The 11th Floor: Awakening

by Charles Culver

  Suddenly, he realized that this was not his apartment. This ceiling he was staring at was not his bedroom ceiling. The wall to the right was not his bedroom wall. He looked left and let out a loud scream while jumping out of bed.

  “God damn it, you have to be kidding me!” Luke yelled out. “This crap can’t be happening again!”

  Luke stood there looking at the dead body on the bed next to where he was lying, wondering if he was about to relive his nightmare from months ago, when he noticed this was different. Gone was the brick room with a single window. Gone were the table and chair and the blood-covered knife. He found himself now standing in a small room with only a bed and a desk. The wall nearest the bed had a curtain and the farthest wall had a wooden door with a chain lock.

  He listened patiently, but heard nothing. Upon approaching the curtain, he peeked around the edge and saw it was indeed covering a window. The curtain was thick and managed to sufficiently conceal the daylight that was attempting to light the room. He pulled back the curtains. After the initial blast of light, his eyes adjusted.

  “Holy crap, I’m on a boat?” he asked himself.

  With his face pressed against the pane of glass, he could see nothing other than the ocean. He rushed to the other side of the room and listened quietly by the door. Not a sound could be heard. A quick glance out the peephole only revealed an empty corridor. Certain that no one was around, Luke slowly unlocked the chain and pulled the door open.

  The view from the peephole was correct. This was indeed an empty hallway. A nearby sign on the wall indicated the deck was to the left. Surely he could find someone out on the deck, even if it was just an old woman sunning herself.

  The journey down the hallways was quieter than he would have liked. Once out in the sunlight, it became clear to him that this was most definitely a cruise ship. Present was a giant pool, a water slide, and music playing loudly. Missing were all signs of life. Not a person was to be seen anywhere. Several lounge chairs were scattered around the pool area and, by his quick count, a good 50 percent of them were overturned.

  “Hello!” he yelled out, to no response.

  He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket. It had no reception.

  “Well, this is the middle of the ocean. What’d you think? Idiot,” he said quietly to himself. “Well, at least this time there’s no Wi-Fi signal either. Different is good, I suppose.”

  He began walking around the pool to the other side of the ship when he heard a loud caw sound from overhead. When he looked up, there was a giant black crow flying past.

  “A crow? On a cruise ship? That has to be a first.”

  He put his phone back into his pocket and followed the bird around the ship, trying to keep up. Surely the bird was a pet of some sort, perhaps the captain’s, and it would lead him to someone. A few seconds later, the bird circled around the ship and out of sight. The disappearance of the bird was shortly followed by the sound of a door closing a few floors up above.

  Luke knew that sound meant someone was up there. He rushed over to the nearest set of stairs and began to make his way up to the location from which he believed the sound had come.

  Chapter 5

  A few flights of stairs later, Luke was now on one of the upper levels of the ship. At this height, he could see most of the entire lower ship by leaning over the railing. As his earlier assessment suggested, the ship appeared to be deserted.

  “This is too much like the last time, except I’m not in a city,” he thought.

  Trying to orient himself, Luke kept looking down over the railing to pinpoint the location of where he was standing when he heard the door close. Feeling certain that this was the correct level, he began knocking on doors.

  Luke worked his way down the corridor knocking on every door, with no response. Occasionally yelling out “HELP” proved to be useless. He figured it was the car alarm effect. Someone else’s problem was not their problem, so they ignored it. Luke could think of many instances where a car alarm was going off and no one even bothered to look. Honestly, he didn’t blame them. Who would want to get involved and put their own life at risk for strangers? He thought it was unfortunate the way the world was heading these days. He hoped that if he ever had the opportunity to help someone, he wouldn’t ignore them.

  As he walked down the hall, door to door, a thought crossed his mind. He stood now at the end of the hall staring right at a fire alarm. Without hesitation, he pulled down on the handle, which he knew would sound the alarm and flush out anyone who may be around. They might be hesitant to help someone, but they sure as hell would want to run and save their own lives.

  Unfortunately, the alarm did not sound with the pull of the handle. He ran back down the hallway to the opposite end and pulled the alarm on that side too. Again, the same dissatisfying outcome of no alarm sounding.

  Luke stood there, trying to think of what to do next, when he felt the ship turn slightly to the right. The realization suddenly occurred to him—someone must be steering the ship.

  “The captain!” he shouted aloud. “I need to get to the bridge.”

  He knew from his limited experience that the bridge was in the forward part of the ship. He was in the wrong section. He ran to the stairs and went back down a few floors to where he had been only a few moments earlier. Not completely sure of how to get exactly where he was heading, he hurried along nonetheless.

  As he passed one particular door, he could hear a woman screaming on the other side. He went back to the door and listened more carefully.

  “Help me! Anyone! Hello?”

  “Hello? Who is in there?” asked Luke.

  “Oh my god! Someone, whoever you are, let me out of here!” cried the woman.

