The Drop to Hell

"And then I looked up, and I saw my father." I recall the events of last night to Anton and Beatrice at our lunch table. "What? No offense, but isn't your dad like... dead?" Beatrice asks, puzzled. "Non taken, I thought he was dead too. But I guess he isn't."

"And... you're absolutely sure this wasn't just a plain old dream?" Anton asks me. "Yes, I'm absolutely sure. It felt just like how it feels when you get a memory back... You guys know how that is. But this memory wasn't familiar at all. It was almost like a... like a vision."

"And you were in a theatre?" Beatrice asks in response. "Yes," I tell her and try my best to describe the tense, dimly lit room of a theatre. "Oh and the entrance was a huge iron door, with bolts and everything. Almost like the door to a cellar." I tell her. "Oh! I know exactly where that is!" "You do? How?" Anton asks eagerly. "That's where my mum used to work. I can drive you guys there now, let's go." She tells the both of us."

"Wait, like right now?" I ask, excited at the thought of skipping school. "Yes, take it as an out-of-campus lunch trip." She says with a wink.

Adrenaline rushes through my blood as we drive down the street in Beatrice's convertible. The roof is down, and Anton looks so good with his windswept hair I can kiss him right now. "We're finally going to get some answers today." He says to me with a smile. We pass by streets and streets of run down buildings. Buildings that probably used to be malls, theaters, arenas, anything from the world we used to live in. Now they lie in ruins, halfway demolished.

Minutes pass by and the car finally comes to a stop. We are parked outside a tall, dark building. Something about it just gives off eerie vibes. "Geez, so much for creepy old buildings that we'll probably get murdered in." Beatrice jokes. I always admire her ability to lighten the mood, no matter the situation. I always feel safe, comfortable in her company.

Though we walk in broad daylight, I feel anxious and uncomfortable as we approach the building that I envisioned last night, as if someone actually is inside, waiting for the pefect moment to strike and kill us. The entrance is a rusted steel gate that has already been broken in. We make our way into the building, warily walking through the inches thick cobwebs layered on the floors, walls and ceilings. Beatrice says she has no clue where the theatre is, it's been ages since she's been here. And it didn't use to look 'as nasty as Satan's butthole', in her words.

We continue looking around and I notice a single elevator at the end of the hallway. I walk over to it and push the up button and, surprisingly enough, it lights up. I usher Anton and Beatrice over as I look at the elevator's screen displaying the floor it is at. 73. "Jesus, how may floors is in this building?" I hear Anton ask. "A lot, get ready for your ears to be blocked, it's a long way up." Beatrice answers in response.

After an excruciatingly long wait, the soft 'ding!' of the elevator finallly meets my ears. The doors creak as they part open, revealing the lift's interior: a filthy carpeted floor and walls and a ceiling covered with, you guessed it, coobwebs. "Gross." I mutter as we walk in. "Which number do I press?" Anton asks Beatrice. "Um... maybe try 51?"

"What? You don't know?" Anton asks her. "Hey, I was literally nine the last time I was here." She retorts. "Okay, okay, calm down. Let's just start with... level seven." I say while pushing the button that has the number seven on it. The lift dings once again in response as it starts lifting us up higher, higher and higher.

'Crrrrreeeeeaaaaaakkkk'

"Oh God, what if the suspensions snap. I always thought I'd have a less melodramatic death than dying in a falling elevtor." Beatrice complains. "No one's going to die, drama queen. It just hasn't been active in a long time." I respond. "Watch out Anton, looks like Nicole's catching feelings for this dump of an elevator."

Anton snickers and I shoulder him while rolling my eyes. His grunt of pain makes up for it though. I look up at the display and see that we've finally reached the seventh floor. Just as the door is about to open, the single light bulb in the lift starts to flicker, and eventually explodes, glass catapulting in all directions. I hear Beatrice scream as a piece of glass nicks me across the face.

Right when she screams, the lift falls down and I feel my heart jump up my throat.