"I don't know if it would help or not. I haven't made, like, a statement or anything. It's kind of... I don't mind talking about myself, usually, but giving a statement always seemed like kind of a humiliating experience, if I'm being honest. Probably a good idea to tell somebody, though."
[She sips her pink-and-amber cocktail thoughtfully.]
"Alright. So, uh, I was working on a statement with Meghan and David, right? And we had to drive out to this building in who-knows-where, where the statement giver had talked about a staircase. Apparently, the stairs in the building just got steeper and steeper as they went down, until it was basically impossible to get any farther down or climb back up without slipping and falling into the abyss, or some shit. Y'know. Classic statement weirdness.
"Well, the building was empty when we got there, and we didn't find anything wrong with the stairs on the first few levels. But what I did find was that there was an elevator - which was weird, because the statement giver complained over and over about how inconvenient the stairs were. I checked it out, and the elevator didn't seem to be out of order or anything. So why didn't the statement giver just use that?
"I went to say something to David and Meghan, but they weren't where I had left them. I figured they must have gone up to the next level while I was distracted. Whatever. I'd just go to the highest floor and meet them there.
"So I hopped in the elevator. Look, I'm not stupid- I- I'm not. Pinky promise. But I really didn't think anything was wrong with it. There were all of the usual buttons and stuff, numbered with the floors they led to. And there was one button that just said, 'TOP'. Just that. No number, nothing. Just, 'TOP.' I wanted to go to the top floor, so I pressed it.
"I dunno. Maybe I am just stupid. It took me a long time to realize that something was wrong. The elevator just kept going up and up and up. Every once it a while, it would shudder, and I thought it was about to stop. But then it would shoot upward again, gaining a surge of speed. Each time the rise was more and more violent, until I had to grip the handrail to keep from falling over.
"The fourth time, I knew it had gone on too long. I should have reached the top floor minutes ago, but it was just speeding up. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just... did the first thing that popped into my head. I slammed the 'emergency' button.
"The elevator stopped abruptly, sending me stumbling. Now that the lift mechanism wasn't whirring so loud anymore, I could hear something else, a sound that had been hidden underneath the regular noise of the elevator. It was wind. Rushing wind, sweeping across the metal of the elevator box. It didn't make sense - no matter how high I'd gone, I was still technically inside a building. I had to be, if the elevator was still going, right?
"I- I should have stopped to think. I should have taken a moment, instead of-of just-"
[She stabs at the ice in her glass vigorously with her straw, avoiding Tim's eye.]
"I wanted to know where I was. So, I-I pressed the button to open the doors. The second they slid open, the wind knocked me flat and sent the whole elevator carriage spinning wildly. I had to fight my way to my feet and cling to the handrail until my knuckles were white, just to avoid being thrown out. I couldn't see anything outside the door except a blur of white and vivid, vivid blue.
"Inch by inch, I made my way back to the control panel, desperately trying not to lose my grip on the railing. I used my foot to press the button to close the doors, since I couldn't risk letting go with either hand. For a moment, I was relieved that they slid closed at all. I had just made up my mind to press one of the numbered floor buttons to try and get back to safety, when suddenly..."
[She swallows. She is stirring the ice with great concentration, seeming to find comfort in the clinking sound and the repetitive motion.]
"The lights went out. Everything went dark, except for the thin sliver of light from between the closed doors, and two of the buttons on the console. All the other buttons had gone dark, and no matter how many times I pressed them, none of them would work. The only two that remained apparently functional were those two.
"One of them was the 'TOP' button, the one that I pressed first, that started the whole nightmare. Obviously I couldn't press that again.
"But the other one... it just said 'BOTTOM.' I knew what it would do the moment I laid eyes on it. It would drop me. It would release the elevator carriage, and I would go careening downward, out of all control, until I hit the ground and went splat. I knew that, down to my bones.
"So I didn't. I didn't press anything. I just sank to the floor and sat there, in the dark. My phone was dead, so I couldn't tell how long it lasted. I couldn't call for help. I just waited. I counted to five hundred. I sang every song from Heathers, in order. Twice. I cried for a while.
"And eventually... I just couldn't. Anymore. So, I-I got up, and I- well, I figured, either I die, or I sit here in the dark forever. And... I dunno. I couldn't. I pressed the 'BOTTOM' button. Falling isn't the worst way to go, y'know? It's kind of just like the ultimate carnival ride, right? I mean, that's what I told myself.
"I felt the rush in my stomach as the floor dropped out from under me. And then... I blacked out. When I woke up, I was lying alone at the top of the stairs. It was dark out. David and Meghan were gone, but my car was still in the parking lot. So I uh..."
[She laughs, as if she could possibly find any of this funny.]
"I just went home. Took a sick day the next morning. When I got my phone charged up, I found out that Meg had texted me to ask where I'd gone, and when I didn't respond, she just said that she and David were leaving. I don't blame her, I mean, I've left her on read a few times before, and she knows I tend to wander off sometimes during fieldwork. I guess she and David just thought I wasn't checking my texts or something. Odds are, no one would have realized for a few days if I just went missing."
[She finally looks up at Tim again. There is a horribly fake smile plastered across her face.]
"Phew. Sorry for rambling so long about it. Kind of fucked up, huh? I lived, though, so. I'm alright. Anyway."
[She escapes eye contact by downing a huge gulp of her drink.]
