It was a Friday, pretty much the same as any other. The only difference was today Ben had decided it was time for him and Lucy to go their separate ways.
They had been casually dating for about six months and they were finding it difficult to keep it a secret from their work colleagues.
As Ben dashed out from his apartment, grabbing his half-eaten piece of toast, he realised it was not going to be easy telling Lucy it was over. They had a lot in common, they had fun together, but he felt he was not ready for commitment.
Ben wanted to head off to Europe in the next few months. He had been saving hard for years and he felt he could not put it off much longer.
Lucy was an attractive blonde-haired woman with a degree in Commerce. She was happy with her lot and flatted with a group of friends from University. Her flatmates knew about Ben and met him on a couple of occasions at flat barbeques.
Ben was already in the office when Lucy arrived. As she walked past him, Ben looked up and asked “Lunch?”
Lucy shook her head and said “sorry, I am meeting a friend for lunch. How about a coffee this afternoon?”
“Sure that’s fine” he replied in a lowered voice.
Afternoon teatime soon came around. Ben left the floor first and waited by the lift for Lucy to join him.
“Let’s go next door for coffee” he said.
As they sat down, Lucy noticed Ben did not seem quite his cheery self and wondered what was wrong.
“Is something wrong Ben? I sense it is”, she asked worriedly.
“Well yes and no…” said Ben taking Lucy by the hand, “I feel its time we moved on and went our separate ways Lucy. I need to travel. I do not want to hurt you but I have given this a great deal of thought”.
Lucy pulled her hand away. She was shocked, as she had not seen this coming.
“Ok, I see” she said, trying to hold back a tear.
“We can still be friends of course,” added Ben, not knowing what else to say.
“Of course, it’s fine Ben,” replied Lucy, feeling anything but fine.
Lucy had been developing strong feelings for Ben and she had been hoping the relationship was heading somewhere.
With nothing more to be said, the couple barely finished their coffee and headed out of the café. Neither of them spoke a word as they headed for the lift to their floor.
As they waited for others to get into the lift both Lucy and Ben were locked in their own thoughts about what had just happened.
Five more people got into the lift. A mother and her eight-year-old son, a courier driver, an elderly woman, and a man.
The quiet of the lift was eerie. Outside the lift in the foyer, workers were still working on the final stages of renovations. The building and foyer were getting a spruce up. After ten years, the business tower was looking tired and needed some attention. The six lifts were not all working at the same time, as each one had to be replaced.
Once the doors to the lift closed the people inside stood in stony silence apart from the sound of the young boy pulling at his mothers skirt and asking when they would be flying to Australia.
Suddenly everyone in the lift was jolted out of their quiet stupor. The lift gave a lurch and a big jolt. The little boy cried out to his mother.
Lucy grabbed for Ben’s hand for reassurance. He offered no resistance and put out his hand to take hers.
“What in God’s name…?” said the man standing in the corner, “I knew I should not get in this lift. This is the day of reckoning! We are all damned”.
“Don’t be ridiculous” replied Ben, trying to remain calm, “someone will be here to sort it out soon”. He gave Lucy’s hand a slight squeeze for reassurance.
How wrong Ben was. It was now four o’clock and the construction workers had just clocked off. There was no way anyone could tell there were people trapped in the lift.
Little did the group know that they had got into a lift that had not had its final clearance to operate.
“Well can I suggest we all sit on the floor and conserve our energy until help arrives,” said the mother, trying to keep her son quiet.
“Surely your company will be looking for you?” asked Lucy, looking over at the young Asian courier driver.
“No I am afraid they won’t as this was my last job for the day,” said the young man, putting his head in his hands.
“Ok we need to keep calm and conserve our resources. Does anyone have a water bottle?” said Ben.
“I have one in my handbag,” said Lucy.
“I have one as well” replied the lady with the young son.
“Ok then, we must share the water and we should all have a small sip every hour we are waiting” directed Ben.
“I am not drinking out of other people’s bottles’ said the strange man, speaking for the first time since his outburst.
“Up to you” Ben shrugged as he helped Lucy sit on the floor.
Over the next couple of hours, the people in the lift started to exchange life stories to pass the time. The woman and her son were on their way to Immigration to get an urgent passport. Her husband had been injured in a mining accident in Western Australia and they were due to fly out to see him in two days time.
The courier driver was a university student and he was working part time to help pay his way.
The elderly woman was renewing her passport so she could go to England to see her sister. Her husband had passed away two months earlier and she wanted to go to the UK to spend some time with family. She was a quietly spoken, elegant lady who had moved to New Zealand some twenty odd years ago with her husband. All her remaining family were in Yorkshire. Although upset about being stuck in the lift she had remained calm.
Gradually the strange man in the corner opened up and said he was a university student. He had a PhD in physics and had spent the last twenty years at university, though he did not feel that he had benefited greatly from it.
As time wore on, the man became quite agitated and began to make unsettling comments about how everyone in the lift was doomed and it was ‘their time’. The rest of the group did their best to ignore him.
Ben tried hard to talk to the eight year old, who told him his name was Zane. They talked about super heroes and school. Zane’s mother was grateful for this, as she was already upset about her husband in Australia.
The time was almost midnight; they had been in the lift over seven hours. Water was being rationed and Lucy and the little boy’s mother had a few sweets in their handbags that helped keep them going.
Still the strange man refused water and continued to just sit on the floor and make nonsensical statements about the group’s fate.
“This is my punishment,” he said, “we are all going to die a horrible death.”
With this, Ben got angry, “That’s enough of your stupid talk – and we are all going to get out of here. If you can’t say something constructive just shut the hell up”.
