Theodore entered the fourth-floor lobby of the tall-rise office buildings in New York. He quietly trod to the elevators, exhausted by a hard workday. After pressing the button to call the elevator to the floor, Theodore removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, watching the digital display as the lift descended from the eighth floor. The sound of the elevator's mechanics operating was the only thing audible, all of the other people working in the office had left home for the day.
After a few moments, the elevator arrived on the fourth floor and the doors to the cabin opened, with a ding.
Theodore centred himself in the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator doors slowly closed. The elevator was whirring as it moved through the shaft, the fluorescent lights were beginning to dim, then quickly grow brighter. The lights of the elevator illuminated against the metal walls. Theodore looked up at the lights, and suddenly they grew to a blinding brightness and finally, they cracked. The remnants of the bulbs scattered on the floor. The elevator was in total darkness.
“Crap, just what I needed,” Theodore muttered to himself.
Theodore took his phone out of his pocket and turned the torch on. The elevator continued operating, grumbling and vibrating as it moved. Theodore looked at the digital display and read that the elevator was ascending upwards, to the thirteenth floor. Though that couldn’t be possible, the thirteenth floor didn’t exist…
“What in the world?” Theodore asked himself.
The elevator was quieting down, it announced with a ding that it had reached the thirteenth floor, and the doors began opening.
Theodore looked outside of the lift; it looked just like the other floors of the office. Except, the wallpaper was peeling, there were no lights, and a smell of dampness was wafting into the elevator.
Theodore hurriedly pressed the button for the ground floor on the lift again. He waited uneasily for the doors to close, except they didn’t.
Theodore sighed to himself, exited the lift and went into the corridor, using his flash to see. As he moved further and further in the corridor that never seemed to end, the walls around him made him feel more claustrophobic. Suddenly, Theodore heard a sound coming right behind him.
When he turned around there was no one there. Yet still, he was sure he could hear the human-like groaning coming from somewhere. Theodore noticed that the lights for the elevators were working again, and then he noticed a figure standing in the elevator.
“Who’s there?” Theodore called out.
Theodore moved closer to the elevator. With every step, the figure’s features became more apparent. As he moved, the groaning got louder, like it could be coming from either side of him.
Thomas paced quicker to the lift and finally saw what had been standing in the elevator. A giant, naked, slobby blob of a monster made of what looked to be melting human flesh. The pungent smell from before was overbearing, Theodore clung a hand onto his nose as he stood frozen from panic.
The monster began groaning, the elevator doors started closing and when they opened again, there was no monster in the lift. The bulbs had been cleaned from the floor and everything seemed to be in operating order. Theodore got into the lift, covered in cold sweat.
As soon as he got in, the doors closed behind him and the lift descended the elevator shaft. Theodore stared at the elevator’s digital display, completely on edge. When it reached the lobby of the fourth floor, the lift stopped, with a clang and the doors opened.
“Oh, come on! What?” Theodore grunted.
Theodore pressed the button for the ground floor again. In return, the digital display read that the lift was out of service.
“Maybe I should just take the stairs…” Theodore muttered.
He exited the elevator and walked through the empty office, to the staircase. Theodore kept checking behind his back as he walked further and further down the stairs.
He exited the stairwell and moved faster towards the exit building. As he reached the office doors, he looked behind him one last time. The elevator was open, but the cabin wasn’t there.
