Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Thirty-Seventh Floor

Everyone knew the 37th floor housed something evil. Everyone knew better than to stop on the 37th floor. No one had seen what was behind the elevator doors of floor 37, except for one person.

Marissa was on her way back from class. It was 4 pm and she was exhausted. It had also been raining heavily outside. Not a good day to live in New York where you have to walk to get somewhere. She lived on the 38th floor of her apartment building in Manhattan. Her parents had helped her find a place when she moved from Chicago to New York to study nutrition at NYU. She got in the elevator and as the doors were closing, someone shouted, "hold the elevator!"

Marissa pushed the door open button. The doors opened to the one man she didn't want to be stuck in an elevator with. It was her upstairs neighbor, Taylor. Taylor lived right above Marissa. Taylor wasn't too loud or obnoxious. He didn't throw loud and wild parties or bring dates home.

Taylor was the exact opposite. He was mysterious, but in a creepy way. His eyes were dark underneath, he never spoke and always wore a black trench coat, even if it was 80 degrees outside. It was as if he was hiding something. Marissa was almost afraid of him.

The elevator doors closed. Marissa looked at Taylor and gave him a small smile, which he did not return. The elevator jolted and started moving up and up. Marissa stared at the floor numbers on the top of the wall. She counted in her head: 5, 6, 7...15, 16, 17.

Marissa saw out of the corner of her eye that Taylor was staring at her. Marissa turned her eye to Jordan and smiled again.

"Your hair is wet," Taylor muttered. Marissa had never heard him speak before. It was calm and smooth, like a babbling brook. She figured it would be low and dark, like a thunderstorm.

"Yes, it's raining outside," she replied in an awkward tone. She looked back to the wall and began counting again. 22, 23, 24, 25...

"You must walk to school," he said quietly. How did he know anything about her? Marissa was starting to get a little freaked out. She had never spoken to Taylor. Now he's saying something that would prove that they were acquainted, which they weren't. 35, 36, 37...

Suddenly the elevator shook. Marissa looked around, frightened.

"What's happening?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"The elevator is stuck I think," Taylor said in a calming voice.

The elevator finally came to a halt and became still. Marissa looked up at the floor indicator. Floor 37.

"Oh no...oh no, we can't be stuck!" she said in a panicked voice. She rushed over to the floor buttons and pushed the floor 38 button numerous times, then other floor buttons.

When that didn't work, Marissa pulled her hands over her face and started to hyperventilate. She finally felt large hands cover and squeeze her shoulders gently.

"Calm down Marissa, shhh, calm down," Taylor soothed. Marissa quickly pulled out of his grasp and moved into the corner of the elevator.

"No, no. We cannot be stuck. Not here. Don't you realize what floor we're on?" she shrilled, placing her hands on the sides of her face, then moving them over her wavy blonde hair.

"Yes, yes I do," Taylor said in a flat voice. "And I am not afraid of what is behind those doors. Because I know what lives behind those doors Marissa."

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