MALORI FREY - FRIENDSHIP MADE BY ELEVATOR ACCIDENT

Malori Frey is currently working on her Junior year at Full Sail University. She wrote  “Friendship Made by Elevator Accident” in November of 2020 for one of her classes. However, she can’t take all the credit for this story. She had a wonderful professor, Justin Brozanski, that gave excellent feedback to her, leading her to polishing this story and submitting to Scarlet Leaf.

​Friendship Made by Elevator Accident

​            “Ariel Davenport is an uptown rich snob in my opinion. I don’t like her, much less enjoy her presence. So, the answer is no. She’s not coming to my party,” Jennifer told her best friend, Grace, over the phone.
“Because I said so. I have to run some errands before night, I’ll see you later.” Jennifer hung up the phone, and threw it on the couch as she walked to her room to get dressed for the day.
A little while later, she started for the elevator. She caught a glimpse of someone walking adjacent in her peripheral vision. Jennifer quickly turns her head to see her.
“Hey Jennifer! How are you today?” Ariel asked, trying to be nice. Jennifer looked at her with a smirk on her face.
“I’m fine, thanks.” She rolled her eyes, pressing the “Main Floor” button on the wall. Waiting for the elevator, the girls stood in silence. “DING,” the elevator sounded off as it opened, this the girls didn’t notice. They both walked inside, continuing the awkward silence. The elevator shifted and shook horrifyingly. As the elevator began to speed down the shaft, the girls held onto each other screaming for help. The lights started to flicker out of nowhere. “BAM,” the elevator crashed.
“Are you okay?” Ariel asked Jennifer about her wellbeing. Jennifer struggled to get up.  She grabbed her phone to turn on the flashlight, looked down at her ankle, and noticed that her ankle was broken pretty badly.
“No, I’m definitely not okay. I was supposed to have a party tonight, but instead I’m trapped in this elevator with you,” Jennifer screamed through her tears. Ariel looked down at Jennifer’s ankle. Disregarding her harsh words, Ariel took off her favorite jacket and tore the sleeve off. She, then, kneeled down in front of Jennifer’s broken ankle.
“Do you have something stiff that I could tie to your ankle to help it heal?” Ariel asked gently with an expression of worry across her face. Jennifer started digging through her bag. Letting out a being sigh,
“No, I don’t have anything that would help. Why do you want to help me anyways? Don’t you hate me or something?” Jennifer drug herself close to the wall so she could rest against it. Ariel looked up at Jennifer stunned by this comment.
“Hate you? I barely know you. How could I possibly hate you? From what I know of you, we have a lot in common actually.”
“What exactly are you referring to? I am a private person.”
“Well, I know that you’re very confident in herself. You’re a hard worker. You’re going to college for your Business degree at Mitchell Tucker University.” 
            “How do you know all of that about me?”
            “I know those things because we go to the same school, our lockers are literally two feet apart, we have the same Business-related classes. I sit in the back far left corner alone in each one.” Jennifer’s face turned bright red as a sense of embarrassment washed over her like rain water. She looks up at Ariel, who is still bent down in front of her.
            “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize all of those things. I hated you for so long, barely even knowing you. I always looked at you as some popular rich girl from uptown. Flawless and cold hearted. I was so wrong to think those things of you. None of them are close to being true.” Jennifer started crying hysterically, drawing her able leg up to her chin. Ariel looked closely at Jennifer’s shoes. She pulled the one off from the disabled leg, observing the heel closely. Jennifer asked,
            “What are you doing?” Ariel, with a ray of focus upon her face, mentioned,
            “In order to save your ankle, I’m going to have no choice but to break this heel off. It’s the perfect length.” Jennifer stared at Ariel as if she had a squirrel on her head.
            “Are you serious? Those are limited edition Coach 10’’ stilettos. You cannot break them,” Jennifer yelled. Right then, the elevator started to shift and a high pitch screeching rung through their ears.
            “We don’t have a choice. Do you have signal on your phone to call for help? I don’t or else that would have been the first thing I did.” Ariel huffed feeling aggravated. Ariel took the shoe and ripped off the heel.
            “No, I don’t have any… Hey!” Ariel pressed the heel hard against Jennifer’s ankle and tied it as tight as possible.
            “If we get out of here alive, I’ll buy you a new pair.” At that very moment, the smell of burning wires fled the elevator. Ariel tried her hardest to get the door open, but it was no use. Ariel passed out from the lack of oxygen, while Jennifer screamed for help.
            Moments went by, Jennifer fainted. They couldn’t tell, due to their lack of consciousness, but they were being lifted ever so slowly it seemed. A few firemen busted the doors open with crowbars.
            “Ladies!” The men shouted, rushing to their sides trying to get them to wake up.
            “Dispatch, do you copy,” one called through his radio. A woman’s voice spoke came back through the radio.
            “10-4,” the man squatted down beside Jennifer as he reported.
“We need a bus for two young ladies. One has a broken ankle and both are unconscious. They need oxygen now,” the man demanded. The firemen carried the two ladies out of the elevator and took them outside the apartment complex.
            On the way to the hospital, Ariel started to wake up. Her vision was very fuzzy, as was her memory. She heard a woman speaking, but she couldn’t quite make out what was being said due to a constant ringing in her ears. She closed her eyes as she let out a deep breath. The heart monitor screeched loudly, alarming the EMTs that Ariels heart had stopped.