CHARISMA - the sweet unknown {PLL}

Warehouse Games - Part 3

The countdown was still continuously running down in the background but to Alisha it felt like time had stopped. She wasn't prepared to tell her friends. She didn't even know what to tell them. The only thing she knew was that her parents had been lying about her place of birth and that there were adoption papers. It had been her biggest secret and she had kept it like a treasure. Wilden was the only person who knew about it but that was different. He didn't seem to judge her or her family and he never pushed her to say anything if she didn't want to. Her friends were going to ask questions. Over and over again. And Alisha wasn't sure if she could handle that.
Emily carefully placed a hand on Alisha's shoulder, "Alisha, we have to hurry. Just say the date of your moms birthday."
Alisha looked at her and their eyes met. "I don't know the date."
Spencer frowned, "Even I know it, December 15th."
Alisha slowly shook her head, "She's not my mother."
"I don't understand", Emily said.
"I'm adopted", Alisha said and a sudden anger boiled up inside her, "is that what you wanted me to say? That I have no idea who my mom is? That my parents are liars?" She turned around in a circle, shouting loud enough that her echo filled the entire room with sound.
Aria held her ears and grimaced in pain. Her entire head was hurting and it felt like her brain was about to explode. The beeping countdown and the sound of Alisha's yelling didn't make it any better.
"We need to find Alisha's dare", Spencer said and pulled out her phone to make some light. "Come on, help me find it."
Alisha was too angry to actually protest anymore. She tried to remind herself that this wasn't about her, that she was here to save Hanna. So she looked around the room as well. She walked along ever wall, looked on every window sill, but there simply was no envelope.
"You have one minute left", the female voice said all of a sudden and they exchanged panicking looks.
Emily and Spencer picked up Aria from the ground and supported her, "Let's go look somewhere else."
They stumbled through the hall towards the stairway.
"I don't think we get any more time to look somewhere else", Alisha said and pushed open the doors, "we lost."
They had already reached the stairs when all of a sudden the elevator opened its doors with the ring of a bell. The countdown had stopped beeping and they just looked at each other for a moment.
Then Alisha took a few steps backwards and looked inside the elevator. A red envelope that had her name on it was lying in the middle of it. She quickly stepped inside and picked it up. Within a second she had ripped it open and held the card in her hands. It wasn't a dare, only a message.
Ground Zero to save Hanna.
"Guys", she looked up from the card, "take Aria out of the building and go to my car. I'll get Hanna."
"Alisha, I don't think that's going to work", Spencer frowned while she inspected the elevator, "it's to dangerous."
"Hanna is in this building", Alisha held the card up so Spencer was able to see what it said, "I'm not leaving without her." That being said she pushed the button that said Ground 0 on it and the doors closed.  Alisha's heart was racing while the elevator went down slowly. It cracked once or twice and she held on to the small iron rail. It was one of those old ones that was designed for carrying heavy goods.
She must have been at least two floors down when all of a sudden the elevator stopped jerkily. Alisha ran to the doors to see if they opened but they remained shut. The light started flickering and she wasn't sure what exactly was happening, when she heard the female voice again. It was outside in the stairway but still loud enough for her to hear it. "You ran out of time. Game over." The siren went back on and Alisha hear Emily and Spencer yell her name.
"Emily! Spencer!" She shouted as she was banging against the elevator doors, "I'm here!"
"Alisha?" Spencer must have heard her. "Alisha, are you okay? It sounded like the elevator got stuck?!"
"It's not moving anymore", Alisha replied. She tried pushing several buttons but nothing happened. "What's going on out there?"
Spencer had to press her ear against the wall to be able to hear Alisha. The siren was howling so loud it was hard to understand her own words. "The lights are flickering everywhere."
"I think I smell fire", Emily said and looked around. They had almost made it down the staircase, with Aria, who was halfway passed out by now.
"Alisha", Spencer shouted, "Is there a way for you to get out of the elevator?"
