𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

xi. if you die, i die.

JAMES WALKED into the room, Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica following behind. He picked up one of the boxes and set it onto a table, "let's open this bad baby up," he held out his pocket knife which Steve stared at with wide eyes.

"What? My dad gave it to me..." He said and used it to cut the box open, he opened it up to find some other odd, silver box inside of it with a handle to twist and open the box. They all shared looks as he twisted it and opened the box to reveal four other handles similar to the one on the top of the box. "That's definitely not Chinese food." Steve said as all of them stared into the box.

Steve reached in but looked at the other four, "uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back." He gestured with his hands and James agreed, pulling Robin with him gently and helping Erica down from the box she was standing on.

"No," Dustin shook his head. "Just step back, okay?" Steve said, trying to push him away but Dustin resisted yet again, "no." James crossed his arms as he furrowed his brows. "Step back, seriously." Steve told the fourteen year old who shouts, "no! No!" As Steve then stopped trying to push him back. Robin and James looked at one another with the same confused looks on either of their faces.

"If you die, I die." Dustin said and James scrunched up his face. "Okay." Steve said like it didn't matter, looking back to the box. James watched as Steve twisted one of the handles and held up a bottle filled with bright green liquid in it.

"What the hell?"

James stared at it, "what is that?" He asked and Steve glanced over as the room then shifted slightly, catching all of their attention. "Was that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin asked and James looked over at Steve. "Booby traps." Erica whispers and James looks down at her. The room moved again, shifting and making weird noises.

"Steve, Stevie? Let's just grab that, and go, yeah?" He grabbed the bottle and Steve nods. Dustin went over to the buttons and pressed one repeatedly, "which one do I press, Erica?" He asked. James opened up Erica's backpack and inserted the bottle of green liquid into it. "Just press the damn button, nerd." Erica told him and James sighed, zipping up the girl's backpack. "Which one? I'm pressing the button, okay?" Dustin explained to her.

"Press open door!"

"I'm pressing open door!"

"Just open the— press the other button." Steve said as he waoked over to the button panel. "Guys, get out of the way so she can push the button." Robin said, they were now shouting over one another and James simply looked around the room. "Just open the door!" Robin shouts but then a big red wall came down the side of the room.

The side where the exit of the room was, they all stared and then the room moved again, like as if it was going down and fast. "Fuck m—" "James!" Steve said as the taller teen stared at the walls, all of them stared screaming as James held on, staring in one spot, "I am going to vomit."

They all kept screaming, looking at one another. "Shit! Shit!" Dustin screamed as he went to the button panel. "We're going down! We're going down!" Steve shouted as James just closed his eyes, covered his face and hoped it would stop soon. "Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin shouted. "Why don't these buttons work?!"

"Press the button!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!"

"Come on, press something! Just press the button!"

"Push it!"

And then the room stopped, the impact making them all fall down and a box fell on Steve as James laid flat on the floor. He stared at the ceiling. "It fell on my groin. It fell on my groin. Dustin!" Steve was struggling under the box. "Get this off of me! I can't move." Dustin went to help him.

"James." Robin leaned over him, "hey, hey," she snapped her fingers. "You good?" She asked and he sat up, standing up quickly. "I'm amazing! I've never felt such an adrenaline before! God, I feel like I'm gonna fucking die." He held a hand to his chest and Steve walked over to him. The first part was obviously sarcastic. He put a hand to James' shoulder, "hey, we're... we're okay. Well, now we at least know Russians can't design elevators." He said and James just sighed.

Steve went over to the buttons again, "I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work." Robin said when he did. "They're buttons. They have to do something." The nineteen year old replied with and James sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, if we had a keycard." Robin gestured.

"A what?"

"It's an electronic lock." James said and Robin walks over. "Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate meaning—" "we're stuck in here." James cut her off and she nods, looking at Steve. "Yeah." She says.

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm suppose to be spending the night at Tina's, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow and my mom finds out you three are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat." Erica said and James looks at her. "Sinclair! We have bigger problems here, kid! We're stuck in a Russian elevator! We're definitely dying down here so what's the point of your mom killing our dead bodies?!" He exclaimed and Erica just squinted her eyes at him.

"Hey..." Dustin said to get their attention, they look at him and he pointed at the ceiling of the elevator. "What if we climbed out?" He said and they all look over to see the hatch. They use boxes stacked together to climb up, Dustin opening the hatch and climbing on the top of the elevator. Steve got up after him, James mostly staring at his ass when he climbed out, then he climbed next.

They all look up and James sighed, putting his hands onto his hips. "What were you saying about climbing?" Steve asked, his voice echoing as he did and James looks at Dustin. "Yeah... great idea, kid, let me just go get my climbing gear, oh wait," he said and Dustin flips him off.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

   

 

  

  

  

  

authors note erica when steve yelled at her: