Ten BAAK Types in a Broken Lift: The Party That Never Started

The lift doors closed on ten cartoon animals heading to the same party.

Then the lights flickered. Then the lift stopped. Then the phone came out and showed three percent.

This is a story about what ten BAAK types do when nobody is coming.

The lift stops

01/10

FOX

I clocked you. Keep talking.

The FOX looked at the button panel. "There's no alarm button. Whoever built this thing designed a lift with no alarm button. That's not an accident, that's a decision."

07/10

NORTH

I set the standard. Keep up.

"You skipped the one marked alarm," said the NORTH, without looking up.

The FOX looked. The button marked alarm was right there.

The FOX looked at the NORTH. The NORTH looked at the button. The FOX said nothing, which for the FOX was a whole event.

03/10

SEVEN

You panic. I lock in.

"Right," said the SEVEN. "Everybody off the walls. We push the doors apart and climb out. I've done this before."

02/10

PEACH

It's my story. You're in it.

"You've done this before?" said the PEACH, already sitting down on the floor.

"No. But I've seen it. That counts."

06/10

COMET

My timing is immaculate. Yours?

The COMET was on the phone with the building. "Hi. Lift four. Yes, four. The one by the bins. No, listen, I'll get you the code off the panel, you just get someone walking." Then, to the room, quietly, "Smile at the guy on the phone. He can't see us but he can hear us."

Forty minutes, one phone at three percent

08/10

PEARL

Richer than I look. Guess again.

"How much time do we actually have," said the PEARL.

"None," said the FOX.

"Forty minutes," said the PEARL. "That's how long the lift door says someone is coming. I read the sticker."

"Then we have forty minutes and three percent of a phone. The battery is a resource. Hand it here."

"Nobody is handing anything anywhere," said the PEARL, and put the phone in their pocket.

That did not go down well.

05/10

JADE

In my lane. Stay in yours.

The JADE was watching the little light above the door. "It's not broken," they said. "Something's just loading outside. Watch the light blink. Blink, blink, pause. That's a person walking past, not a machine."

04/10

MOTHLIGHT

I knew before you said it.

The MOTHLIGHT was leaning against the back wall with their paws under their fluff. "The sticker with the door number is upside down," they said.

Everyone turned around. It was.

"Been like that since we got in," said the MOTHLIGHT. "I was hoping someone would notice."

09/10

TAU

I don't need the hype. You do.

The TAU did not join the group. The TAU did morning laps three feet of lift at a time, turned at the wall, lap, turned at the door, lap.

"You okay?" said the JADE.

"Fine," said the TAU, who was not fine and would not be saying otherwise.

10/10

FLARE

Too much? That's the point.

"This is nothing," said the FLARE, and they meant it. "I've been in worse boxes. Ring the alarm again."

"That's what I'm saying," said the SEVEN. "I'll climb out."

"Nobody is climbing out," said the NORTH.

"Watch me."

"Watch yourself," said the NORTH. "There's a gap between the car and the floor. You get one leg across that gap and the hall hears about it."

02/10

PEACH

It's my story. You're in it.

"You know a lot about lifts," said the PEACH, who had not moved.

"I read the certificate."

"Of course you did."

The PEACH did not get up. The PEACH had found the one warm corner and claimed it in the way of people who have never been in a hurry.

Then the PEACH looked at the ceiling and gave a very small side eye. "Someone's going to start a fight," said the PEACH, to nobody.

The time the FOX saw the flaw

The FOX leaned back against the wall, arms folded. "Okay. Look at this a different way. Everyone is trying to get out. Nobody has asked why it stopped."

"It stopped because it's broken," said the SEVEN.

"It stopped between two floors, with the doors locked, the second the COMET pressed the button for the party floor. Somebody on that floor called it. Somebody does not want us at this party."

"Who?" said the NORTH.

"I don't know yet. But I don't like their math."

"This is why nobody listens to you," said the PEACH, from the floor.

The FOX did not answer that one. The FOX is sharp with other people's plans and quieter with their own.

The PEARL took the phone out. "Six percent."

"How is it six percent? It was three," said the SEVEN.

"I turned it off. That's what bright people do."

The JADE had not stopped watching the light above the door. "It's stopped blinking," they said.

The doors opened.

Out

Corridor carpet. Fairy lights. Music through a door at the end.

The NORTH walked straight out.

The PEARL counted who had gone. Then counted again, because it is worth it.

The TAU did one last lap of the empty lift, then stepped out.

The FLARE was already halfway down the corridor, shouting back, "See? Nothing to worry about."

The COMET was already through the party door, arriving at exactly the moment the cake came out.

The SEVEN was still inside the lift, pushing at the doors, which were now open, and which did not need pushing.

The MOTHLIGHT was already gone, even though nobody saw them go.

The PEACH was still in the warm corner, asleep. The FOX, waiting by the lift, nudged them.

"We're out. You slept through the whole thing."

"I wasn't asleep," said the PEACH. "I was waiting for it to be worth getting up."

Then the party host leaned out of the door at the end of the corridor and waved. "Oh good, you made it! Sorry, I pressed the stop button by mistake. Forty minutes ago."

The FOX turned to the NORTH. "Told you. Somebody did it on purpose."

"By mistake," said the NORTH.

"That's what they all say."

So. Which one are you?

The FOX who spotted the flaw nobody asked about? The TAU who ran laps? The PEACH who found the warm corner and stayed? The PEARL with the phone in their pocket?

Fiction starring the ten BAAK types, for fun.