The 11th Floor

by Charles Culver

  The ride up went very quickly. The elevator chimed and opened, not on the eleventh floor, but the tenth. Sitting on a chair immediately outside the elevator doors was her father.

  “Daddy,” Tina yelled as she ran out to him.

  Joseph grabbed her and they hugged for a few seconds without saying a word.

  “What took you so long, kiddo?” asked Joseph.

  “I was on the way to where I thought you went, and I heard a voice yell out to me,” said Tina. “I didn’t see who it was, but there is someone else here. Maybe they can help.”

  “I don’t know. I am inclined to not trust anyone or anything I see at this point. I expect you to do the same. There has been way too much strange stuff going on today.”

  “What happened to you, anyway?” asked Tina. “I saw a hooded guy drag you off into the elevator. I didn’t expect to find you so easily.”

  “Truth be told, I thought I was a goner. The guy had me in a choke hold the whole elevator ride,” said Joseph. “He was super-strong, could have broken my neck but didn’t.”

  “Well I’m glad he didn’t,” replied Tina.

  “Me too, kiddo,” said Joseph. “When we got out on this floor, he pointed to this chair and let me go. I figured he meant I should sit since he didn’t say anything. I sat down then he got back in the elevator and left. That’s all I know.”

  “Well I didn’t see him on my way up, he must have been in the other elevator car,” said Tina.

  “Probably,” replied Joseph. “After he left I pressed the buttons and nothing happened so I sat back down and just waited. There is no other way out of this little room besides this elevator, so I didn’t have much of a choice.”

  “Well the elevator seems to be working fine, so lets get out of here,” said Tina.

  “I don’t think that is the best move at this point in time,” said Joseph. “It looks like someone is trying to prevent us from leaving and is intending us to go up to the eleventh floor. I think if we try to escape again, we will fail. Maybe next time we don’t end up so lucky.”

  “So what, continue up to eleven?” asked Tina.

  “Exactly,” said Joseph. “I think we have to.”

  The two of them entered the open elevator car and reluctantly pressed button eleven. As the doors closed, they gave each other a nervous glance. Each knew what the other was thinking; they worried about what they might find on floor eleven. They didn’t have much time to worry. The elevator door opened almost as quickly as it had closed. The trip up to the last floor was near instant.

  As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they realized they were not alone. Present in the room were three men, none of whom looked familiar to either Tina or Joseph. One man was lying on the floor. The second man was standing over the man on the floor; he was sharply dressed in an expensive-looking business suit.

  “Excellent. VIP numbers three and four have also arrived,” said the third man, from his seat behind a desk in the corner of the room. He was also dressed very well, in a dark suit. He had jet-black hair and didn’t look up when speaking. He appeared to be referencing a tablet in his hands.

  Chapter 22

  As Luke ascended the remaining flights of stairs, he continually looked down over the railing, checking for movement, seeing if he was being followed. The first few steps were uneventful, which helped calm his nerves. There were only two floors to go, so he had no need to rush at that point. He felt it was best to conserve his energy for when he reached the eleventh floor and whatever might be waiting for him there.

  He had reached the top of the current set of stairs when he heard footsteps below. He leaned over the railing and looked down to see who was following him. What he saw was a hooded shadow figure a few floors below. Luke gasped. It was the same hooded figure he had seen in the window when he was walking down the street earlier in the day, he was certain of it. They exchanged a long stare, when finally the shadow figure broke the gaze and began climbing the steps at an alarming rate.

  Luke took off running as fast as he could, skipping every other step. When he reached the tenth floor, he stopped and yanked on the door. It was locked and would not budge. He looked down over the railing again. The hooded figure was still ascending the stairs, and catching up quickly. It seemed like for every two steps Luke was able to climb, the hooded figure was able to do ten.

