Charles decided at the last moment to ride the elevator to the 24th floor with the sad creature. When the doors closed he glanced down at the sobbing person curled in the corner and saw a long dark ponytail hanging over, what he assumed was a girl’s shoulder, shaking as she convulsed. Curiosity permeated Charles as he stared down at her. A feeling rose in his chest that was something he had never experienced before. By the fifth floor, he was still trying to decipher what he felt in his stomach – there was a fluttering of spasms that were…not unpleasant. An odd thought crossed his mind that he shook off; it was completely and utterly implausible for that to be what was happening to him. Ignoring his racing mind, he bent down and gently tapped the girl on her shoulder.
The girl looked up and peered into Charles’ face. Her almond shaped brown eyes glittered with tears on the verge of cascading. Her face was devoid of imperfections, aside from the streaks of unhappiness that trailed from her eyes. Charles felt as though he could gaze upon her face for all of eternity. Silently he sat down next to her, pulling his legs up to his chest and continuing to stare at her. Feeling uncomfortable the girl blinked her long dark lashes, spilling more tears down her cheeks and looked away.
“Uh…sorry,” said in an unnaturally high voice. He cleared his throat and asked: “If you don’t mind me asking…um –?”
“Why am I hiding in an elevator, crying my eyes out?” she supplied, with a hint of sarcasm.
“Uh…yeah,” he replied uncomfortably, shifting a bit on the carpeted elevator floor. He looked over at the numbered wall and saw that they were now on the 11th floor.
“Well…I just got a phone call from my father, before I headed over here. My brother died.”
“Um…”
“Now you’re wondering why I’d still come to this place after getting such horrible news, right?”
“Something like that. Why didn’t you go home?”
“My family lives in Delaware. I can hardly just jump on a plane and head for the east coast. Do you know how much a trans-continental ticket costs last minute?”
“No, sorry I don’t. But that still doesn’t answer why you came here.”
“I thought I would come to keep my head clear, have some fun to drown the pain, I thought I could handle it,” she finished, shrugging.
“Really?”
The girl paused for a moment before answering. She looked backed over at him, apparently sizing him up, deciding whether or not she should continue to talk to a stranger about such personal matters. She must have decided that she could share with him when she replied:
“No, not really. I just didn’t want to be alone.”
“But you’re here in this elevator alone.”
“Not anymore,” she said with a flicker of a smile.
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