Introduction

          He watched as the clock ticked. It was almost 5 p.m. but every tick seems to be more separated from the next, like time was slowing down just to keep him at work. He stared at the clock, thinking about what he was going to do when he gets home to his daughter who is home alone, sick. He wanted to just leave, but in doing so, he knew he might lose his job. Mark looked over at his boss'sdesk and saw that he wasn’t looking. He started to pack up his things and get ready to head out when it was still 5 minutes till closing. Surely his boss will understand that he has a sick daughter at home waiting for him. He began to head to the elevator. He was a tall man, most people would find him attractive. His thick black hair, which he always kept to the side, and is tough hands is what people see in him. His ex-wife was obviously not attracted to him. She was attracted to his money, with him making 300,000 dollars a year with him being assistant CEO of a huge magazine company in New York, so he makes a lot of money. That's why he's single right now. People only care about the money.
           Meanwhile, a woman, in the same building, was making coffee for her break so she can stay awake for the next 6 hours she needs to stay for her graveyard shift. She wasn’t expecting to go home anytime soon. In the middle of making her coffee, she reached for her sugar holder, which was now empty. She sighed, as she headed for the elevator to go down to the kitchen to get some sugar. When she opened the door, a man, who was staring at the floor, quickly looked up to her, and made room for her. She has always been shy, but she wants to go to college for public speaking to help her come out of her shell. When she talks, she is usually very convincing. Josephine is also considered to be attractive and all the guys in the office hit on her. She hates the attention, but she loves her job. She is a journalist for a local news station, however, she only journals. She has been trying to get on the screen for so long, but hasn’t had much hope.
           On the fifth floor, two co-workers just got off of work. They know each other very well and like being around each other. The woman of the two, is the fun one. Elena messes with other people in the office, hardly ever works, and is always a joy to be around. Her cute glasses adds to her dorky personality. She wants to be a comedian of some sort, because she enjoys hearing laughter. However, her co-worker, Robert, is more on the serious side. He takes his job seriously, but he enjoys watching Elena mess with the other workers. Robert comes up with the ideas, while Elena executes them. The two head to the elevator to find two other people standing there. The two moved to the side to let Elena and Robert in.
           The snow was falling heavy in New York that day. It caused a power outage for almost half the city. The building that each of these characters were in is part of the half that shutdown, and the 4 people are stuck in an elevator in between the fourth and fifth floors.

Part 1
           When the elevator shut off, there was a moment of awkward silence.
Then Mark spoke, "What happened? Why did we stop?" The lights are still on, so he doesn’t have the expectation of a power outage. The other 3 shrugged and shook their heads.
"Don’t know." Robert said. Elena thought for a second.
"Isn't there a blizzard going on right now?" she said.
Josephine had chills run down her spine. I need to get back to work! I can't mess this up. The fear in her eyes was easily noticed by Mark, but he decided against saying something.
"It should just, blow over, shouldn’t it?" Josephine asked. "I really can't afford to stay in here."
     Elena rolled her eyes. "Don’t worry." She said with a harsh tone. "We will all get home eventually."
     Josephine's eyes almost popped out of her skull. "Excuse me?!" She began to get aggressive. "I still need to get work done until 1 a.m. So, I can do without your comments."
      Mark pitched in, "Guys, it’s alright. Let's not waste our oxygen. We don’t know how long we're going to be in here for." The two girls stopped talking.
     Robert attempted casual conversation. "Well, Carolina is going up against Denver in about 2 weeks. Who you think is going to win the super bowl?"
     Elena seemed to be the most interested. "Carolina will beat Denver to the ground."
     Mark pushed in. "I don’t think so. Denver's defense destroyed New England last night."
     Robert nodded. "I'd have to agree with you there, uh..."
"Mark." Mark said. "My name is Mark."
Robert nodded. "Cool. I'm Robert." He extended his hand, and Mark gladly took the offer.
"What do you do here, Mark?" Robert continued with casual conversation. Mark went to sit on the bar along the elevator wall.
"I'm the assistant CEO of the magazine that runs this building." Mark responded. Robert's eyes widened and Mark couldn’t help but to laugh. "It's alright man. I'm not going to fire you or anything." Robert smiled, still a little bit cautious. "What about you man?" he asked Robert.
"Well, I call for the paper of the magazine. I'm not sure what to call that," he laughed, "but that's what I do."
