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The sound of an elevator
door stole Brent’s attention away from the book in front of
him. He stared at the empty elevator across the room, no one
inside, and watched as the doors closed.
“Why do you think it
does that?” Brent asked his partner in study on that
particular night.
Tyler looked up from his
own book. “What?”
The two sat in the
middle of a lounge, which acted as the centerpiece for their
dorm floor. To their left a door led to the male wing, and
to their right the female wing. Directly in front of the
couches they occupied two elevators stood, and what Brent
pointed at.
“The elevator. It opened
even though no one was on it.”
“Someone probably just
pushed the button for our floor then got off on another
floor. There you go, mystery solved.”
“Three times?”
“What?”
“That’s the third time
it opened without a passenger in the past hour. You really
think someone did that three times for no reason?”
“You’ve got to be
kidding me. Who cares, seriously?”
Outside the building
snow filled the dark night; their fall semester was almost
at an end, and both needed to study for their finals.
“It just seems odd to
me,” Brent continued in refusal to allow the conversation to
drop.
“Why does it seem odd?”
“I’d think if no ones
using the elevator it should stay on the last floor it was
called to, not randomly travel from floor to floor. And I
don’t think that many people would bother to hit a whole
bunch of buttons before getting off.”
“If you want to see why,
just go in the elevator, don’t push a button, and see what
happens. Wow, problem solved. Now kindly shut up.”
Tyler shook his head and
returned to his book, Brent and his elevator ignored. Aware
Tyler was done with the subject, Brent looked down at his
book and reluctantly picked it back up. Twenty minutes later
his attention broke away once again at the sound of the
elevator, and he looked up at the empty box, Tyler’s words
repeating in his head.
Tyler looked up as Brent
walked over to the elevator and stepped through the open
doors. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m
doing?” Brent stared at Tyler with a smile.
And then the doors
closed, the elevator motionless. Brent stared at the panel
of lit buttons and waited; aware the door would probably
just open right back up, end of story, his little excursion
ended.
The elevator shook, and
then began to move, though what direction Brent couldn’t
quite tell. He stared at the numbers above the door, but
they didn’t change, still on the ninth floor. No button lit
up, and no arrow signified which direction the hanging box
moved. But it did move, and for quite awhile.
A flutter of something
touched Brent’s stomach after a full five minutes passed and
still the elevator continued. He wanted to reach out his
hand and press a number, but decided against it, too curious
what would happen when the elevator finally came to a halt,
something that happened a few minutes later.
With a friendly “bing,”
the elevator stopped, nine still displayed on the small
screen above the doors. The doors parted and Brent stared at
an empty lounge.
At some point Tyler had
left, which seemed odd. Behind Brent he heard the doors
close and glanced back at them, but didn’t linger.
Windows lined the
opposite wall, and what drew Brent’s eyes next. Snow had
freckled the dark night when he left, but now he stared at a
snowstorm. The sky turned white in the onslaught of
snowflakes, and Brent drew closer to the window and peered
out.
Three inches had covered
the ground just one hour earlier when he had returned to the
dorms, but now, the snow rose so high he could barely see
the cars parked in the lot behind the building. Only small
humps marked the roofs of each vehicle, the snow probably
five feet deep at least.
Under no circumstance
could the snow build up that much in such a short period of
time. Taking a step back from the storm outside, Brent
glanced over the lounge again, still empty, and noticed his
missing book next.
The familiar ring of the
elevator door intruded into his thoughts, and he turned
towards it, watching as the doors parted. At first he
expected to see someone else walk through, and when no one
did, Brent took a few steps closer.
When the doors started
to close he ran, barely able to get his hands between them
before they shut. Thankfully the sensors still worked, and
the doors parted to allow him entrance. Once again in the
elevator, Brent reached out this time, the action done with
no real thought, and pushed the button for the ninth floor.
As soon as he pushed the
button the elevator began to move, once again in a direction
he couldn’t quite say. Five minutes passed before the doors
opened again, and Brent stared at Tyler, still on the couch,
book in hand, who looked up as Brent walked out.
“Give up already?” Tyler
asked.
Brent ignored Tyler for
the moment and walked up to the window and the light snow in
the air. He stared at the white covering the ground, no more
than three inches at most, before he looked at Tyler.
“You won’t believe me,”
he said. Brent wouldn’t believe someone if they told him the
story already circling through his mind.
“Oh?” This warranted a
little more of Tyler’s attention, and he set his book down.
“Believe what?”
Brent looked over at the
sound of the elevator and watched two people walk out. Tyler
glanced over at them before he returned his attention to
Brent, who took up a seat on the couch and closed his still
open book on the table in front of him.
“What is it?” Tyler
asked again.
“If you want to know,”
Brent finally said, “then the next time those doors open for
no reason, come with me and see what happens.”
“What kind of joke is
this?”
“No joke.” Brent looked
over at Tyler and smiled. “No joke at all.”
