The Elevator Game

She Played

My heart was thudding within my chest as I stood outside the elevator shaft. The little dial above the door was slowly draining from ten to one as the elevator lowered from within. My right hand tightly clutched the cellphone it held; the screen lighting up every few seconds. I raised the phone only to see that my best friend was spamming it with messages. "Hello?! Are you still alive?" "Don't tell me you chickened out already" some of the messages said. I had to take a deep breath to reassure myself before answering back with a simple "yeah. I'm still here. Let's get this over and done with so I could go home please?" The second I sent the text a loud chime before me sounded out through the hallway. I had almost jumped out of my shoes, hand over my own mouth so I didn't scream out and awaken anyone in the rooms around me. I glanced back over my shoulder. The brightly lit red painted hallway was still empty, the rows of spread out brown doors still locked closed. 

I turned my attention back to the doors opening in front of me. A woman stepped out wearing red glitter pumps that matched her sassy satin red dress. It looked like she was about to head out to a club. Well, that or meeting up with someone. It was hard to tell. Nor did I really care to know. She glanced down to me out of the corner of her eye with a look of judgement. Probably because I looked pale to death and probably reeked of sweat. Either way, she eyed me down for a moment before continuing on her way towards the front doors of the lobby. I was able to faintly see the headlights of a car pass by a few seconds later once she left. I slowly stepped inside the elevator before it closed then turned my back to the wall so I can see the panel of buttons on the right side of the doors. The doors soon closed as I looked back down to my cell-phone to respond to my frantic best friend. I still have no idea why she didn't just call me.

"I'm inside the elevator. Now what do I do?"

"Ok! Finally! You're in The Skirvin Hilton right? That creepy hotel a few block from us?" she replied.

"Yeah. Are you sure this is a good idea? What if something bad happens?"

"Everything will be fine. Anyway. To begin press and hold the button for the fourth floor. No one can be in the elevator with you!"

A low nervous sigh escaped my lips. I knew nothing about the game I was about to play other than the fact it would lead me to some type of "Otherworld." The idea of that didn't help my nerves. She better give me the one-hundred dollars she owes me after this. I slowly reached out to the panel in front of me. It took a few seconds for my fingers to actually press and hold down the button. The elevator began to rise, my eyes focusing on the glowing dial above the doors. Again the loud chime came as the doors opened to the fourth floor. 

"I'm at the fourth floor. Do I get out?" I texted her.

"No! You gotta press the button to the second floor now and then remain in the elevator" she quickly replied.

I pressed the button to the second floor a little bit faster than before. At this point I wanted to get this game over and done with. There was a strange aura around me that wasn't here before. It was making me a little paranoid at this point. The chime went off again. I was now at the second floor.

"Second floor. Now what?"

"Press the button for the sixth floor. Same rule follows. This is where things are going to get interesting. There's no going back now."

"That's not making me feel any better!"

Even with that warning I still didn't leave the elevator. Instead, I pressed the button for the sixth floor and waited the dreadful seconds for it to rise. The chime went off. My hands were getting a little sweaty.

"Sixth floor. Next?"

"Press the button to go back to the second floor. Same rule follows."

I was getting a little annoyed with the repetitiveness. If the air wasn't thickening around me, I would've believed this was a load of crap, but I knew it wasn't. I could feel something watching me despite being trapped in this little box. This was starting to become suffocating. The chime rang.