My wife Cindy and I got married straight out of high school. We had been dating for four years and couldn't picture ourselves without each other. For our one year wedding anniversary I decided to book an elegant room at the Olympic hotel downtown. It was way out of our price range but I wanted to do something nice for my wife. We got dressed up: myself in a suit and tie and Cindy wore this beautiful strapless blue dress. You couldn't tell by looking at us that we lived in a one bedroom dump in the suburbs.
When we first saw the room we were astounded. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay outside, nice furniture, Jacuzzi tub, they even threw in a bottle of complimentary wine with a personalized note. I made sure to read the note twice before opening it, just to make sure that it really was, "Complimentary." We almost didn't even want to leave the room it was so nice.
We took a stroll outside to catch in some of the nightlife downtown had to offer. We enjoyed people watching, making up stories of the people we saw and where we thought they were going. During our stroll, we got caught by surprise when a sudden downpour starting washing the city. We hurried back to the hotel as fast as Cindy's high heels could go.
Relieved to be out of the rain and in the warmth of the hotel lobby, we quickly headed to the elevators to get to our room. As the elevator door was closing, I heard a shout coming from the lobby.
"Wait, hold the elevator," A man yelled.
I quickly stopped the elevator from closing to accommodate the man's request. The doors retracted and I saw a well dressed man and lady heading towards us.
"Thank you," the man said as they entered into the elevator. He looked distinguished with his salt and pepper hair and nice suit.
"Yes thank you," the woman added in. She looked much younger than him. She had long blonde hair and wore a tight black dress that wonderfully showed off her nice curves and assets. I had to stop myself from staring at her before Cindy noticed.
"No problem," I replied putting my arm around Cindy's lower back.
"What floor are you two heading to?" The man asked.
"Twelve," I answered.
"Same here," he responded.
The elevator starting heading up as we all stood there in that awkward silence. The elevator dinged with each passing floor as we made our way up. Then the unforeseen happened. The elevator shook and all the lights went out. Cindy quickly buried herself into my arms. I held her close as the elevator continued to shake for what seemed like forever. The other couple fell into the corner as I closed my eyes and held Cindy close. All I could think was that the elevator cables were going to snap and we were going to plummet to our death.
The shaking finally ceased and the emergency lights came on, filling the room with a dim light. Cindy wouldn't let go of me, instead she continued to shake in my arms. The couple stood up, gripping the walls as they did.
"Everybody alright?" The man asked.
"Ya I think so," I responded.
The man reached for the emergency phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"
Cindy finally dug her head out from me. We helplessly stared at him as he tried to reach someone.
"Nothing," he said putting the phone down. "Just static."
"What happened?" The woman asked as if we had the answer.
"No idea," the man responded. "But it looks like we might be stuck here a while." He leaned in, reading something on top of the elevator buttons. Laughing, he said, "Last inspection January 2000."
"Great," I muttered. I was grateful to be alive but this elevator was the last place I wanted to be.
Cindy stopped trembling and regained her composure. She undid the tie in her brown hair, letting it fall down her back. She sat in the corner opposite the other couple.
I followed and sat down beside her. "Anyone got a phone," I asked.
The man reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. "No signal," he said staring at it.
"Same," the other woman said looking at hers.
"Fantastic," Cindy whined.
The couple sat back down in the corner and whispered amongst themselves. I draped my arm around Cindy as we sat there, helpless in our current situation. All we could do was wait.
I hated waiting. Not knowing whether we were going to be there for 5 minutes or 5 days. I wondered if we were even going to make it that long. After all, the cables could snap at any moment. We had no idea the condition of the hotel as we couldn't even reach anyone on the outside.
Time was at a crawl. The couple with us joked with each other, their laughter filling the silence. After a while the man spoke, "So, since we're stuck in here for who knows how long, we might as well get to know each other."
I introduced us, "I'm Jack, and this is Cindy."
"My names Tom," he replied.
"I'm Lauren," she responded.
"Nice to meet the both of you," Cindy spoke. Her voice was back to her usual cheerful tone.
We exchanged petty small talk for a while. Jack was a accountant for some law firm, the opposite of my construction job. Lauren worked at a bank nearby. They applauded Cindy for staying in school stating how important that is.
The small talk turned into the whole, "I'm just grateful for being alive," kind of stuff. Cindy commenting on how she was going to be a better person and study harder. Jack and Lauren didn't seem to care though. They were acting very comfortable giving our current situation.
"So what brings you two here tonight," Jack asked.
"It's our one year anniversary," Cindy replied grabbing my hand.
"Oh young love," Lauren responded.
"What about you two?" I asked.
"Just a night on the town," Tom replied.
"Are you two married?" Cindy asked.
"Going on ten years," Lauren said cuddling against Jack.
"But you look so young," Cindy remarked.
"Well thank you," Lauren responded. "Actually I'm 28, Jack is 40."
"You want to know the secret for a great marriage?" Jack asked.
I thought to myself, "Oh great. Here's another guy who thinks he knows it all." Being respectful I replied, "Oh ya, what's that?"
"Communication," Tom answered.
"I've heard that a lot," Cindy said.
