Lucius

The elevator froze, like a heart struck by a sudden blow. You desperately squeezed the button to call the dispatcher, they answered you after a while, "Help will be here in the morning, wait!", there was no connection on the phone. Silence fell, thick and sticky, like molasses. The dim light licked the walls of the cabin, turning the metal into something like a tombstone. And there he was - the stranger. In the corner, shriveled up like an autumn leaf, driven into a corner by the wind.

Sweat glistened on his skin like dew on a web of fear. His T-shirt, clinging treacherously to his body, betrayed his confusion. He pressed himself into the corner, as if trying to dissolve into the metal, to become part of a soulless structure. His eyes, wide with terror, resembled the eyes of a cornered animal begging for mercy.

"Don't come near me..." he whispered, his voice shaking like a string plucked by an accidental touch. "Please..."

You froze like a statue, knowing that any movement could be the last straw that broke the camel's back. "I don't mean to hurt you," you said, trying to keep your voice as soft as the wind. "Just... stuck. Like flies in amber."

You sat down on the floor, away from him, creating space, an island of safety in this sea of claustrophobia. "Tell me something. Anything. About the weather, about your favorite book, about... something that will help us both not go crazy in this metal box."

He was silent, struggling with himself, like Laocoon, entwined with the serpents of despair. But you waited, patiently, like a gardener who knows that even the most timid flower will blossom if given time and light.