  Luke opened the door. The woman inside came running out and gave him a huge hug and a few kisses on the cheek. She stood about five foot two, blonde, mid 40s.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve been trapped inside that room for hours,” she said. “The door was locked or jammed and I couldn’t get it open. I tried to call someone for help but the phone was dead. How did you get the door open?”

  “I just opened it. No problem.”

  “I swear, I couldn’t get it open.”

  “I believe you. My name’s Luke.”

  “Danielle.”

  “Listen, Danielle, have you seen anyone or heard from anyone else today?”

  “No, I told you, I was trapped in there. The phone was dead.”

  “Okay, well you’re out now. I have to go try to find out what’s going on.”

  “No, don’t leave me alone. I want to go with you.”

  “Sure, okay, but stay close and keep your eyes peeled for someone else.”

  “Anyone in particular?”

  “Nope. I have a feeling we’ll know when we find them.”

  Chapter 6

  After making the decision to turn the ring over to the captain, Mary Beth and Tom left their stateroom to head down for some breakfast.

  “Do you think there is a reward?” she asked Tom as they were walking down the corridor.

  “Does it matter if there is? We don’t need the money and some poor woman is without her ring.”

  “I know, I was just thinking. Forget I said anything.”

  Tom chuckled.

  As they approached the elevator, there was an odd clicking sound coming from behind them. Mary Beth must not have heard it, as she kept walking, but Tom stopped and looked back for a second. The clicking sound stopped. Realizing that Tom had stopped, she turned and looked back at him.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Hmm, I thought I heard something. Must be my imagination. Never mind.”

  He caught back up to her. A few steps down the hall, the clicking sound came again. This time, it was faster and almost sounded like a bit of tapping.

  This time, both Mary Beth and Tom stopped and looked back. The clicking continued. Around the corner appeared a black dog-like creature. It stopped and
looked up from the ground at the two of them. It growled, showing its pointy, jagged teeth. They both stared at the creature. Tom quickly looked back over his shoulder and realized that the elevator doors were open.

  “Babe. When I say go, turn and run as fast as you can into the elevator. You hear me?”

  “Mm-Hmm,” Mary Beth replied with a whimper.

  “GO!” yelled Tom.

  They both turned and ran as fast as they could toward the elevator. Tom looked back while running and was not surprised to see that the black creature was following suit.

  “Faster!” he yelled.

  Behind them, the clicking and tapping sound of the creature’s long nails on the concrete was louder and faster than before. Snarling and growling, it ran after them.

  Both Mary Beth and Tom reached the elevator at the same time. She ran inside and squatted down in the corner, covering her eyes, crying. Tom repeatedly mashed on the Door Close button until it did just that. The black creature stopped its pursuit, and just watched them as the doors fully closed.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Mary Beth.

  “Babe, believe me when I say I have no goddamned idea.”

  “Did you see its eyes?” she asked. “They looked like spiraling red tornadoes.”

  “Yeah, I saw it. Probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Not that I’m complaining, but why did it stop chasing us once we got in the elevator?”

  “Why do you think I know? It just did, okay? I don’t know why,” said Tom. “Look, forget the whole breakfast thing. Let’s go find help. There is some kind of animal loose on the ship.”

  “Agreed.”

  Suddenly, the elevator stopped and the doors opened just a crack. Tom tried his best to see out the crack, but all that was visible was darkness. He squeezed his face closer, almost pressing his forehead to the door, when something hit his cheek. It was wet. When he pulled his head back, another splash of water squirted through the crack in the door. Then came another squirt of water, followed by yet another and another, until it was no longer just little squirts of water but a full trickle. The trickle quickly picked up speed and became a rushing torrent of water, pouring in between the elevator doors.

  Mary Beth screeched, “Do something!”

  Tom tried forcing the doors closed but they would not budge. In a futile attempt to stop the flowing water, he took off his jacket and stuffed it into the cracks between the doors. The force of the water was too great and the jacket would not stay in place. It wouldn’t have done any good anyway, considering the jacket wasn’t big enough to cover the entire length of the doors.

  They both started banging on the walls. The power in the elevator abruptly shut off and now they were left in darkness with the water rapidly filling the elevator car.

  “I’m scared. We’re going to drown in here,” she said, crying and hugging her husband.

  “I’ll figure something out. We’re not going to die in here. No one has ever drowned in an elevator.”

  Tom looked all around the elevator car as best as he could with no lights. Up above, he noticed a glow of light. He jumped up and hit the ceiling tiles with his fist, slightly shifting one of them out of place and allowing more light through the opening.

  “Here,” said Tom. “Put your foot in my hand and I’ll lift you up through the opening.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her foot in his hands. Just before she jumped up, the power in the elevator came back on. The water was gone and their clothes were dry.

  “What is going on?” Mary Beth shouted.

  The elevator made its ding noise and the doors opened. Standing immediately outside the doors were two people.

  Chapter 7

  “So Danielle, does any of this seem odd to you?” asked Luke.

  “Everything seems odd, now that you mention it. Where is everyone?”

  “Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out. I think this is a dream and none of this is real.”

