Back I go, to my crappy job where surely I’ll rot to death. If it's not the long hours of torturous sorting of files that kills me, it will most definitely be Richard’s daily visits to my floor, bragging about how he got the promotion, and not me. He acts like he's so much better than me, just because I work with sales statistics, and he gets to work upstairs with the big boys. He didn’t deserve that promotion, no matter which way you look at it, it should’ve gone to me. 

“Good afternoon, sir,” the bellhop said in a courteous voice, as he opened the large glass door of the foyer of my office building. 

“Thanks, Benji,” I said, putting a fake smile on my face. The large foyer was bustling with people at this hour, returning from their lunch breaks or going back to their apartments. Today the foyer seemed extra crowded, and I glanced at my watch to see if I would even make it back to work in time. I noticed a small, cat-sized poodle walking beside me, tugging on a bright pink leash. I looked up to see an elderly woman dressed looking like she was going to attend the queen’s ball, wearing a bright pink cashmere down coat with large glasses covering almost half of her face. 

“Hello,” I nodded, turning to look in front of me. 

“Hello young man,” The woman spoke in a thick British accent, talking as though the words were heavy in her mouth. “Look at this handsome young man.”

“Thank you,” I replied, not sure if I should be flattered or creeped out by her compliment. For the first time in a while, a genuine smile crept across my face. My short spirt of happiness ended when I noticed the extremely long line for the elevator, protruding out into the hallway. I'm never going to make it back in time, I thought to myself.  

It must’ve been an hour, at least that's what it felt like, until I made it into an elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, an unfortunately familiar voice yelled from the hallway. 

“Hold it!” Richard reached his hand in between the two doors, “We got room for one more, don't we?” 

“The limit is 5,” The elderly woman with the thick British accent mumbled from the back corner of the elevator, “We already have 6.” 

“Oh chill out grandma,” Richard snapped, “these things only break in movies.” 

“You can’t talk to her like that,” A woman handling two young children peaked over a boy wearing a blue and pink flat hat and a Hawaiin shirt. “That's extremely disrespectful.” 

“Who are you, the president?” Robert joked, “Why does everyone think they can tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“Jeesh,” The boy with the flat hat said, with a thick New York accent, “someone is having a bad day.” 

“Oh,” Richard continued to look more and more aggravated, his face turning the color of a ripe tomato, “so now the Guido wants to chime in.” 

“Hey, I ain’t no Guido.” The boy looked down at his feet. “I'm Italian-American.” 

“Exactly,” Richard scoffed, “never mind, you’re too dumb to even understand.” Richard turned around noticing me behind him. “Oh hey Matt, didn’t see you there. You still working with sales stats?” 

“Yes Richard,” I droned sadly. “You asked me that this morning, remember? You came down to my floor just to remind me that you got the promotion.” 

“Oh ya,” Richard smiled. “Time flies up in executive sales.” 

“Oh shut up Richard,” I yelled, losing control of my emotions as my blood started to boil. “You’ve been working up there for a week, you probably haven’t made it past being the coffee boy.” 

“Looks to me like you’re just jealous because I got the promotion.” 

“Oh please, it's no promotion. They only needed you up there because Bethany is on maternity leave.” 

“That still doesn't explain why they chose me over you.” 

I was about to explode, months of mixed emotions of anger and sadness were boiling within me. My heartbeat was echoing throughout my ears and it kept on speeding up. My ears were throbbing and my head was spinning. Finally, it all let loose and I lunged at Richard, grabbing his collar with my fists and pushing him against the wall of the elevator. The elevator shook and came to a grinding halt. The doors opened not to the foyer of a floor, but the dark wall of the elevator shaft. An alarm signal blared throughout the elevator and echoed into the shaft. 

“Look at what you did!” Richard yelled, turning to look at the exposed wall of the elevator shaft. 

“You’re the one that made us go over the limit in the first place,” I yelled back. 

“Are you serious!?” The woman now handling with two crying kids interrupted, “Were trapped in an elevator which, for all we know, could plummet 10 floors to our death! Can't you guys just get along until we get out of this?” 

“You’re right,” I stepped back against the wall of the elevator, “I'm sorry.” 