  Giving up on the locked door, Luke continued to run up the stairs two at a time. When he finally reached the door marked as eleven, he leaned over one last time to see where the hooded figure was. It was only one set of stairs below him at this point. Terrified, he grabbed the knob, slammed the door open, and charged into the room at full speed.

  He now stood in the middle of an office-like room, surrounded by other people. These were the only other people he had seen since waking up in the mysterious alley room that morning, except for the janitor. On the floor was a dirty, bleeding, older man, who seemed unconscious. Standing over him was another man in a business suit. Past these two, near the elevators, were two more people. One was an attractive younger woman, probably close to his age. The other was an older man. Judging by the way she was clinging to him, he was probably her father.

  As he stood there staring at these people, a voice came from the corner of the room behind him.

  “Ah, the late addition. More are always welcome.”

  Luke turned to look in the direction of the voice.

  “Is that man dead?” asked Luke, pointing down at Eddie.

  “Good question. I was just about to check for a pulse,” added Jonathan.

  “You really don’t know, do you?” asked the man behind the desk, still looking down at his tablet. “How ironic.”

  Jonathan knelt down next to the man and felt his neck for a pulse.

  “So? Is he dead?” asked Joseph.

  “He seems to only be unconscious. I found a pulse,” said Jonathan, turning to look at the man behind the desk. “What are all these people doing here in my office, and who the hell are you?”

  Before the man could answer, Eddie let out a moan and opened his eyes. He had to squint a bit to see because of the suddenly bright lights he was exposed to, but he saw a man standing over him and a bunch of other people around him. He couldn’t be sure, but they all looked familiar.

  He rolled over and pushed himself up to a standing position. He had a really bad headache and his arm still hurt. Standing there, rubbing his arm and head, he recognized the others as the people he had seen earlier in the day. Mr. Important, the two people in the car, the man in jeans from the alley— they were all here.

  “I know you people. I saw you all earlier today out in the streets acting weird,” said Eddie. “Why are we all here? What’s going on?”

  “Thanks for finally joining the party, Eddie,” said a man sitting behind a desk.

  Chapter 23

  The man behind the desk finally put down his tablet and got up. He was a very intimidating specimen. He stood about six feet six inches tall and wore a dark charcoal-grey Italian three-piece suit. His hair was shiny and black with a few streaks of grey at the temples. He appeared very well-built and muscular, with broad shoulders and a thick neck. By all appearances, this man could have been a professional wrestler or football player.

  “It appears everyone is here, so we can finally get started,” said the man.

  The man behind the desk clapped his hands three times very loudly. Immediately, the door to the stairwell opened. The hooded shadow figure walked out into the room, and approached the desk where the man stood. From his pocket, he retrieved a small object that resembled a snow globe, which he then placed on the desk next to the man. Turning to face the people in the room, he removed his hood and grinned.

  Simultaneously, everyone in the room gasped.

  Facing the man behind the desk, Jonathan stepped forward and asked, “You haven’t answered my question. Who are you and what are these people doing in my building?”

  The man responded, “Toda
y, this is my building and this is my office.” Pointing to the formerly hooded figure, he said, “I trust you all have met Lou.”

  Everyone stood speechless and stared as Lou walked over to the stairwell door and pulled it open a few inches. Out scurried the black creature, which walked over to the desk and jumped onto it, sitting down next to the snow globe–like object that Lou had placed there.

  Eddie screamed and ducked behind Jonathan, who was the closest person to him at the time.

  “Keep it away from me,” Eddie yelled. “That thing did this to me. It attacked me.”

  “Now, now. Calm yourself, Eddie,” said the man standing behind the desk. “This is my pet. Don’t you like him? I made him myself.”

  “What the hell is that thing?” asked Luke. “And what do you mean, you made him yourself.”

  “Oh, he is nothing in particular. I had a lot of inspiration from various species of animals. He is primarily Tasmanian Devil, mixed with a few other animals’ characteristics,” said the man.

  “But, how can you create him yourself? Are you some kind of genetic engineer or something?” asked Joseph.