     Mark nodded. "I remember hearing about you coming in to help. The magazine sure has improved with you running the paper department. The paper is a lot tougher so we can ship it in easier conditions. You do well. I don’t really know you and I don’t really pay attention to the lower parts of the magazine, but you do well. I'll put a word in with the big man." Mark shot a wink. Robert's eyes lit up in appreciation.
    Elena looked over at Josephine. "So... where do you live?" She asked.
    Josephine sighed. "I live about 4 minutes from here. I used to live in Michigan. My dad owns a big farm over there next to one of the lakes."
"I'm guessing Lake Huron?"
    "I think so. I'm not good with geography. All I know is that the lake is so big it looks like an ocean."
Elena nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like Lake Huron." Josephine smiled.
    "What about you?" Josephine said, crossing her arms to get more comfortable.
Elena smiled, knowing her conversation was actually going somewhere. "I've lived here in New York all my life. Just like most New York girls, I wanted to be an actress." She laughed. "What a dream. Look where I ended up." She chuckled again. Josephine tried her best to crack a smile, but she couldn’t hold it.
    "Why did you give it up?" She asked. Elena was about to say something when the elevator bumped, shocking everyone inside. "Does anyone have a phone?" Josephine asked. Mark pulled out his phone and observed the status bar. He didn’t have service.
"I do." he said. "But it doesn’t have service." Robert searched his pockets and pulled out his phone.
"Same here." he said. "What do we do?" Mark didn’t know what to say.
                                      

Part 2
       The four began to worry, because they have no communication and have been stuck in the elevator for 2 hours now. Mark was slouching up against the wall, sitting on the floor. Robert was nearly laying, trying not to fall asleep. Josephine was pacing in the little space she had, and Elena was leaning up against the elevator door, watching Josephine pace. She decided to speak up.
"We can't just sit here. We need to do something." She walked over to a bar on the wall of the elevator and took her high heels off and began to climb the bar. Mark moved over to the corner. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea." he said. She rolled her eyes. "You got a better idea, rich boy?" She said. Mark ignored her. She pushed the panel off the top of the elevator to reveal another roof, filled with screws and bolts. She sighed, and went back to sit on the floor. "Well it was worth a shot."
      Robert's eyes lit up with a new idea. He jumped up and headed straight for the door and began to pull it open. Mark realized what he was doing and helped him out. They got the door open to discover a 20-foot drop to the bottom floor. Mark took a step back, feeling nauseated. Robert thought for a second, and looked up. "Mark." He said, and signaled him to come. Mark stood up and walked over to him, still a little bit distant. Robert pointed up, and revealed that the roof of the elevator was about 5 feet below the door to floor 5.
      The four were so happy that they finally found a way out. Of course, Josephine had to disappoint everyone. "How are we supposed to get up?" She asked, making the excitement disappear. Mark and Robert both pondered the question. How are they supposed to get up? Mark sat back down, and Robert followed. "Well, at least we have a source of oxygen." Robert said, trying to get the excitement back. The rest of them sat in silence. Mark was still shaking after looking down below him, knowing that he and 3 others are hanging from a wire with a 45-foot drop below them. Elena was pacing, thinking of a way to get up. Robert was sitting watching the 3 panic, and Josephine was breathing hard with wide eyes, scared beyond her mind. Robert couldn’t stand it anymore, so he got up and started to climb. Mark got up and went to the door as Robert climbed. "Robert!" Mark shouted.
     Robert ignored him as he grabbed the bar on the top of the elevator. Mark continued to shout, but his fear of heights kept him from climbing up himself. Robert made it to the top, no longer visible to Mark. Josephine watched from the other side of the elevator, and Elena was standing next to Mark looking up to try and see Robert. Meanwhile, Robert looked around the top of the elevator, noticing that he doesn’t have much room to do anything. He was surprised that he fit in between the walls of the elevator and the building, they were only a foot apart. He also noticed that the elevator looked very small from the outside. Now that he finished with the observations, he looked across to see the door to the 5th floor about 5 feet above where Robert stood. "Hey guys!" Robert shouted to make sure his sounds echo. "I found the door!" Mark wanted to climb up, bet whenever he looked out of that door, the only thing he could think about was what was below him. Elena watched him struggle to start climbing, then pushed him out of the way. "Watch. It isn't that bad." She hopped out and grabbed ahold of the roof. After a few seconds, she lost her grip and began to fall. Robert tried his best to grab her hand, but he was a moment too short. Luckily, she grasped hold of the rim at the elevator door. Mark ran to help her up with her screaming, and Robert starting to climb back down. Josephine was yelling at him to stay up and Mark was trying not to look down because he know he would lose balance, even though he was sitting. Elena was continuously screaming, not helping the situation at all and Robert was trying to yell directions. The elevator filled with commotion, inside and out. All the pressure of Mark hit him, and he passed out.
