• tab "What are you doing here, Susan?" I grabbed her shoulder, seething the words out through my teeth. She turned away.
    tab "I was thinking about what I've done to you, and..." The elevator door dinged, and I stepped in, looking at Susan and saying,
    tab "Sorry. People are waiting for me." Not too surprisingly, Susan stepped in with me. No one else in the elevator but us.
    tab This was going to be a long night. A long night, I would figure out, in more than one way.

    tab "Jack, what I've been doing is wrong." I didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said.
    tab "And I've thought about it. Thought about what I've done to you." She stared up at me, and admitted,
    tab "You know, I really knew all along that you were already in love with someone else. Deep down, I knew. I knew it when I first saw you two together at the party. I knew it when I followed you into the wedding ring store. I knew it when you stammered on the phone, trying to tell me things wouldn't work out. But..." She looked away from me, and stared at the mirrors in the elevator, frowning at her beautiful reflection.
    tab "But I refused to believe it. I refused to, because I didn't want to.
    tab "And I thought about all that for the last couple days, when I saw that you were right. I'm just a selfish, self pitying girl who always wants her way."
    tab "Susan..." I began, suddenly very grave and regretful myself. "What I said...what I said a couple days ago, I was just angry. Angry because I couldn't please everyone. Angry at myself for not seeing it coming. It caused me to say horrible things, things that weren't true."
    tab "No!" she exclaimed, jolting me a bit. "No, they are true. I'm nothing but a--nothing but a..." She stopped, and fell to her knees, bursting into puddles of tears.
    tab "I'm nothing...Absolutely nothing..." I bent down, and lightly touched her cheek with my hand.
    tab "That's not true, Susan." Suddenly, my voice began to grow deeper, like a full grown adult. Like I suddenly had authority...like I was in full control for the first time in my life. "You're not nothing. And don't ever tell yourself that."
    tab "Then..." she whispered through pockets of whimpers. "Then...what am I?"
    tab "Your..." I pondered over the words for a second, and then said, "Your my best friend. And that will be something that can never be undone, no matter what you do." I looked into her eyes. Nothing but complete happieness and contemptment. She smiled at me. I smiled back. And for that one split second, everything seemed like it would be ok.
    tab Until I heard a loud, groaning noise, fit with ear shatter shrieks. Then, silence.
    tab "What was...what was that?" Susan was just as puzzled as I was, it seemed. But it didn't take long for me to figure out.
    tab The elevator had stopped. And the door wasn't opening. We were trapped.

    :tab razz anic was all that there was for me. I immediately ju,ped up, and pounded the elevator door over and over again.
    tab "Someone! Let us out! Let us out!" No reply. Minutes went by of my hammering at the door, until I finally stopped, collapsing to the ground, heavily.
    tab "We're stuck..." As my anger began to rise, I began to shout,
    tab "We're stuck in an elevator on Christmas Eve! I can't believe I'm saying this!" I curled myself up into a ball against one of the mirrors, pouting like a little child. Susan sat down next to me, and reached her arms around my shoulders,
    tab "It will be all right. Help is going to come." I couldn't believe she was the one encouraging me now, after all the encouraging I just gave her. I looked up at her and through my tear wet cheeks, managed a small, hopeful smile.

    tab And so, we just sat there. I'm not quite sure how long, but it must've been a couple hours until I finally reached into my little bag and pulled out my old leather Bible. I lit up the dark elevator with my cell phone, opened the Bible, and began to read a highlighted section that caught my eye,
    tab "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Susan smiled.
    tab "That's Deuteronomy 31:6."
    tab "Yes," I comfirmed, sharing the smile. She nudged her way closer to me, and leaned over to read the Bible with me.
    tab And as hours passed, we read through the story of Job, weathering countless tribulations and tests, but always coming out in the end to praise the Lord. We read about Jonah, who rebeled against God again and again, but God never let him go. Never abandoned him.
    tab And finally, we read the Christmas story itself. A story about hope, a story about how God loved us so much, "that he gave his only begotten son, that who soever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
    tab I closed the Bible as my cell phone battery depleted. I looked over at Susan, hunched forward. She was crying, but it was less of mournful tears and more of rejoicing about all that God had done for us. I touched her hand.
    tab "Do you want to pray?" Slowly, she nodded. Together, we bowed our heads. Closed our eyes. Held hands. And prayed. The most sincere prayer I had ever prayed.
    tab "Dear God...We have done...so much wrong, and yet you still love us." The words got harder to say as I broke out into bursts of crying.
    tab "And after all you've already done for us, I just want to ask one thing: Please. Please let us get home for Christmas.
    tab "And in Jesus name...Amen."