  “Nothing of the sort. I just happen to be a man of several talents,” said the man. “Obviously, none of which are manners. Excuse me. Allow me introduce myself. My name is Nate,” he said with a slight bow.

  “Why don’t you tell them the best part, Sir,” added Lou.

  “As you all can see, Lou here gets impatient when he is excited. It’s one of his flaws. If he wasn’t so good at his job, I would not have tolerated it for so long,” said Nate.

  Nate chuckled and paused for a moment, pulling a cigar out of his inside jacket pocket.

  “Allow me to appease Lou and tell you all the best part,” said Nate. “You are all dead.”

  Chapter 24

  Everyone present, upon hearing the ridiculous statement made by Nate, just stood silent. The first one to break the silence was Tina, who hadn’t said anything since everyone had gathered in the room.

  “What do you mean, we are all dead?” asked Tina.

  “Yeah, what do you mean,” added Joseph.

  “I mean, simply put, none of you are alive,” said Nate. “What do you think ‘dead’ means?”

  “Perhaps I don’t understand,” said Jonathan. “Are you speaking metaphorically, because I am clearly not dead.”

  “Rest assured, Mr. Koenig, you are deceased,” responded Nate. “Allow me to explain.”

  Nate pointed his finger at Eddie.

  “You, Eddie, what do you remember before waking up this morning?” Nate asked.

  “I’m not sure. I was sitting in my box, playing solitaire. I heard a loud noise. Then, this morning, I saw that kid over there climbing down a fire escape,” said Eddie, pointing toward Luke.

  Nate now pointed his finger at Jonathan.

  “And you, Mr. Koenig, what do you last remember?”

  “I got home from a particularly bad day at the office. I ate a quick meal and had a drink,” said Jonathan. “Then I woke up in bed this morning. I assumed I had too much to drink and just didn’t remember going to bed.”

  “I’m sure the rest of you have similar experiences with missing time. This is my point,” said Nate. “What I am doing here is the Devil’s work. I am his right-hand man, if you will. You see, he gives me a list,” he explained, indicating to the tablet on the desk. “I don’t question why people are on the list, they just are. You must have grabbed his attention in some way. Anyway, I take this list, and my associates and I gather their souls for the boss. We do, however, get to have some fun in the process.”

  “Come on, this is complete bullshit,” said Joseph. “Do you expect us to believe this crap?”

  Nate calmly walked over to Joseph and grabbed him by the throat with this left hand. Without any effort at all, he lifted him off the ground and squeezed.

  “Stop it! Stop! Daddy,” yelled Tina. “What do you want from us?”

  Still holding Joseph in the air, Nate responded, “I already told you, dear. I want your souls.”

  With his right hand, he retrieved a long blade from his jacket pocket. In one smooth motion he lopped the head clean off Joseph and let his body fall lifeless to the floor.

  Everyone screamed. Tina began crying.

  “Shut up. All of you,” said Nate. “Screaming and crying will get you nowhere.”

  Still holding the severed head of Joseph, Nate turned and nodded at Lou. Lou approached Nate and took the head in both of his hands, squeezing it until it became smaller and eventually disappeared. When he opened his hands, the head was gone and floating in its place was a small puff of lightly colored blue vapor.

  Nate walked up to the desk and picked up the snow globe object. He carried it over to the floating blue cloud and touched the two together. The blue cloud was sucked into the globe. He approached the group of people and held up the globe. Inside was Joseph, banging on the wall of the glass object, silently screaming.

  “Now do we believe?” asked Nate. “The boss likes to keep them safely in these things. He calls them his keepsakes. He puts these on shelves for display, sort of like souvenirs. Each one tells a story.”

  Screams and crying once again filled the room.

  “Answer me this,” yelled Nate over the screams. “Why is it that none of you remember going to sleep last night? It is because you all died last night. This place is limbo.”

