Never Cry Wolf in an Elevator

"Harvey! Harvey, wake up!"

I, Jason Sullivan, desperately slapped Harvey Chandler's face.

His lips had already turned a dark purple, and a wheezing sound like an old bellows came from his throat.

It was the sound of severe oxygen deprivation.

My palms were drenched in sweat from anxiety.

Sheldon Walker, however, rolled his eyes next to me.

"Jason, stop acting. Aren't you tired?

"He always pretends to be weak. Isn't he just trying to get out of taking part in today's cleaning duty?"

I abruptly turned around and glared at Sheldon.

I shouted, "He's dying, and you're still talking nonsense!"

Sheldon flinched, but he quickly puffed out his chest again and looked utterly unconvinced.

"Dying? There's no way he'd die that easily.

"Don't try to scare me. I'm not that easy to frighten."

I didn't have time to waste arguing with him.

I reached for the emergency phone and frantically pressed the red alarm button.

Finally, the call connected again.

"You bunch of brats! When are you going to stop?"

The security guard on duty sounded annoyed and furious.

"I already warned you. If you keep fooling around, I'll call the police and have the school discipline you!"

I screamed into the receiver at the top of my lungs.

"Sir! Please believe me this time! My classmate really is having an asthma attack!

"He left his inhaler behind, and he's barely breathing now!

"Hurry and call an ambulance, or help us by opening the elevator doors!"

The security guard on the other end snorted.

"Keep making things up.

"First you said you were just pressing the button for fun, and now you're acting out some life-or-death emergency?

"Students these days really have no sense of decency.

"Don't call again, or I'll block this elevator's emergency line!"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The call was mercilessly cut off again.

I collapsed onto the floor. Despair instantly swallowed me whole.

Harvey's body began convulsing violently. His eyes rolled back, showing nothing but the whites.

This time, Sheldon started to panic too.

"I-Is he really convulsing?

"Jason, did you push him earlier and hurt him?"

He was actually trying to shift the blame at a time like this.

I was so furious I was practically seeing red.

"Sheldon, if anything happens to Harvey, I'll make you pay with your life!"

As I shouted furiously, I frantically pulled out my phone.

The signal bar showed a single glaring message.

[No Service.]

The elevator's signal-blocking effect was simply too strong.

All I could do was desperately hold down the emergency call button on the screen.

"There's no signal. Damn it! Why is there no signal?"

Tears streamed down my face from the panic.

Suddenly, Sheldon came over.

He snatched my phone away.

"What are you doing?" I yelled.

Sheldon stuffed my phone directly into his pocket.

"You can't call emergency services!

"If the doctors and police come, the school will investigate for sure.

"If that happens, my parents will find out and cut my allowance!

"He's not going to die anyway. Just let him lie there for a while. He'll be fine."

Sheldon stared at the tightly shut elevator doors. His eyes darted around nervously.

I looked at him and felt that the person standing before me was nothing short of a monster.

He was actually willing to watch a classmate die just to avoid getting scolded by his parents.

"Give me my phone!"

I lunged at him, and the two of us immediately began wrestling.

While we struggled over the phone, the steel cable above the elevator suddenly emitted a harsh grinding sound.

The entire elevator shook violently.

Then came the sickening sensation of weightlessness.

The elevator plunged into free fall!