“You were gone for all
of five minutes, and you’re telling me something so amazing
happened I wouldn’t believe you if you told me?”
“That’s exactly what I’m
saying. Hell, if you want a little more incentive, I’ll bet
you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Twenty bucks says when
we go on that elevator, something amazing will happen.”
“So if we step onto that
elevator, don’t push a button, and the door opens right back
up to this floor, or if it gets called to another floor, I
win, right?”
“Yup, you’ll win. But if
anything, odd, happens, I win. Agreed?”
This wait lasted thirty
minutes before the elevator door finally opened without a
passenger. They hurried up from their seats and stepped on,
Tyler quite confident about his coming win, and Brent a
little nervous, both that nothing would happen, and that
something would.
The doors closed and the
two waited. After a few seconds they felt the elevator shake
and then start to move even though the number on the door
remained at nine. Tyler stared at the nine, his smile
faltering as one minute turned into two, and then three, and
yet no destination.
When the elevator came
to a halt and the doors parted, Tyler started to proclaim
his victory at the sight of the lounge, only to see his book
missing from the table.
“Damn it,” Tyler
muttered, and hurried off the elevator to look for his
missing book, while behind him Brent stepped out as well and
watched the doors close, before he returned his attention to
the snowstorm still raging outside.
“What they hell?”
Brent walked up to his
bewildered friend and saw what confused him. A thick layer
of dust covered the top of the table, and that wasn’t all.
The more Brent really looked at the room, the more he saw
cobwebs in the corners and strands of it hanging from the
ceiling.
The chairs looked aged,
fabric worn away, most of its color lost. The carpet felt
ragged and hard under his feet. Even the windows looked
clouded with grime, and beside him, Tyler finally noticed
the storm, his missing book forgotten.
Without a word Tyler
walked up to the window and stared out at the parking lot
down below.
“What is this?” Tyler
asked.
After a few minutes had
passed Brent broke his gaze away from the window and walked
into the center of the room to look at more of the changes.
Tyler lingered for a little longer before he moved to join
Brent.
“What else is different”
Tyler asked, eyeing the strings of web waving to him from
the ceiling.
“Not sure,” Brent
answered.
He walked up and tried
the call button, but nothing happened. “It just opened last
time I was here, same way it does on the other side. Guess
we just wait if we want to get back, but to be honest, now
that you’re here, I’d like to see a little more. I mean,
this has to be one of the greatest discoveries, you know?”
Tyler agreed, and felt
his own desire to see more of this bizarre version of the
real world. So the two set out and walked through the door
to the male wing. They walked slowly down the hall,
listening for any sounds, but each heard nothing.
Aside from the silence
and the closed doors, everything looked just as it should,
even the posters and notes left up on doors. They paused in
front of the bathroom and Tyler tried the knob. Inside they
found a normal bathroom, if a little dirtier than normal.
In the shower stalls
mold coated the walls, and the toilets were a disgusting
mess. They didn’t linger long and stepped back out into the
hallway, Brent’s goal the door to the stairwell at the end
of the hall, but Tyler had another idea.
“I wonder if they’re all
locked,” Tyler said, his eyes on his own room right across
from them.
Brent simply watched as
Tyler tried the knob, which turned in his hand. He glanced
back at Brent, who shrugged, and Tyler pushed the door the
rest of the way open. He took two steps into the room before
he stopped, a small, strangled gasp enough to draw Brent to
his side.
The room wasn’t empty.
In the corner they saw what looked like a man, hunched over,
naked, his back to them. His skin glistened in the light of
the hallway, and the sound of Tyler’s voice seemed to alert
him as well. He cocked his head up just a little, and
started to rise.
He was bald and well
built, easily over six feet tall. Fully upright his hands
dropped to his sides, and within one of them they saw a
mound of bloody flesh, so mangled neither knew what it once
belonged to.
The man turned, and when
they saw his face, both started to retreat out of the room,
yet they were unable to look away. The mangled lump of meat
fell from his grip and landed on the floor next to him as he
approached, out from the darkness of the room, and into the
light of the hallway.
A thin layer of skin
covered over his eyes and where his nose should have been.
While freakish enough, his mouth drew their attention even
more. Someone had cut it open, widening it, and then
stitched it back together. As the man drew closer he smiled
at them, and the smile tore away the stitches, the grin wide
enough to almost stretch from ear to ear. Blood dribbled
down the side of his face and mixed with the slick substance
on his body.
His mouth wasn’t the
only place he’d been mutilated, and nothing but stitches
rested between his legs as the man walked out into the
hallway. They were cut off from the lobby, the stairwell
door their only escape.
Brent ran first, Tyler
right behind him, towards their only escape. Thankfully the
deformed man didn’t run, but simply walked towards them,
granting them a longer life, though not much longer when
Brent slammed into the door and it didn’t move. He struggled
with the handle, shoving as hard as he could, but the door
remained, solid and unbreakable.