Alisha looked around the small space. She must have got stuck somewhere between two floors so it was no use trying to push the doors open. She lifted her head and took a look up to the ceiling. A small glimpse of hope emerged in what she saw. "There's a hatch on the ceiling. I'm gonna try and climb out of it", Alisha told the girls. "If I make it to the shaft I can climb out of there, too." She heard Emily coughing in the stairway. "You guys leave, okay?"
"Alisha", Emily sounded upset, "we're not leaving you!"
"Go!" Alisha yelled and already began climbing onto the iron rail. She was glad she wasn't wearing heels and her physical practice from cheerleading benefited her, too. The hatch was quite far away and she wasn't sure how to climb out of it, but she wouldn't stop trying. She had managed to find a position to stand on the rail without losing her balance. With a manful bash she hit against the hatch in hope that it would just open. It didn't move a single bit though and her hand really hurt now. "Damn it", she said to herself. But she had no choice other than trying again and again. She was too small to use both her hands, since she had to stand on her tiptoes to even reach the hatch with one hand.
The siren kept howling and Alisha wondered if anybody would hear it. Sure, nobody lived around this area but maybe a random car that drove by? Spencer and Emily knew they had to call the police as soon as they reached her car but Alisha couldn't tell how long that would take. She was just hoping they'd make it out alive and well.
She had an idea that might work, so she got back on the ground and placed both her hands on the rail. She pushed herself off her feet and did a handstand. Now she used all her strength to push herself upwards from the rail so her feet would hit the hatch. She actually managed to kick it open, so she quickly climbed up the rail again. She pushed herself up to the hatch and caught an edge with her hands. Now she was tangling in the air, trying to pull herself up. Her left hand still hurt badly from that cut she got earlier and she squinted her eyes in pain.
All of a sudden the elevator started moving. But it wasn't going down in normal speed, it was rushing, falling. Alisha lost her grip and fell down to the ground. She whimpered in pain as she landed on her right foot which was hurting terribly. Her head hit the ground the moment the elevator stopped. Alisha tried to get up but she wasn't strong enough anymore. Everything around her started spinning and she felt sick from all the pain. She let herself fall back on the ground. As far as she could see the door was open just a crack and light was now coming through. Spencer had been right, the light was flickering and the siren sounded even louder now. But there was something else she could see. Something that slowly started creeping into the elevator and filling up the air. Smoke.
Alisha didn't know how much time had passed since she fell but by now she was having lots of trouble breathing. The smoke had already filled her lungs and she felt like she was going to pass out. "I'm sorry, Hanna", she whispered as she was slowly closing her eyes.
"Alisha!"
A well known voice sounded through the darkness. Was she dreaming? She tried opening her eyes and she lifted her head a little.
"Alisha?" the voice was even closer now and she felt the urge to answer but she couldn't. "Are you in there?"
A second later she heard banging and scratching coming from the outside of the elevator. A shadow kept moving back and forth in front of it. That was all she could see through the small crack.
Wilden, armed with a crowbar, stood on the other side and used all his physical strength to open those doors. As soon as he had pulled them apart enough for him to sneak through the gap, he threw the crowbar away and went inside. Alisha was lying on the ground d, curled up like a cat, and her head was bleeding a little. He kneeled down next to her and carefully lifted her head to check her breathing. "Alisha, can you hear me?"
She blinked and he had never been happier to see her smudged mascara all over her face. "Darren?"
"Are you injured?" He asked as soon as she seemed to be a little more responsive.
She nodded and grimaced in pain, right away. "I can't move my foot."
"Alright", he said and let his hands and arms slide under her body, "We have to get out of here." He lifted her up and carefully dragged her out of the elevator. The gap was the hardest part but he made it through without hitting her head or anything.
She wasn't able to walk at all so he just carried her down the stairway and through the big entrance hall. The whole warehouse was full of smoke and parts of it were still burning. The alarm system had been turned off but Wilden knew the fire brigade was already on its way.