Elevator Talks

The silver doors slid shut in front of Caleb Weatherford, blocking off all the students rushing around the hallways to get to class. He could still hear their muffled voices a bit through the barrier, but it wasn’t enough sound to make out a true sentence. He guessed all the conversations were about how it was ridiculous that school wasn’t closed today. Everyone had been banking on there being a huge snowstorm which meant no one had done any of their homework the night before. It seemed the whole student body had been counting on a snow day, but sometimes the world was whacked out. Sometimes things don’t go your way.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

And Caleb was aware of this fact much more than the average person at the moment.

He hobbled over to the part of the wall with the buttons while trying to ignore the sharp pain that zig-zagged up his left leg while he did so. The crutches made a sound that reminded Caleb of a clop-clop-clop noise from horse hooves on the tile ground. He was at the point where he was going to rip his hair out if he heard that god awful sound again.

Caleb had never been in Harrison High’s elevator before. It was strictly off limits to most students, although it was famous for being the spot to make out.

“The elevator is a magical place.” his friend best friend Yoshi had told him while wagging his eyebrows.

But this was only common knowledge from rumors, He wasn’t much of a rule breaker. Yoshi got kicked off the track team for skipping biology so Caleb didn’t want to take any chances.

“You break the rules,” the coach had told them all the day Yoshi was dropped, “you leave the team.”

And Caleb couldn’t get booted out of track. Running was his life. 

Emphasis on the was. 

He pressed the button for the third floor. He was so going to get Livvy stinkin’ Jefferies for this.

***

Crutches were horrible, Livvy Jefferies thought as she clumsily headed into the school’s elevator. She had only gotten them last night, but so far it was crazy. At least her little sister, Eva, was having fun with them while Livvy had elevated her right leg on the sofa.

“Look at me, Livvy!” the toddler had squealed last night as she tried out the new toys, “I’m swinging!” Now the crutches were probably the one thing she wouldn’t mind handing over to her sister.

As the doors soundlessly shut behind her and Livvy marveled at her surroundings. In almost every single available space in the wooden panels that lined the walls, there were carvings.

They were scratchy hearts etched out by students. Little ones, ones as big was Livvy’s hand, and a particularly massive one with which other hearts were carved inside of.

“Wow.” she breathed, running her thumb over one of them. The initials inside read HT+RF and Livvy tried to think if she knew people with those initials.

Ding! the bell sounded, shaking her out of her thoughts.

The late bell already? This would make her seventeenth tardy this year. Principal Hanlon said if there were any more than twenty tardies, there was a Saturday detention slip with her name on it.

“The only reason I have let it go on this long is because of your um, situation.” the overweight and balding man had informed her in his office after the twelfth tardy, “But that is no excuse for coming in late to school all the time.”