In the hallway the
Smiling Man walked closer, smiling as wide as he could,
fingers opening and closing in eager anticipation at his
sides.
Shoving Brent aside,
Tyler kicked the door as hard as he could, and the wood
shuddered. With his second kick it cracked just a little.
Both Tyler and Brent kicked at the same time, and the force
broke the door wide open.
They shot through and
down the steps, nearly tripping over their own feet in their
panic to get away. Five flights down and both slowed, still
alone in the stairwell. Apparently the Smiling Man saw no
reason to follow.
Tyler tried the door to
fifth floor, which didn’t open. He kicked, but unlike on the
ninth floor, this door didn’t even shudder. With no other
options, the two continued down until they stood in front of
the glass exit to the building, nothing but white beyond the
doorway.
Brent took up a seat on
the steps and stared at the snow packed against the door.
Tyler walked up to the exit and rubbed his hand across the
cold glass.
While Brent sat on the
step Tyler continued down the last flight of stairs and
tried the door to the basement. Once again, the door was
locked, and didn’t move. He took up a seat next to Brent,
and for a few minutes neither of them spoke, transfixed by
the white wall just outside.
“What now?” Brent
finally asked.
“Hell if I know. I’m
assuming all the floors are locked. Back down the hallway to
the elevator is the only thing I can think of.”
For twenty minutes they
checked each floor only to find the same results. When they
reached the ninth floor, both stared at the splintered
doorframe, no sign of the Smiling Man. They continued on and
checked the upper levels, before they returned to the open
doorway, their only exit.
The hallway was just as
empty and silent as before. They walked slowly down it, the
closed doors like a presence they could feel. Every door
they passed brought with it images of what might lurk just
behind, waiting for them to turn the knob and try to walk
in. Brent could swear he heard footsteps behind the doors as
mutilated people moved around.
And then the open door
lay just ahead. Both of them stopped, tense and ready to run
if they needed to, but they heard nothing. They strained to
hear movement, and Brent swore he could hear something, but
didn’t know whether or not his mind simply thought he did.
“You ready?” Tyler
whispered.
“I’m good.”
Tyler nodded, motioning
a countdown with his hands, and when he reached zero, they
ran towards the lounge.
Even before they reached
the door movement caught Brent’s ear, but by that point they
couldn’t go back. Tyler, who ran closest to the door, felt
fingers grasp his arm right as the two passed by, and the
grip jarred him backwards. The Smiling Man rushed out from
the dark room.
Tyler’s gasp caught
Brent’s attention and he watched his friend get pulled back.
In an attempt to break free, Tyler turned on the Smiling Man
and punched, his aim the flesh covered eyes, but his fist
never reached its target. The Smiling Man grabbed his wrist,
and with a swift jerk, snapped the bone.
Frozen in fear, Brent
listened to Tyler’s scream. Brent’s eyes sought out the door
at the end of the hallway, and he nearly ran for it, but
turned back towards the Smiling Man instead, and charged. He
didn’t expect to live, this sudden burst of bravery quite
surprising.
In preparation for
Brent’s attack, the Smiling Man let go of Tyler, who fell to
the ground. With pain shooting through his arm, Tyler
ignored it, and focused his attention on the Smiling Man,
kicking the back of his knee. With his leg buckling and
balance shot, Brent easily sent the Smiling man sprawling
towards the ground.
Tyler scrambled to his
feet with Brent’s help, and they once again ran, the Smiling
Man’s scream of rage behind them enough to grant each an
extra burst of strength.
Fortunately the door to
the lounge remained unlocked, and both shot through into the
decaying lobby.
The previous layer of
dust had multiplied, not just on the furniture, but
everywhere. The floor turned grey with it, windows so dirty
they couldn’t see out them anymore. Rust covered the
elevator doors, and behind them the door to the male wing
slammed shut.
Brent hurried over to
the elevator and pushed the call button, not in the least
bit surprised when nothing happened. Sweat trickled down his
forehead as he turned back to the door, but the Smiling Man
didn’t burst through it, apparently not willing to chase
them into the lounge.
“The button doesn’t
work, remember?” Tyler said, broken wrist held close to his
body, and took up a seat in one of the worn chairs. Dust
puffed up as he fell into it. “We have to wait.”
“How’s your hand?”
Tyler held out his arm
and tried to move his fingers, but his entire hand refused
to respond, already beginning to swell badly. “It’s pretty
bad. Thanks for saving me back there.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Before he realized what
was happening, Brent bent over and threw up, disturbing the
tranquility of the dust on the floor. His dinner splattered
everywhere, and after he had nothing left he dry heaved for
a few minutes before the feeling finally passed.
“You feel better?” Tyler
asked.
“I’ll feel better when
we get back.”
“No doubt about that.”
Brent walked over to the
chair across from Tyler and took up a seat. They stared at
the dark number nine above the door and waited for it to
light up. They could do nothing but pray that it eventually
would. |
