Stella blinked in the sudden darkness.

“Wh..what’s this?” Quinn asked.

“I think the power’s out.”

“A..are we stuck here?”

Stella shrugged her shoulders. 

“Probably. But we can call help.”

She moved next to Quinn and pressed the bell button below the floor buttons. Nothing happened. Did the call go through or was the alarm dead as well? Stella had never needed to call help in an elevator. In any case, she doubted they’d be stuck for long.

Quinn sunk on the floor and leaned his head against the back wall. Stella’s brow furrowed in concern.

“Hey, are you alright?” she asked and sat down next to him.

“Yeah.” 

Quinn’s voice trembled and his breathing was heavy. He pulled his knees close to his chest and hid his face.

“Quinn, hey, it’s alright. We’ll be fine,” Stella said.

She touched Quinn’s shoulder, but the boy flinched and Stella moved her hand away. She didn’t want to cause any more discomfort.

“What if they don’t find us?” His words were a quiet mumble Stella barely heard.

“They will find us for sure. We’re in the middle of the mall. The power is out for a little while, and soon we’ll get out of here.”

Unless the place had been evacuated, there had been a decent crowd of people out shopping. Someone would definitely notice the stuck elevator even if their call for help hadn’t gone through.

“What games did you buy?” Stella asked then, trying to direct Quinn’s attention to other things.

Instead of answering, Quinn gave Stella the bag. She took out the games, even though the poor lighting didn’t help with reading the small text. One game had a collection of weird animals on the cover, and the other had a knight with a shovel.

“These look nice. I bought some pillows and posters for the lounge. And once we get out of here, I’ll go look for some board games.”

Quinn didn’t reply, and his breathing sounded very much like sobbing. His shoulders were shaking, and he pulled himself into a tighter ball.

“Shh, everything will be fine,” Stella said softly. She inched closer to sit next to Quinn in case having someone nearby helped. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and to her relief, Quinn didn’t flinch or move away.

“Do you want something to drink? I have water.”

Quinn shook his head. So, they sat in silence in the dark elevator. The sounds of thunder were faint. Stella wasn’t sure how much time passed. It could’ve been ten minutes, but also an hour. 

Then, without a warning the elevator lights turned back on. Stella flinched and blinked at the brightness. The power was back, but the elevator didn’t move, and the doors stayed closed. Stella pressed the alarm button again.

Quinn slowly unfurled from his ball. His eyes were rimmed with red. He took a deep and shaky breath. He quickly wiped his cheeks with the sleeves of his coat.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…like that”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Stella’s soft smile coaxed a tiny attempt of a smile from Quinn too.

“Could I have some water?”

Stella hurried to dig out the water bottle from her bag. The water was lukewarm and stale by now, but Quinn took a few big gulps of it.

“Thanks. I don’t do well in small and closed spaces,” Quinn said. “It’s worse if it’s dark.”

The elevator wasn’t the smallest, but the fact that they were stuck had made him panic.

“I understand. This isn’t the nicest place to spend time in. But the power’s back on, so someone will definitely help us out soon.”

Stella tried to strain her ears in case people were outside. Should they yell or bang the doors?

Before she could act on the thought, the elevator jerked and started to descend slowly. Few seconds later it stopped and the doors opened. Outside a maintenance guy and a handful of curious bystanders stared at them.

“Are you alright?” the guy asked.

Stella and Quinn stood up from the floor and brushed specs of dirt from their clothes.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Quinn said.

The crowd dispersed when Stella and Quinn left the elevator. The maintenance man stayed to check everything was in order.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want coffee or something?” Stella asked when they stopped under a large fake tree. Quinn’s face was still a few shades paler than normally. Food would probably do him some good.

 “I’m fine,” Quinn muttered.

“Okay.”

An awkward silence fell between them. Stella looked around and fiddled with the strap of her bag.

“Well, if you’re okay, I think I’ll let you continue whatever you were going to do,” she said. She took a few steps towards the direction of the bookstore, but Quinn’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Wait. I could help you pick the games. If you don’t mind? The next bus won’t be here in almost an hour, and…” I don’t want to be alone right now. 

“Of course,” Stella said, “and at least no one can say I chose the games alone in tyranny since Justin’s not here.”

“Where is he, by the way? I thought you moved around as a pair.”

“He had other plans. Some kind of dinner with his dad’s colleague. Justin suspects it’s because his dad wants to introduce Justin to the colleague’s daughter.”

“How come he’s seeing other girls?” Quinn asked, sounding surprised.

“Why not?”

“Oh, well I kinda thought you two were together.”

“We’re just friends.”

They walked in the bookstore. Stella nodded a hello to the staff member who greeted them.

“Oh, that’s good. I mean for all the other guys. They have a chance too then. Like, I’m sure a lot of guys are interested since you’re so nice and pretty and all. And like, there’s probably a lot of girls interested in Justin too.”

Quinn wished he could shut up but somehow words kept coming from his mouth.

“Well, I don’t know. There haven't been many interested takers,” Stella said while browsing the selection of the nearest bookshelf. She took one book with her.

“Probably because everyone thinks you and Justin are dating.”

Stella’s smile tightened. Another conversation about how she wasn’t together with Justin. Why was it so hard to understand they were just friends? Did she have to make an announcement through the school intercom? ‘Attention everyone, I’m not dating my best friend. Can you shut up about it now?’

“The board games are upstairs,” she said instead with a clipped tone.

Stella marched up the stairs, and Quinn figuratively pulled his hair. He and his stupid mouth. What was wrong with him? Why did he even bring up Justin and dating?

The second floor of the bookstore displayed school books, office supplies, arts and crafts supplies, and board games. Stella and Quinn browsed the game selection. Most seemed to be directed at children.

“Hey, here’s some Monopoly games,” Quinn said from a few shelves away and Stella walked over. The large selection ranged from different kids’ versions to a Spongebob Monopoly. But nothing was related to coffee.

“Oh, look at this,” Quinn said and took a superhero themed game from the shelf.

“It looks cool. But I don’t know if people would be interested in it.”

Although, GeminiWarrior had claimed that superheroes were super popular, so maybe people would like it.

“Yeah, you might be right.”

Quinn sounded disappointed. Stella sighed.

“Well, whatever. Let’s take it anyway,” she said.

They moved on to search for more games. Stella picked up a word-based memory game where the players would have to find matching word cards, and also say a word related to the words on the cards faster than someone else to get a point. A lot of frustrating and funny moments could be born from it.

Stella paid for the games and her book and they headed out.

“The bus leaves soon,” Quinn gasped when he noticed the clock. They had spent a surprisingly long time in the bookstore.

“You’re right. We should hurry.”

They dashed towards the escalator and down the steps. They made it to the bus stop with a minute to spare. Luckily the rain had already let up. A bed of water rested on the street corners as the drains couldn’t take in the large amount of water fast enough. Wind had thrown tree branches on the road. Birds were crowding the nearby park, looking for worms that had come to the surface after rain.

The bus ride home went without further issues. Stella said goodbye to Quinn when he got off at his stop. Mother was happy to see Stella come back in one piece, and Stella didn’t mention the elevator incident. Mom would just worry for no reason. After showing off her shopping haul, Stella headed upstairs. She needed a relaxing bath and some gaming.