Chapter 1.

Alexa walked into the hotel she would be staying at for the next couple of days. She was carrying Kara, her younger sister. Her parents were looking around at the shops around the hotel, and Alexa had got bored waiting there. She’d seen most of the shops already, but her parents had been checking into the hotel at that time, so they hadn’t. And as Kara had fallen asleep, Alexa had volunteered to take her baby sister back to their room at the hotel, glad to get away and hopefully relax for a while.

Shoulder length brown-blonde hair framed Alexa’s face, and her big dark brown eyes made her look very innocent and shy, which matched her personality. Kara was almost identical to her big sister, except Kara’s hair was a gorgeous blonde.

Alexa walked up to the nearest lift, as she couldn’t be bothered to walk up the stairs (their room was on the (10th floor). Alexa pressed the button and it glowed red. She waited as the numbers at the top fell until they reached 0. Two girls hurried out and Alexa stepped in. She pushed the number that said “10” and then stepped back. The doors were about to close when a boy suddenly ran up to the lift. Alexa hurriedly pressed the “doors open” button and the doors opened back. They boy hurried in. She hadn’t been able to get a good look at him but now she saw he looked about her age, possibly a few years older than her.

He had dark hair that fell into his eyes. Well, over his sunglasses. They looked pretty expensive and Alexa had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. What was the point in buying expensive sunglasses? They worked just as well as the not so pricey ones, and the cheaper ones still looked good.

“Thanks,” he said. Alex shrugged and once again pressed the number 10 on the wall. She waited for the boy to press the button that would take him to his floor, but he didn’t.

“Are you going to the 10th floor too?” she asked. He nodded.

There was silence for a bit more, then the boy turned to her.

“I’m Jared,” he said.

“Alexa. And this is my younger sister Kara,” she told Jared. He nodded, as if processing the information.

“Have you been here long?” She asked him.

“Yeah, a few days. You?”

“Just got here, today,” she answered. Jared leant against the wall and Alexa did the same. She was tired from walking around all day, carrying Kara, and her feet hurt, so it was good to lean against something and take the weight off her feet.

They didn’t talk for a few minutes, and Alexa shut her eyes, glad she had a few minutes in peace, without having to worry about arriving at the hotel, and checking they still had their luggage, and all the things that worried you when you went on holiday.

They reached floor five and there was a sudden jolt. Alexa’s eyes snapped open. Her first thought was that someone had pressed the button for the lift to stop and wanted to get in. But when the doors did not open she thought otherwise. Jared had also noticed and was pressing the switch to open the doors. When that didn’t work, he pushed the other buttons. Strangely, he didn’t seem bothered by this, and he remained cool and collected. Alexa however was starting to panic.

“I think we’re stuck,” he said quietly. Alexa drew in a breath sharply. She didn’t like being trapped in lifts, or anywhere. Not that it had ever happened before, but she’d been locked in a room once, and she hadn’t liked the experience. She wasn’t claustrophobic or anything, but she didn’t like being in a locked room, where there was no way out.

“A-are you sure?” she said, hoping he’d say “no.”

“Yep.”

“But-” Alexa started to say; when she realised she didn’t even know how to finish the sentence.

“What?” he asked.

“Erm…do, do you have a mobile on you? Or…”

“Yeah, I…I do.” He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it from him.

She tried to remember the number on the leaflet for the hotel, but it wouldn’t come. She knew it started with 637, but didn’t know what came next. Jared took the phone gently from her hands, keyed in a number and put the phone up to his ear.

“Hello? Yeah, we’re stuck in one of your lifts, stuck at the fifth floor. Ok, thanks, but do you know when…ok, right.” He hung up and Alexa looked at him expectantly.

“They say they’re going to get a technician on it right away, but they’re not sure when he’d be done fixing it. We just gotta wait.” After saying that he whipped off his sunglasses, as they would be in there a while, so there was no point keeping them on, and he slid the one of the arms of his sunglasses on his shirt.

“Just wait? That’s it?” he nodded. Alexa sank down on the floor, Kara still in her arms, and Jared did the same a few moments later, opposite her. At that moment Kara woke up. The little girl looked around her and noticed Jared. Jared gave her a small smile. Kara gave a wide toothy grin back. Then she looked at Alexa.

“Lexa,” she said. Alexa nodded. “Who he?”

“That’s Jared.”

“Ared.”

“Jared,” Alexa corrected her. “Ja-red.”

“Wawed.”

“Yeah,” Alexa gave up and smiled. She looked across at Jared and he smiled back.

“Oh, can I…can I use your mobile, please? I think I’d better ring my parents…”

“Sure,” he nodded and passed the phone to her once more. She first rang the hotel room, and when they didn’t answer, she rang her mum’s mobile.

“Alexa?”

“Hi mum.”

“Are you ok? Is Kara ok? What’s wrong?”

“Um, well I’m kinda stuck in a lift right now. Me and Kara.”

“Oh, well, as long as you’re ok. Have you called the hotel reception?”

“Yeah, they’re trying to fix it.”

“Ok, well, call me when you get out, ok?”

“Right. Bye, mum.” Alexa hung up and passed Jared’s mobile back to him.

“How much longer do you think we’ll be stuck in here?”

“Hard to tell,” he answered. Alexa sighed and rested her head on the wall, and closed her eyes.