“You know nothing” was the man’s reply.
Ben pulled Lucy close and hugged her reassuringly. Lucy did not want to read too much into the hug but it helped nonetheless.
At about two o’clock, there was another big jolt and the lift swayed. Everyone was frightened; Zane woke up and started to cry.
“Just stay still everyone; they may be working on the lift. We must stay still,” announced Ben.
“Its going to fall” announced the strange man, “it is time you all realized we are condemned”.
Ben did not have the energy to answer him.
The lights flickered on and off a couple of times until they completely went out. Ben used the light of his cell phone to check if everyone was ok. Fortunately, the phone still worked but there was no signal.
The signs of strain were starting to show on people’s faces. Zane had urinated in the corner. Everyone had been holding on as long as possible and it was becoming increasingly difficult. Soon the lift would be full of human waste and the stench would become unbearable.
Lucy looked over at Ben. She could see part of his face illuminated by the cell phone light. He looked tired and drawn and she could see he was worried.
Mrs Fanshaw, the elderly woman, was asleep. She looked as though she had given up and had accepted she was not going to make it out of the lift. She had talked to Lucy earlier in the evening about her life, her move to New Zealand and her late husband. She told Lucy that they had never been able to have children, which was something they were always sad about. Lucy thought she was a sweet lady and could have imagined her as a grandmother.
The strange man continued quietly ranting.
“Bevan, or whatever you said your name was, you need to stop talking this crap and get a grip. You are upsetting everyone else,” said Ben, “we need to pull together and hang in there’.
The man smiled oddly at Ben, “You have not had the kind of life I have had. If you had then you might just shut up and mind your own business,”
For the next couple of hours Bevan went on about how life had been unfair. He had spent the last twenty years studying at university but had not really achieved anything. He felt he was cursed in life. His parents were killed when he was twenty, and he had a brother who was in a mental institution and a sister who had never married. He and his sister shared a run down old house together that had been condemned many years ago.
Bevan was beginning to reek. His breath was stale and smelt of alcohol and cigarettes. He kept saying that his life was a pointless existence. His outlook was black and he believed being stuck in the lift was his ending – and if that was the case then he was going to make it as miserable as possible for everyone else in the lift. He wanted them to experience darkness, as he had known it.
For the next few hours, Bevan kept up his ranting. The others tried to sleep through most of it. Everyone was tired and energy levels were low. Water was getting short and keeping Zane hydrated was top priority.
Bevan continued to refuse water. Being so dehydrated appeared to make him more delusional and around six in the morning, he suddenly jumped to his feet. Everyone else had been asleep.
“The curse is on you all, for today we die,” he screamed out.
Ben’s energy was dwindling and he quietly told Bevan to sit down and let people sleep. “There will be no more sleep for all of you. The time has come. You all have to pay with your lives,” He shouted.
Ben and Lucy hugged. “Please stop,” said Lucy, “you are frightening the little boy”
Zane started crying and clung to his mother who had also started crying.
“I want my Daddy!” he cried out.
“Well my boy you won’t be seeing your Daddy ha-ha” replied Bevan in a snaring voice.
Suddenly the lift began shaking violently, followed closely by a snapping, cracking sound as it hurtles its way down the shaft. Everyone was thrown into the air; the lift hit the basement with a horrendous thud. Dust and debris swirled in the air.
As the dust settled cries of terror and pain filled the air.
Ben managed to pull the rubble off him as he felt the trickle of blood running down his forehead. He called out for Lucy and found her stuck under wreckage. She is barely moving. Ben frantically pulled the rubble off her and checked her vitals.
Lucy was alive but obviously injured. Ben then moved around the lift shaft for more signs of life.
Mrs Fanshaw’s crumpled, lifeless body lay trapped. Ben could see she had passed away. He then moved further around and came across Zane. Zane looked up at Ben and weakly nodded to indicate he was all right. Zane’s mother appeared dazed but fine, as did the courier driver.
Ben continued looking around the floor for Bevan. He found him lying in his corner of the lift with a huge smirk on his face.
“What did I tell you? I said we were doomed”.
Ben grew angry, “If you had bloody well kept still this would not have happened. You have a lot to answer for, that old woman is dead and everyone else has been injured thanks to you and your stupid death wish. You are a complete waste of space”.
“We will see” and with that Bevan closed his eyes for the last time.
Ben moved away, there was nothing more he could say to Bevan. Now he needed to get back to Lucy, she did need him.
As Ben started to remove concrete and debris off Lucy, he could see she was quite badly injured. He bent down, kissed her gently on the lips, and said, “I am so sorry”.
Lucy lifted her hand, touched his lips, and then closed her eyes. Ben panicked and though Lucy had gone, but she had drifted into unconsciousness.
At eight o’clock, the workman arrived on site. Immediately emergency services were called and gradually everyone was removed from the lift one by one.
Lucy needed surgery for a broken hip, two broken arms and a broken leg. Zane had a broken arm. Zane’s mother had cuts and bruises and the courier driver got away with a broken foot. Ben’s leg was badly sprained and he had numerous cuts and bruises but he would be just fine.
It was going to take some time for everyone to recover and heal, physically and emotionally.
Clare and Zane went to Australia two weeks later. By this time Zane’s Dad was well on the way to recovery. The family were going to stay together in Australia for the next few months before returning to New Zealand in the summer.
Ben came away with the realisation of how important Lucy was to him. He could not imagine life without her and it took a terrible accident to make him appreciate how good they were together.
As soon as Lucy was well, they made plans to go on their OE together.
Through tragedy came a new beginning for them and a life full of hope and promise.
By Kay Rayner
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