  “Now, remember how I told you we like having fun while doing our jobs?” asked Nate. “Well, we play tricks on people. Torture them mentally before finishing them off. It’s always groups of people too. You’re probably heard about our work, read it in the paper. or saw reports on the TV news, and just never even realized it. Groups of people all die the same way,” he said.

  “So you brought us all here to kill us?” asked Jonathan.

  “Wrong again, Mr. Koenig,” said Nate. “I brought you all here to torture you before collecting you. As I said earlier, you are already dead.”

  Nate looked around the room.

  “So who wants to be next? Any volunteers?”

  Chapter 25

  The group of people now huddled together in the center of the room.

  “Solidarity is cute, but pointless,” said Nate.

  Nate approached the group and punched Eddie square in the stomach, dropping him to the ground.

  “Come take care of this man,” said Nate, motioning to Lou.

  Lou approached Eddie, stepped on his chest, and grabbed him around the neck. Simultaneously pulling and twisting, he ripped off Eddie’s head with almost no effort. Then, in a similar fashion to Joseph, he squeezed it very hard until it was no longer visible. A puff of blue vapor now hovered in the room. Just as before, Nate walked up to it with the same keepsake and it was sucked in. Inside the keepsake now stood Joseph and Eddie, both banging on the glass.

  “Now you, Miss. What do you remember?” asked Nate.

  “I don’t… I can’t…” she said softly as she wept.

  “Come now, surely you remember rehearsing your interview questions.”

  “Yes, I do… but that’s all. Then I woke up and here we are.”

  Nate circled the group.

  “Such a pretty thing. It’s a shame you’ll have to witness another person die in front of you,” said Nate, who then snapped his fingers and whistled.

  The black creature jumped down off the desk and scurried across the room. It ran up to Jonathan and bit him in the calf, causing him to fall to his knees with a scream. Nate grabbed him by the hair and sliced across his neck. The screaming stopped. His body fell to the ground with a thud. He then tossed the head over to Lou, who squeezed it out of existence and into a cloud of vapor that was immediately collected by the keepsake.

  Luke and Tina both hugged each other tightly while crying.

  “I told you solidarity would do you no good,” said Nate.

  Suddenly, Tina broke the embrace and ran for the stairwell door.

  Lou let out
a large, intense laugh and said, “They always resist. I like watching them try to get away.”

  When she reached the door, she pulled as hard as she could, but it would not budge. Lou walked up behind her and slammed her face into the door, then threw her on the ground. Nate approached her and kneeled down.

  “Oh, when I said you were pretty, I meant it. Too bad Lou had to mess it up.”

  He took his knife and stabbed her in the chest while covering her mouth. With a twist, he withdrew the blade and stabbed her in the throat. She became limp and stopped resisting. Lou picked her up and in the same fashion as the others, squeezed her head until the vapor appeared. Nate held out the keepsake and watched as the vapor was sucked in.

  Holding it in front of his face, he said, “Four down. Almost done. Now we just need to clean up this late entry.”

  They both looked at Luke, who stood there in disbelief at what had just taken place.

  “Has anyone ever escaped?” asked Luke.

  “Never,” replied Nate.

  “Do you expect me to just give up?” asked Luke.

  “No one has ever just surrendered themselves,” said Nate.

  Luke surveyed the room for possible escape options. The only exits were the elevator, which would take too long, and the stairs, which he knew were locked based on Tina’s attempt. Then a thought occurred to him.

  “I never said anything about surrender,” said Luke, as he took off running across the room.

  He ran full speed, straight at the desk in the corner of the room, jumped onto the surface, and leapt at the window. A split second before he hit, he turned his back to the glass, tucked his head, and covered his face.

  “Fool! Suicide will not prevent us from collecting you,” yelled Nate.

  With a large bang and shattering sound, Luke crashed through the glass.

  Both Nate and Lou walked up to the shattered window and watched as Luke plummeted to the ground.