I opened my eyes to a loud ringing. The emergency button was glowing and I stood up to walk towards it. There was a loud 'thud' as if someone fell, but ignored it and pressed the button. My whole body bubbling with excitement at the thought of someone coming to finally save us.
"Hello, is there anyone in the elevator?"
"Yes, there's two people in here stuck for quite a long time."
"We're sorry for that, we'll come to get you in ten to fifteen minutes, hang on." he said before hanging up
"Well, took 'em long enough. Thanks for dropping me, by the way." he said groggily and rubbed the side of his head.
My eyes widen as I recalled that he was leaning on my shoulder when he fell asleep.
"Oh Lord! I'm so sorry I forgot you were leaning on my shoulder!" I sat back down next to him and examined his head.
"I'm fine," he yawned and put his arm around my shoulder again, "At least we'll get out in a few more minutes."
I tried to shrug him off, but instead he tightened his grip on my shoulder, pulling me closer. I wiggled around to made him let go but stopped when he wasn't showing any discomfort or even moving an inch.
"Really?"
"What? I'm comfortable like this."
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We stayed in that position for a few minutes in silence before switching back to sitting side by side. I was itching to ask him more about his sister, but what if he thought I was a nosy stranger that wasn't worth his time? What if he closed himself off and not utter a word to me again?
"Hey — you alright?" he nudged my shoulder.
"Yeah, just peachy."
He furrowed his eyebrows but didn't say a word.
He looked so deep in thought and his eyes seemed so—hollow.
"Hey can I-" he jumped a little.
"What? Sorry I must've zoned out a little bit."
"Never mind."
He looked down and folded his arms.
"I know you wanted to ask about my sister and her car crash.." he trailed off
"I-I'm sorry if it's a touchy subj-"
"No it's alright. I trust you, Nev."
He inhales a deep breath, "She wanted to go to the library that day. Wanted to borrow some book I forgot. I was driving of course —my parents didn't trust her driving a car yet." he laughed bitterly
"Never in my entire life would I ever expect a truck to pass a red light and ram into us from the right. She was just a little girl for god's sake! I made it with a broken nose, a fractured rib cage and my sister went into a fucking coma. I hated myself and I still do I-" he paused and broke down in front of me. I instantly wrapped my arms around him.
"It's okay to cry once in a while, Jack. Let it out."
"It's my fault Nev! If I hadn't agreed to drive her or-"
"We can't do anything. It's not good to dwell in the past, Jack. It'll destroy you." I said repeating what my mother always said to me each time I cried about my father.
He hugged me tighter.
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Intervals
Short Story"We're stuck in an elevator and you want to talk about my life?" I look at him incredulously "Life is like a CD. I'm simply asking to rewind yours." He smiled --------------------------- In which memories are paused, played, rewound and stopped, be...
