The black door shut with a satisfying click, reminiscent of the sleek man that came out of it. He slid tired eyes to his wrist, momentarily pausing to feel the slight ticks of his watch against his hand. He continued, dreading the few moments to come.
His pocket vibrated. As was expected. He knew who was calling him...and he hated the fact that he knew. That he got used to it.
He slid the green icon to the right and put it to his ear grudgingly.
"What do you want?"
"Elyas. You better come down to the office before I behead you and use it for my hot pot, you hear me?!"
The call ended, taking the grumpy voice away with it.
Elyas spared a fleeting glance at his phone before pocketing it away. The words seemed to wash over his head as he pressed the elevator button. Pulsing, red in tune to his bouts of annoyance.
Indifferent to what he just heard, he continued to walk at his pace. Languid in his movements, leisurely in his attitude. Not a care in the world.
He seemed to predict everything before it happened. He heard it before it did. He didn't need to count the rhythm if he could sense it. His intuition was sharp, and his senses more so. He heard the rush of the gears, and the cables pause in their motion. Almost instantly, the elevator's doors opened up to him, synonymous with his estimation.
Elyas stepped through the doors, already counting the hours before he came home from work. Ignoring the other person in the elevator, he crooked his head to the side, stretching his sore neck out. His eyes shifted to the bright lights above, closing instantly, as he tried to cram in a few more seconds of sleep.
"Sir, you stepped on piss."
He paused before continuing to roll his shoulders. He didn't need to glance at his feet to check. If there was piss, he would have smelled it before stepping into the elevator. He slit open his eyes.
"Umm...sir?"
Elyas glanced at the person beside him. Her eyes widened when she saw him, but it quickly turned into a grimace.
"There's no such thing here," Elyas said to her before turning away.
The girl fidgeted with her fingers, as awkwardness settled over. The only sounds he heard were the rusty turns of elevator gears and the girl's calm breaths. Elyas tuned out all of it, shutting out the sounds and focusing on his own breath. The taps of his fingers against his thighs. It rippled like a wave inside him. Elyas let the numbers flow through his brain. Soothing himself to the rhythm that calmed his own fidgets.
Suddenly, the elevator was too quiet. Elyas furrowed his brows as he let the sounds pour in once more. Something didn't feel right-
Click.
Fastening breaths, gentle shuffles of the feet...Elyas picked them up. He heard it before he saw it. The girl smashed her fish into the buttons, sending a crackle of electricity through the panel before they flickered to a stop. It happened in a flash, as she spun around and pounced on him in the next breath.
Elyas was slammed into the side of the elevator, face to face with a shiny blade, eagerly waiting to slice up his already scratched-up face. Elyas couldn't help but grit his teeth at the opposing attacks. The only defence he had against the girl was his briefcase and his intellect...none of which would help him in the situation.
'Fuck my life,' Elias cursed inwardly.
Her knife slid against the dark leather of his case, as she tried finding a new opening. The blade sliced down, curving upwards, slightly grazing his arm. The whooshes of the blade and the trickles of blood resounded together, as Elyas tried to hone in on a sound that would let him escape. It was hard when he tried fending himself off and listening for the rhythm of her attacks at the same time.
'There,' Elyas's eyes flashed as he caught the sound of her blade.
Elyas grabbed her wrist, twisting it away from him. She dropped the knife, holding back a wince.
Limp in his hand, Elyas watched her with confusion.
"What do you want?" he asked her, straining to widen the distance between them.
Her eyes looked closed off before a light sprang to life in them. Elyas couldn't read the pattern in her pupils. She smirked as a loud noise rang inside the elevator.
Elyas clenched his jaw before hearing the scrape of metal on metal. Someone was pulling the elevator shaft open.
"Tell whoever's on the other side that there's no point in breaking you out."
Her smirk faltered as a shadow crossed her features. Her forehead creased with apprehension.
"How'd you know that, you scum?"
"Let's call it my intuition," Elyas shrugged, shoving her to the other side of the elevator wall in the next breath.
She slammed her hands against the briefcase Elyas used to pin her down.
"Intuition, my ass," she snorted before relaxing under his strength, "don't flex your luck and call it intuition."
"At least I have it."
She arched her brow.
"And I don't?"
The elevator shaft banged open, and a portion of the ceiling clanged to the ground. Elyas was shoved to the side as the girl kicked off from the side of the elevator to the outstretched hands, pulling her over.
He sighed, fixing the collar of his shirt. From what Elyas heard, he suspected at least three people involved in her shenanigans.
'This better be the end of it.'
He grumbled before positioning himself in front of the elevator door. Balancing the energy cording through him towards his center, Elyas gathered his strength before releasing the pent-up current of rage into the elevator doors. They loosened enough for him to pry them apart with his hands.
People watched with open mouths as they regarded him in awe. Or was it fear? He couldn't tell.
He couldn't even bring himself to care.
A flash registered in his eyes, snapping his attention away from the elevator. The camera slid back into a coat as a familiar figure dashed away.
He saw the tilt of her hat in his direction before escaping through an Emergency Exit door, resounding the alarms once more. Murmurs of panic shot through the crowd as they diffused and poured out through the foyer, making way for the policemen.
'What a show,' Elyas snorted as he skirted around a few onlookers.
They followed with their eyes, lingering on him suspiciously as he tried to look as nonchalant as possible.
'Nonchalant, my ass. When have I ever been anything more than a fucking toad lookin' pervert?'
Elyas followed the direction the girl went in. He felt around for his phone and stopped short. His heart sent a thunderous stutter of rage as his pockets came away empty in his hands. His face darkened, bending his lips into a scowl.
'Shit. It's gonna happen again.'
And it was the first time it happened after the relapse.
Elyas was planning death, maybe not in the nicest of ways.
For the girl who stole his curse, and maybe his only way home.
"You're gonna wish you stole my watch instead," Elyas smirked nastily.