Elevator Emergency

• Jacinta Develyn, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

“Class,” Mrs Hannibal cried, we became silent immediately. “We are in public and I do not want passers by to think of you as misbehaving children! Come along now, chop chop!” Mrs Hannibal pushed the elevator button and the doors slid open. We filed in silently one by one and she pushed the level four button. With a lurch the elevator suddenly stopped.

At first I thought that we had arrived at level 4 but the doors didn’t open. “EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!” A recorded voice echoed. “DROPPING ELEVATOR IN TEN MINUTES!” A digital clock was projected on the wall, counting down from ten minutes. “What could droppi-“ a loud THUD drowned out the rest of my sentence. Mrs Hannibal was sprawled out on the elevator floor with her eyes rolling to the back of her head. “Is she dead?” Fredrick asked looking bewildered. “No, just passed out,” I say reassuringly, but I have my doubts. “W-what does it mean by d-dropping elevator?” No one answers but I think we all know. The elevator is going to fall. Immediately a sense of panic sweeps over us all. Nervous voices are whispering and others are screaming.
I check the clock on the wall, eight minutes to try and escape.
I am the oldest here and have been training at Spy Training Squad for a year. No teacher and no adults, everyone depends on me, the sixth grader. I desperately try to pull the doors open but discover they are jammed.
Seven minutes to go.
Of course! The trapdoor! All elevators have emergency trap doors. I gingerly lift my foot up onto the handrail and haul myself up. I feel my way around the roof of the elevator. My heart is thumping and I am hyperventilating. I feel like someone threaded a rope through my throat and tied my guts together. Then- bingo! I found the lever. “Stand back everybody!” I yelled with a sense of urgency. I pull the lever and a ladder drops down. I start climbing rung by rung. Eventually I am standing on the roof.
Six minutes to go.
Just enough time for the climb. As soon as I start looking I find the problem, a tangle with the elevator pulley. I start the hazardous climb up the pulley cord. If I slip I will fall to certain death, if I don’t I will be able to untangle the cord and get the lift running again.
Four minutes to go.
Three metres up, four metres, five metres.
Two minutes to go and I’m only half a metre away from the tangle.
Thirty seconds left and my hands blister as I untie the knot.
10…9…8…7…6 I am determined …5…4…3…2… I had to make this count. 1… I untie the knot at the very last second and jump back down. Phew, just in time, safe at last. Then- Mrs Hannibal sits up suddenly, startled, takes one look at me jumping down from the top of the elevator and faints again!