Strawberry Ice Cream [steddie]

Rainbow Sprinkles

Tuesday, July 2

The room was an elevator. And it doesn't stop falling.

No one stops screaming.

Steve braces himself against the stacked cardboard boxes. "WE'RE GOING DOWN, WE'RE GOING DOWN!"

Robin's pressed against some shelving on the wall. "YEAH, NO SHIT HARRINGTON!" Eddie's next to her, eyes wide with fear. Somehow, Steve still finds room through the panic to feel bad about including Eddie in all of this.

Dustin frantically hits the button panel. "WHY DON'T THESE BUTTONS WORK?!"

"PRESS THE BUTTON!" Erica yells.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!"

"COME ON, PRESS SOMETHING!" Steve yells. "JUST PRESS THE BUTTON!"

"Oh shit oh fuck I'm gonna die WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Eddie rambles.

"WE'RE NOT GONNA—" Robin's cut off by the room suddenly slamming to a halt, knocking all of them and several boxes to the ground.

Steve smacks into the corner of the room, falling under a heavy box. "Ugh... my groin. I fell on my groin."

"We all did man," Eddie groans from the floor.

Robin holds her head. "Ah, ow."

"Dustin!" Steve yells. "Get this off of me! I can't move."

Dustin stumbles over and helps lift the box, and Steve staggers to his feet.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin asks.

"Yeah I'm GREAT now that I know Russians can't design elevators!" Steve yells. He goes over to the door to try the panel again.

"I think we've clearly established those buttons don't work."

"They're buttons, they have to do something."

"Yeah if we had a keycard!"

"A what?"

"It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning—"

"—We're stuck in here," Dustin finishes.

"Yeah."

"Ohhh no. Mm-m." Eddie shakes his head, starting to pace. Steve notices him fidgeting with his rings again. "I can not be stuck in here. This is so bad."

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's," Erica says. "And Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow, and my mom finds out you four are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat."

"I don't CARE about Tina!" Steve shouts. "Or Uncle Jack's party! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!"

"Yeah, we are going to die," Eddie agrees. Steve looks at him, still pacing. He's been quieter, probably because he knows everyone even less than Steve does, but he's definitely still panicking. And maybe that sort of makes it better.

Steve doesn't know what the hell they just got themselves into, but at least they're not alone.

"Hey," Dustin says. He points up. "What if we climbed out?" They all look where he's pointing, to a panel door in the ceiling.

Robin shrugs. "Worth a shot." She helps Dustin climb on some boxes to reach the hatch, and open it. Dustin disappears into the dark. Steve immediately climbs up after him.