I heard that the building law requires buildings with five (or maybe six) or more floors to have an elevator. So, of course, the apartment building along the highway where I used to live had an elevator.
I lived on the sixth floor and never used the stairs at all. Well, maybe everyone does.
I had to use the elevator day in and day out. Going down the stairs is one thing, but going up them is quite a pain.
But even though I know how hard it is, I use the stairs exclusively now.
Around noon on a weekday when there were no lectures at the university, I left my room to go to a convenience store to get some food.
Naturally, I use the elevator to go down to the first floor. The elevator stopped at the 8th floor, the top floor.
It looked like someone was getting on or off right now.
I pushed the downstairs button and waited for the elevator to come down.
Behind the open elevator door, I saw a middle-aged lady.
I had seen her often, so she was probably a resident of the 8th floor.
I lightly nodded and got into the elevator, the button for the first floor was already pushed.
The elevator stopped once at the fourth floor, and the young man of the carrier got on.
All three of us got along well and our destination was the first floor.
However.
The elevator abruptly stops between the third and second floors.
For a moment, a light G held my body down. All three people in the room including me looked at each other.
What is it? Is it a malfunction? It was not a power failure. There was nothing wrong with the lights in the elevator.
“What’s wrong with ……?”
I muttered in a whisper. Both the woman and the carrier tilted their heads.
We waited for a while, but there was no sign of movement. The carrier was the first to act. He pressed the extension button.
There was no response. The carrier sighs.
What the hell is going on?
The carrier’s question was also my question.
It probably didn’t take much time to figure out what was going on. The silence was probably less than three minutes.
Still, it was enough time to stir up a vague sense of anxiety and impatience.
Just as everyone began to get somewhat nervous, the elevator suddenly resumed its operation.
The lady gave a short gasp. I was a little surprised too, because it was so sudden.
But, you know. I was pressing only the button for the first floor, but for some reason, the elevator was not going down.
The elevator was moving upward.
It quickly passed the 4th floor, then the 5th, then the 6th floor ……
It stopped at the seventh floor, and the doors opened with a gust of wind.
I looked at the open door quizzically.
“What in the world is this? ”
“It looks unstable,” the lady said as she stepped off the elevator.
The lady said as she got off the elevator.
“I think it’s better to take the stairs. You never know what might happen again.”
“That’s right,” The carrier said.
The carrier also got off the elevator.
Of course. The woman was absolutely right.
We are lucky to be able to get out now, but next time we may be locked in a can.
If I’m not careful, I might get injured due to malfunction. I don’t want that.
I had no intention of using this unreliable elevator, and I was going to get off the elevator with them.
No, wait.
Something feels wrong.
The view beyond the elevator is indeed that of the seventh floor of an apartment building.
But …… it is awfully dark. Not a single light was on. There is no light.
It was so dark that I could barely see the end of the passageway.
Was it a power failure?
When I turned around, I found that only the elevator was lit, which seemed out of place.
Yes, it was. Although there was something wrong with the operation, the elevator was still working. There was no way it was a power failure.
But something was wrong.
With a sense of discomfort, I looked at the scene outside from the seventh floor.
What is this?
The sky is red.
Is it sunrise or sunset? But now was not the time.
There was no sun, no clouds, nothing in the sky. The redness was so intense that it made me shudder.
This time, I lowered my gaze to the ground.
It was pitch black, or rather, pitch black.
The silhouettes of the outlines of highways and buildings.
That was all I could see. Like the apartment building, there was no light at all.
What’s more. There is no sound at all of cars passing on the highway, which I usually hear so much that I hate to hear.
It is silent. Nothing can be heard. And there is nothing moving.
I can’t describe it well, but there was no smell of “life” in the scenery in front of me.
Only the sky was red. A world of red and black.
I looked back once more. In the midst of all this, the elevator was still lit as brightly as ever.
I pondered for a few moments, and then the elevator doors were about to close.
Wait. What should I do?
Should I get off?
Or should I stay?
This time there was no suspicious movement, and the elevator went straight to the first floor.
Beyond the opened door was the usual first floor.
People walking, cars running. The sounds of life. It was daytime outside. It was a familiar day.
I felt relieved. I was safe now. I thought intuitively and got off the elevator.
After calming myself down, I was worried about those two people. I waited for them to come down the stairs.
However, no one came down, no matter how long I waited.
After about 15 minutes, no one came down. It was strange that it took so long to go down the stairs.
I got scared out of my wits.
Somehow I didn’t want to be there.
After that day, I couldn’t take the elevator even if I wanted to.
Now I have moved to a different apartment building and use the stairs everywhere I go to go up and down.
With stairs, I don’t have to worry about going to the other side of the world because they are “connected” to the ground.
But the elevator is different.
It is a door to another world. At least that’s what I think.
I never want to take an elevator again.