“I would also like to apologize.” Richard nodded his head to the woman. “My actions were far from acceptable.”

“Thank you both for apologizing,” the woman said calmly. “Now that we’ve sorted that out, let’s focus on getting out of here. We might be in here for a while so we should work on names, I’m Kate.” 

“My name is Matt,” I said quietly. 

“I'm Richard, nice to meet you” 

“My name is Donny,” the old British woman waved to the people in the elevator. 

“My names Jake,” The boy wearing the flat hat nodded his head to me. 

“Ok perfect,” Kate pointed to the emergency buttons below the floor buttons. “Maybe we can use those.” 

I bent down to read the buttons. Emergency phone, elevator key, emergency stop.

“I think we should use the emergency phone to get help,” I suggested, pointing to the button. 

“Ya, that's a good idea,” Richard added, “maybe we can get a hold of the front desk or something, then they can help us out.” 

“Ok,” I reached for the button, pushing down firmly to find out that it wasn’t an electrical button, but rather a latch that opened a cabinet door below the panel, housing a red phone. I held the phone up to my ear and dialed the number of the front desk. Instead of ringing, the phone buzzed, like there was no connection. “It's not working.” 

“What do you mean it's not working?” Kate asked. 

“It's just ringing,” I started, “it won't stop.” 

“Let me see,” Richard grabbed the phone out of my hand and held it up to his ear. “He's right, I think it's broken.” 

“Shoot!” Kate yelled, “Now we’re never gonna get out of here!” 

“Don’t worry honey,” Donny reached her hand onto Kate’s shoulder, “I'm sure someone has noticed by now, they send for us shortly.” 

“She’s right,” realizing that the best thing we could do right now is staying calm, I talked quietly. “How’s everybody doing? Is anyone hurt?” I scanned the elevator. 

“My feet hurt because I’ve been standing for so long.” Donny complained, “But I will be ok.” 

Still scanning the elevator, I noticed Jake was standing in the corner, looking down at something. 

“What are you doing Jake?” I peeked over Kate to try to see, “Are you ok?” 

“Ya I’m fine,” His accent was unbelievable for somebody that young, “I'm just looking at Instagram.” 

“You have service?” Richard raised his voice in a mix of disbelief and anger. 

“Ya,” Jake shrugged, “What’s the big deal?” 

“We can use your phone to call for help!” Kate screamed, grabbing it out of his hands. 

“Oh ya,” Jake smiled, “good idea.” 

Kate dialed a number and held the phone up to her ear. We all waited nervously. 

“Hello?” Someone had answered, and Kate’s face lit up, “Send help! We’re trapped in the elevator!” 

Murmured sounds broke the silence of the elevator as a woman’s voice talked back through the phone. The conversation went on for about a minute and a half, with Kate mainly just saying “Ok” and “Uh-huh”. 

“Ok,” Kate gave the phone back to Jake, who immediately went back to Instagram. “Help is on the way, the woman at the front desk said there was a mechanical failure in the elevator room, but we should be out of here within 15 minutes.” 

“Great,” I was happy about getting out of the elevator, but the thought of going back to work was depressing, “back to work I go. How about you guys?”

“I'm going to my friend’s penthouse apartment. It's sweet.” Jake nodded his head as if we would be impressed by that. 

“On to our doctor’s appointment, right boys?” Kate rubbed her kid’s heads. 

“Ya,” the two replied in unison. 

“I'm off to work as well,” Richard said cheerfully. 

“I'm going up to my flat,” Donny’s voice was raspy, and for the first time, I noticed that the dog that she was walking with earlier was in her purse. Just then the alarm sound returned, and the doors shut. The elevator began moving up, and small applause came from within the elevator, everyone was smiling. Kate and her kids were the first to get dropped off, at the pediatrics office on the fifth. Then me, at my work. As I was about to step out of the elevator, Richard stopped me. 

“Matt wait.” I turned around to look at him. “I'm really sorry Matt. You were right, I shouldn’t have been so rude to you. I hope you will forgive me.” 

“It’s ok, I forgive you,” I smiled, then the thought came to me that maybe Richard isn't so much of a bad guy after all.