                                    

Part 3
        Once Mark passed out, Robert sprinted into action. Luckily, when Mark did pass out, Elena saw it coming and grabbed a pole attached to the bottom of the elevator, hoping that it could hold her weight. Robert jumped down into the elevator once Josephine moved Mark out of the way of Robert's feet. Robert grabbed Elena's fore arm. "Elena, let go of the bar." He said, as calm as possible. Of course, Elena strongly disagreed, with the situation she's in. "Let go?! Are you crazy?!" She shouted.
     "You need to trust me. I have you. I've lifted you before, I can do it again. Now let go."
     Elena looked down and back up to Robert. "Are you sure?" She asked.
     "Positive." Elena looked into his eyes and could tell she was telling the truth. Josephine got up and waited to help too. Robert was a big dude. He was 6'6 and could bench up to 300 pounds on a good day. He usually goes to work out every day after work to make up for all the time he just spent sitting at a desk all day. In fact, that’s where he was headed if the power didn’t go out. He wakes up around 3 or 4 in the morning to go for a jog, even if it's cold outside like today. This man seems like he is always trying to get stronger like he is trying to impress someone... Like Elena.
    Elena let go of the bar and was dangling from Robert's grip. He began to curl his arm to lift her up, but he almost gave in, so he used both arms. Josephine grabbed ahold of her other hand and together they pulled her up. All of them were out of breath. Robert was the first to speak. "Don’t wear heels to climb an elevator wall." He joked. Elena smiled. "Good tip." She said.
    Mark finally woke up to see Elena leaning against a wall across from him and Josephine next to him. Robert was looking out of the elevator trying to find an easier way up. Mark couldn’t help but to say a sarcastic comment. "Not that bad, huh?" He said, smiling and scooting up to get in a more comfortable sitting position.
    Elena rolled her eyes. "You were the one that passed out."
Mark's smile disappeared. "Hey I've never experienced anything like that before." He said, defending himself.
"Neither have I!" She started to crack up in laughter. Mark stayed quiet as the rest of the elevator laughed with her. Mark nodded to acknowledge his mistake because he knew that they were right. Once the laughing stopped, Mark began talking again.
     "So if I passed out, what the heck happened?" He said. Elena explained most of it, and Robert butted in some, but towards the end, Elena stopped talking. Robert did as well which resulted into Mark asking even more questions. Josephine smiled and rolled her eyes. "Robert the hero lifted Elena up onto the elevator with one arm, and now they're all awkward and stuff." Mark smiled with Josephine, while the other two blushed and stared at each other. Mark was getting uncomfortable, because his history of romance was pitiful.
     When Mark first met Sara, his now-ex-wife, he was working late in the Ice Skating rink, his first job, when he saw her skating with a pack of friends. His eyes only watched her. It was getting close to closing, but he didn’t want to ruin her time. Eventually, he had to tell her to get off. So he grabbed ice skates and headed out on the rink. He wasn’t really paying attention, so he ran into one of her friends, completely humiliating himself. But one thing led to the next and he ended up going out with Sara after going out with her friend. It’s a long story:
     It started out with Mark becoming really good friends with Sara's Friend that he ran over at the rink. They would talk and study together a lot of the days of the week, and when they weren't together they would talk on the phone. Her name was Emily. She had really dark blonde hair and was very tall for a women; 5 foot, 10. She was a little bit shorter than Mark, but she looked the same height when they stood next to each other. The two of them got really close, and they probably would've ended up together if Mark didn’t have his heart set on Sara.
