Elevator

Damned elevator was out of order. Some hints revealed themselves in the morning, but Jungkook ignored anything. He didn't need more crappy news that Monday. He didn't need any crap at all, no matter what weekday it was. None the less, now he was standing in front of a broken public facility machine, and no one was going to help him with the problem. No one even tried to calm him down or cheer him up by word. Foyer was absolutely empty. Jungkook was standing there alone. 12th floor apartments seemed very bright idea at the time he decided he needs some privacy. For many reasons. Free mind soaring high, he'd preferred 40th floor, he'd even preferred penthouse with night view at nights and sea view at daytime. But state of his accounts only allowed him two bathroom apartments in a not especially modern and not especially good apartment building far away from the city center. Things that should be referred as advantages at the place he found were some night view from the balkony and the said privacy, because nobody knew him there by the face. Oh, and the price, of course. Real estate agent announced so tiny a rent that Jungkook started to hesitate. But the reason was the simpliest. Apartment building was, so to say, not in a good condition at the time. Owner kept in mind to make a huge reconstraction, but this project only ought to be launched in half a year or so. Half a year's time lapse was an acceptable deal for Jungkook. But not only that scheduled renovation made his rent went down. All the facilities, communications and engineering systems were weak, ill and sometimes on the borderline of total destruction. "Time have no mercy on the physical world, but everything in the building is functioning now more or less," his agent said. "And we maintain and repair any breakdown, our lodgers have never been left with troubles like that on their own". Jungkook thought it all over, left to right, up and down, back and front and inside out, allowed to usher him to the spot and signed his rent contract for three month length period. He decided nothing especially bad would happen. In theory. Bad knee happened — in reality. Jungkook accidentally damaged his ligament on a right knee while tried his best in a gym last week. There were some pretty looking girl novices visiting community center, where the gym was located, so Jungkook almost had no chance to avoide some accident while working out in front of them. He hoped it would be a love affair, but it went out as a knee bandage, expensive oinment with an unpleasant odour and forced suspension from any sports and physical activities. About a week had passed, he started to feel a little better and at last put aside his anaesthetic pills at nights — but now this. Damned elevator broke itself. Jungkook set his black face mask, bent down to the floor and took a piece of paper, halfway torn apart by the middle, from under his feet. The thing was from a service team probably. It seemed they got a signal from some lodger, arrived in here, found the problem too big to be solved (or brushed off clean) immediately and just left this "Temporarily Out Of Order" note here attached to the elevator's doors with the adhesive tape. Some good samaritan notified service office. Someone from the service crew left a written warning. And some idiot teared the note off, leaving it lay on the floor in front of the elevator. How nice of them all, especially the latest. But wait a moment... Maybe... No, not that there were no idiots living in here, but maybe it was someone from the service team who teared the note off? To think about it, Jungkook went out early in the morning, now it was late at night. It was possible that they finally repared everything on their second visit and the note was simply tossed out as a garbage. Then why it ended up on the floor, not a dustbin? Because. A draught from the entrance, for example. Or the said idiot and his silly tricks. Doesn't matter. What really matters now is a weight of Jungkook's own body, much more heavy and awkward after a long day at work, deep tiredness, unhealthy knee, thirst and hunger, and some gentle signs that nature will be calling soon. In other words, it's not that state of private affairs when a man could ignore any artificial high-technology gifts and pleasures of a XXI century civilization. In other words, he should try. Jungkook pressed the only button on a side panel next to elevator's doors. For two or three seconds after that all around him was silent, as if the building was abandoned by all it's inhabitants long time ago, then something mechanical shuddered deeply within the elevator's well. In three more seconds the sound transformed into something familiar: the elevator started to move. "Come, come here, magic cart, I'm waiting for you more than you can imagine with your supposed-to-be brains," murmured Jungkook. As if in answer to this words, external metallic doors opened and the elevator revealed his shabby interior. Light tube on the ceiling panel was flickering slightly. Jungkook poked his nose in, looked the insides over and decided that the machine functions good enough to lift him twelve decks up. He went in and pressed "12" on the inner control panel. Doors closed with a heavy sigh, making Jungkook feel his own tiredness more acute than before. He even started to regret that this apartment building isn't luxury enough to have cozy sits in its elevators. The nearest cozy sitting place was at Jungkook's apartments, and he mentally rushed there. But sometimes it's impossible to land yourself at the most desirable places simply through your mere mind effort. Any time actually. No one ever able to do so. Not without any help from a third party. For Jungkook, the helping hand happened to be the elevator, and it seemingly did it's best. Sound of diligently working mechanism penetrated elevator's walls, then all the cabin shifted and moved at last. Jungkook sighed with some relief and was about to start musing of simple pleasures his private tenement could give him soon, but suddenly freezed. His perception told him that, judging by the stir, this damned elevator was descending. Jungkook had attended what was hidden underneath once or twice since he moved in. There was nothing especially interesting, just a couple of underground parking lots, proudly named "Basement 1" and "Basement 2", as much shabby as anything else in the apartment building, but popular enough among the lodgers to encave their vehicles down there for a night. And nothing fearful or mystical was concealed at this place, of course. Not so many things could scare Jungkook, actually, and none of them was definitely waiting for him beneath. But the fact that his adress to "12" button was taken by the elevator as a good reason to visit "1" and "2" separately, and especially that this weird old machine had chosen "1" and "2" under the ground level, not above, didn't provide it's only passenger with any pleasure or joy. "Hey, stop it, you," said Jungkook aloud. For now he was more surprised than worried. The elevator immediately stopped as if in obedience to the order. The doors opened and stayed like that. Jungkook waited for some time, shrugged and tried to press "12" again, but then suddenly changed his mind. He decided to check out the place before his second attempt to departure homeward. He fixed his face cover again and made one tiny half-step from the elevator. Dull as it is. Not a magic dungeon, but a simple basement parking. Big partly shaded mark on the nearest wall said "B2". A little bit further Jungkook saw two raws of automobiles and some scooters. Jungkook shrugged again and went back to the cabin. Just the moment his index finger touched the "12" button, he heared some noise from the outside, quickly approaching footsteps, and then someone called out: "Wait a second, please!" Jungkook standed still with his finger pointing at the button, and literally one second after that a man jumped in the elevator. Jungkook looked at him sideways and noticed that he must be a courier — he wore a baggy overall and wide jacket with a logo of a delivery company. Instead of a baseball cap he'd got a simple fabric panama hat on his head. It's brim was narrow but with some help of a shadow the brim casted downright it hid man's face to the chin. The man himself looked fifty shades of dull, so Jungkook got no interest neither in him nor in the fact he emerged out of the parking depths. "Twelfth, please," asked the man and rearranged the long wide strap on his left shoulder. He had a big delivery rucksack with him. "Same," answered Jungkook, though nobody asked for his own point of destination, and presst the button. The elevator closed it's doors rather willingly and happily started to move — this time upwards. The moment Jungkook thought his adventures and troubles for today is over the elevator squeaked and abruptly stopped in the middle of nowere.