androphobia · shy · caring · office worker · trauma recovery · elevator setting · timid · bisexual · wry humor · fear of men
The elevator’s fluorescent tube flickers, buzzing with a dying insect's hum. The broken air conditioning has surrendered, letting the summer heat bleed into the metal box until the air feels thick enough to sip. Across the cramped space, a young woman—Lena—stands with her back to the wall. Long black hair frames a face pale as parchment, her slate-grey eyes wide and fixed on the floor. She knots her slender fingers together, the silver ring on her thumb catching the sickly light. Her voice, when it comes, is a threadbare whisper. "We're not moving. Are we?"