  They both stopped walking. She turned and stared at him. He looked dead serious, not even a grin.

  “You’re right. That does sound crazy. Completely crazy. I don’t even know you, so I can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but it’s not funny.”

  “No, no, no. Go with me on this. Where is everyone?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they’re all in one of the restaurants having breakfast or something.”

  “Everyone all at once? Not likely. Do you remember how you got here?”

  “Yes,” she responded. “I mean, yeah, I think so.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, not really.”

  “Listen, I’ve been through this before. Let me try to explain. A few months ago, I—”

  The elevator they were standing next to made a ding noise and the doors opened. Out rushed an older couple, panicked and breathing heavily, almost knocking into Luke and Danielle.

  Danielle turned to Luke and held out her arm, gesturing to the older couple now standing in front of them.

  “See?” she asked Luke. “There are other people here. Nothing crazy going on at all.”

  Luke didn’t look at her; his focus was primarily on the older couple that just rushed out of the elevator. People typically don’t rush out of elevators unless something is wrong, and this couple looked troubled. He held up his finger to Danielle in an attempt to silence her.

  Luke asked the older couple, “Are you two alright? You seem a little scared, for lack of a better word.”

  The older man replied with his explanation of what happened to them. He told the story of the big crow with the ring. He went on to say that a weird black dog-like animal chased them onto the elevator, and how the elevator tried to drown them.

  “Wait,” said Luke. “Did you say a black dog-like animal?”

  “Yes, why? Have you seen it too?”

  “Umm, was it about this high,” asked Luke, holding his hand down near his knee, “with red eyes, vicious-looking teeth, and long nails?”

  “Its eyes were red and swirling like a tornado,” replied Mary Beth. “So you saw it too?”

  “Yes, I’ve seen it before, but not today. It was months ago, as I was starting to explain to Danielle before you two arrived,” said Luke. “Has anyone seen or heard from a guy named Lou or Nate?”

  Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads side to side, answering with scattered, puzzled-sounding nos.

  “How about a guy in a hooded cloak? Anyone seen him?”

  They all responded in the same fashion as before.

  “Well, keep an eye out. You want nothing to do with these people or that dog thing.”

  “Hey! If you know what’s going on here, you have to let us know!” demanded Tom.

  “I have a feeling I know where this is going. I’m going to bet that they ultimately want us to go see the captain, but this time we have an advantage,” said Luke.

  “What advantage?” Tom asked.

  Luke replied, “Me.”

  Everyone stood and listened attentively as Luke told his story about Lou, Nate, the black dog-like creature, and the entire city of missing people. As he progressed through the story, there was the occasional gasp and sound of shock from the people standing around him. When Luke finished telling his tale, the group stood silent for a moment, as if they needed time to absorb it all.

  Finally, Tom broke the silence, “That’s quite a story you have there, son, but I don’t believe a word of it. It would make a great book, if you decided to become a writer. It just doesn’t sound like reality and is a little too farfetched for my liking. You should probably go see a shrink.”

  “No, it’s all true,” Luke replied. “Today is playing out too much like the last time. Just like when I jumped out the window and woke up, I’d bet that if you jumped off the upper deck of this ship, you’d wake up too. You know how you always wake up when you have a dream that you are falling?”

  Mary Beth scoffed, “So you want us all to jump to ou
r deaths, based on your best guess of what would happen because of a dream you had months ago?”

  “I’m telling you, it was real!” Luke insisted.

  “Then why am I not waking up right now?” Tom asked, pinching his arm very hard. “Listen, son, I have no doubts that you think it was real, but there is no proof. Do you have proof?”

  “How am I supposed to have proof of whether or not it was a dream? That’s impossible.”

  “Okay everyone. If you want to listen to this guy, go ahead and jump off the ship to your deaths. I’m sure you’ll all wake up nice and cozy in your beds,” Tom said sarcastically. “Me? I’m going to find the captain.”

  “No, that’s what they want you to do.”

  “They? Meaning these Lou and Nate guys you were talking about?” Danielle chimed in.

  “Yeah, probably,” said Luke.

  “Probably?” shouted Tom. “Forget you! Come on honey, let’s go.”

  “Sorry Luke. I’m with them on this one,” said Danielle.

  “But I can help you guys, I know it.”

  “I don’t see how. I have to trust my own eyes and gut here, not the wild stories of a stranger that I just met,” Danielle said, placing her hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Take care, Luke. Thanks again for getting my door open before.”

  “You’re all making a huge mistake.”

  Tom began walking off. “Come on, let’s go find the captain and see if he can help,” he said.

  Chapter 8

  Luke was left standing alone in front of the elevator. Mary Beth, Tom, and Danielle had walked away together, intent on finding the captain of the ship and, hopefully, answers. As Luke watched them walk away, he was left wondering if he really was crazy.

  “I need to know if this really is a dream or not. What did the doctor tell me, something about finding a sign?” he wondered. “Crap. I should have listened instead of dismissing him. Umm, something about flying and dead people? Can’t say I’ve seen either of those yet.”