Claustrophobia

My heart is heavy and the feeling of butterflies in my stomach is making me want to swallow my own tongue and wretch. I am being crazy, I tell myself, but my body defies my rational thoughts as it trembles and caves under the pressure. It's just an elevator. I just have to step inside, press a few buttons, and it instantly transports me to another level of the building.

That's what rational me thinks. Crazy me thinks otherwise. I will step inside and the doors will shut and jam, locking me inside. The floor will shudder and the walls will creak, there will be a bang and the lights will flicker and go out, plunging me in darkness. I'll scream, but no one will be able to hear me. Gradually I'll feel my breaths getting shallower, I'll start to panic, I will fall to the floor and lose consciousness and I'll never wake up.

I feel a cold chill run down my spine. I inhale and exhale deeply and put the irrational me back inside the little box at the back of my mind. It's just an elevator. Nothing more, nothing less. If it had a brain it would be laughing at me, but it isn't. It is just an inanimate object. It has no power over me. I wait for the elevator to reach my floor and as it whirrs in to its place and the doors sling open, I take my deepest breath and step inside.

There is a mirrored panel at the back of the elevator and as I catch my reflection I am taken aback by how deathly pale I have gone. My pupils appear dilated, my eyes wide like I am a deer caught in the headlights.

"This is ridiculous," I tell myself, but that voice is diluted by the irrational voice I am trying to push to the depths of my mind. It taunts me, tells me that as soon as those doors shut behind me, that's it; I'm dead.

There is a bang and as soon as the sharp sound penetrates my ears, my heart hammers painfully in my chest. I turn to the source of the noise so quickly I'm surprised I haven't broken my neck. It was just the doors closing but in that one second I felt like the whole building was collapsing around me. I mentally chastise myself as I turn towards the keypad but as soon as I try to punch in the number my hands shake so much I can't even punch one number in.

Another bang, then an intense buzzing sound as the lights above me flicker and then die, plunging me into almost complete darkness, with only an eerie reddish glow coming from the tiny emergency light bulb above my head. All rationality has gone now, and I scream until my throat is dry and my lungs are sore. My legs crumple beneath me and I drop to the floor in a shaking, sodden mess of tears and snot. Another bang ripples through the elevator and I clutch my face in my hands as I curl myself into the fetal position. Will this save me? I know that it will not, but I do it anyway, as if I'm being controlled by a natural instinct.

It ends here.

Die.

Inhuman whispers taunt me from every angle, their harshness cutting into my flesh like razor blades. I try to scream again but I can't because someone or something has placed a cold hand across my mouth. How can that be? Am I going mad? Is this a dream?

Drip… drip… drip…

I can hear it falling on the floor in an almost melodic fashion, just like liquid. Slow at first, but then getting quicker and quicker. It lands on my head and trickles down my face. I feel sick with the stench and shudder at its unnatural warmth and I start to gag as the putrid smell of blood fills my nostrils. I try to scream again but the hand intensifies its grip across my jaw as another hand brings its strong, spindly fingers across my neck, slowly tightening.

This is not madness. This is not a phobia, nor a dream. There is something in here with me; something dark and murderous; and monstrous. It is stronger than I will ever be, and I feel its energy pounding in to every single fibre of my being. I am growing weaker. I don't want to fight. I want to die. I close my eyes and let it take me from this world, forever.

My phone is dead, which means that I am not able to call Sunset or the rest of my friends, and not even my parents. Just as when I thought I could get helped, the battery life turns on me. Great, not only am I going to get fired at the biggest library in Canterlot City, but I am also going to die in the biggest library in Canterlot City. You go, Twilight.

Are these buttons even working? I was able to go inside the elevator, but now, I'm not able to get out? If I try and bang on the door some more, I fear that the shaft might fall and completely obliterate me when it reaches the ground. If I was athletic and good at parkour like Rainbow Dash, I would be able to jump out of the emergency hatch, but it would still be stupid of me to try and jump to another floor.

I see you.

The abnormal whispers were back and they've managed to break me all the way. Even if I am able to scream again, I don't want to attract the attention of whatever's after me. It suddenly got colder and colder as I am desperately trying to get a hold of myself.

Oh, give me a break. The emergency light shut off and now the elevator was pitch black. My peripheral vision is completely useless in a situation like this, but I am all alone now.

Then, as it couldn't get any worse, a pair of eyes showed up in the dark, but I couldn't recognize them...