time!”

  Before she could even put a word in, she watched as Hensley upped his speed and practically fell down the ladder. The light pinpointing his position slowed beside the platform, bobbing as he stepped out onto it. Left alone with little light, she could only follow.

  What kind of man leaves someone behind like this? She grumbled internally, continuing to chant her mental mantra. Right. Together. Right. Together. Right. Together.

  Light beamed up towards her location. It brightened up her dim area, blinding her. Her left foot missed its target, slipping past the rung her other foot was on. She blinked furiously, hugging the rungs until she regained some vision.

  Her left heel was gone, its distant clattering marking its falling position below her. Her arms were interwoven through two rungs as she held on. Despite all the panic, her right foot remained steady, and everything calmed when she moved its partner beside it.

“Oops, did I startle you?” Hensley's voice apologized. “I meant to light your way a bit. You're almost there.”

  Esther glared down at him. The platform was clearer now. Red and yellow criss-crossing lines of paint marked off the edges. A metallic double door was embedded into the wall behind Hensley, a thin crack of dim light splitting the middle. Hensley himself had stepped closer to the ladder, his arm outstretched to steady her as she got closer.

“You good?” Hensley asked as she took his arm.

“Scared the wits out of me,” she snipped once her feet touched solid ground.

  Hensley gave her a once over, his eyes brushing over her heelless foot. He offered her his arm, motioning for her to take off her other heel.

“Being unbalanced is a lot worse than getting cuts on your feet.”

  She took off her shoe. Esther looked at it, throwing a sigh towards the dark elevator shaft to the side. She wasn't getting the other one back. The doctor tossed her heel for it to meet up with its pair.

“Not quite what I meant, but we can grab them at the bottom?”

“It's fine. Did you get the door open?”

  Hensley nodded, jerking his thumb at the door.

“There's just enough for us to squeeze through, but we'll have to be careful. Just stick to the wall.”

  The technician added a warning.

“The doors have an airlock, so they'll close automatically if we don't keep them open. I'll force an opening for you, so go through as quickly as possible. I'll have to ask you to help me as well.”

“Of course.”

  They approached the thin crack of light. Hensley handed the flashlight over to her. He stood before the double doors, forcing his fingers between them as he wrenched the doors apart. The crack became a gap, and the gap revealed a wall of rubble. A faint light seeped through the rubble from the other side, but otherwise it was completely dark. Even the emergency lights were out.

  Hensley gritted his teeth, only mustering a nod at her. She rushed forward, forcibly slipping in between the doors, and using her whole body to push them apart. They were heavy, as expected. She suddenly had a newfound respect for the technician. Did he have to do something similar every day?

  She creeped inward as the duo continued keeping the door apart. Hensley wedged his frame in next, his back on the opposite door. The weight she carried eased a bit, and they proceeded in smoothly.

  Esther slipped out, keeping towards the wall as she pulled Hensley out of the doors. The thick elevator entrance slammed shut after he jumped out, causing some of the pebbles in the rubble pile to tumble.

“Phew, that was close. Thanks.”

“Just a matter of course,” Esther snorted.

“The stairwell is over there.”

  She pointed the light towards their left. Half covered in rubble, the opening leading to the emergency stairs still looked intact.

“Come on. One last flight of stairs,” Hensley encouraged.

  Esther took the first step towards it. The closer they got, the more the mini flashlight revealed a dark pit of black.

  Hensley climbed over the rubble first, offering his hand at the top. She gave him the flashlight, which he tucked behind his ear as he heaved her up the pile. Together, they stepped into the stairwell.