     Mark got a new job right after he graduated from college. He was making a lot of money for a newly college grad. Of course, Sara jumped the gun. One night, Mark and Emily were talking on the phone, as usual, when Mark got a call from Sara. This was unusual, considering Sara barely even noticed Mark's existence. But when she called, she made up some story to get Mark to fall for her, again, and he never called Emily back. Whenever Emily called him, he was with Sara. Mark was so delusional, that Sara could sit there and beg for money. And he gave it to her. Finally, he got married to her. It was a big expensive marriage, because his job has been consistently raising him, he got more and more money, leading Sara to more and more begging. One night, when Sara was asleep, Emily called again, she did attend the wedding, so she knew everything. Mark picked up the phone, saw who it was, and took a step outside. Emily gave a long heartfelt story saying how much she loved him, and he had no choice but to go see her.
     Everything went downhill from there.
     Mark, that night, ended up getting too close to Emily, and a few weeks later, she told him the news that she was pregnant. Sara found out and left him. Mark was so upset she ignored Emily for a while. She would visit, but whenever she did, Mark gave her the cold shoulder. He would respond with, at the most, 4 words. Mark was moping over Sara one night, and received a call. It was from the local hospital. Emily gave them his number for the father. That night was the longest night of his life. He didn’t realize how much he felt for Emily, but she died after conception and he realized that he should've spent more time with her. The baby girl lived, leaving Mark a single dad who worked most of his life. So he hired a maid for the care when he wasn’t there. Plus, he got promoted to assistant CEO of the company after the main CEO passed away. He took the place of the man that got promoted to CEO, and now he makes 300,000 dollars a year. He had a lot going on, and he gets choked up whenever he sees couples.
                                      

 

Part 4
     Mark, feeling awkward, got up and ruined the moment intentionally. "So how are we going to get out now? I have a sick, 12 year old daughter at home. I can't stay here all night." He said.
     "Calm down man. We want to get home too." Robert responded. "There's got to be a janitor here or something."
     Mark shook his head. "They don't come until 7, when everyone is gone. But wait, my boss is here, the CEO of the magazine."
     Robert went wide-eyed. "I don't know. Him.... He.... His..." He was almost speechless. "I..."
     "Spit it out dude." Josephine said. Elena glared at her afterwards.
     "Look." Mark started, "we need to do something. Hit the emergency button on the elevator. Why didn’t we think of this before?" Mark pressed the button with the red bell on it, expecting an alarm. But when he pressed it, nothing happened. “Oh.” He said. “Right. No power.
After about 20 minutes, Mark started to go insane. “It looks like no one is coming. We need to find a way out ourselves.” The rest of them just sat there looking at him, beady-eyed. Each of them looked nervous. “We can’t possibly be the only ones stuck in an outage. Don’t you think? If this whole building is out of power surely the ones near us are too.” Robert nodded, and so did Elena. Josephine just sat there, pondering. Mark looked at the roof. “Have any of you seen Star Wars Episode III?” they all nodded. “Remember the part where they cut a hole in the roof and made it to the next floor?” Josephine shook her head. “Great idea…” You could feel the sarcasm from a mile away.
“How in the world are we supposed to cut a hole in a metal ceiling?”
“Hey I’m the only one thinking of ideas here. You have any bright ideas?” Mark responded, a little aggressively.
“Yes.” Josephine responded, confidently and c***y. She got up and pulled her phone out. She grabbed her charger out of her purse and opened up the control panel using a pen. She then hooked her phone charger to the power of the alarm button and her phone. The electricity transferred from the phone to the power channel for the alarm, and activated it. Robert and Elena cheered her on and patted her on the back. Mark just stood there in shock. “Proud of me?” Josephine asked, and Mark was speechless.
After 20 minutes of the alarm sounding, the CEO came to the elevator. He pried open the doors to see the elevator stuck between floors. He then called 911 and moments later the fire department showed up. They got the elevator down to the bottom without harming the 4 inside. Robert and Elena went out to dinner and Mark started to go home, but went back to Josephine. “I’m sorry if I sounded rude in there. That was smart of you. I never would’ve thought of that.” Josephine smiled. Mark continued, “I just want to say thanks. You saved us from a lot of time in that elevator.” She nodded, and headed to her car. He watched her leave, wondering if maybe she could be the right one for him.
Mark then went home to his daughter, who was so happy to see him. The next time they went to work, Robert, Mark, Elena, and Josephine were closer than ever. The Elevator brought them together, and now, they are all really close friends. Mark ended up asking Josephine out, and they ended up getting married a year later. The journal was never the same.