Deadly Calamity

A loud clinging sound abruptly commences in your car before it dies by the side of the unlit road. Within moments, the vehicle permeates with suffocating dark smoke from the lifeless engine. The lack of oxygen and burning sensation in your eyes instantly motivate you to force open the driver’s door and dive onto the ground.

“Of course!” you scream sarcastically while simultaneously kicking the door shut. “This is the perfect time for my car to break down. It’s the middle of the night and raining.” As you instinctively pull out your cellphone to call for help, you realize that you should charged it before leaving. “Well this certainly sucks” you think to yourself as you notice the gloomy winded road ahead. The idea of walking in the middle of nowhere surrounded by haunting woods to find help doesn't suit your idea of comfort. “There should be some kind of civilization a few miles up” you reassuringly acknowledge to yourself as you cover your head and begin speed-walking.

The confining pine trees send chills throughout your body. “Oh man, it would the worst to be grabbed by a murderer in those woods and. . . STOP!” you tell yourself. “There’s no need to scare myself. I just need to stay positive until I find help”.

Although uncomfortable with the freezing water soaking your jacket, you regain hope when you notice a hotel across the way. Running to the building, you feel relief for the first time since the car’s disloyalty.

You enter to find a disturbing older man with deep set circles under his eyes sitting behind the check in desk. He seems to be staring into nothingness and doesn't acknowledge your presence with nary a glance.

“Excuse me,” you say breaking the silence, “my car broke down. Can I please use your phone to call for help?”

“Phone’s dead from the storm” the stranger announces without looking up. You wait for him to continue but realize he isn't going to say anything else. So you add, “Well I don’t know what to do. Are there at least any rooms available?” The elderly character finally looks toward your direction, “Of course,” He begins registering your accommodations and finishes by saying, “Elevator’s on the left.”

As you walk towards the old fashioned elevator, you wonder how you get yourself into these situations and find comfort in the fact that you don’t have to be at work for a couple of days.

When the doors of the elevator slowly open, you are surprised to see an unusual sight. A man is lying fast asleep in the corner. You find his presence alarming but still step in and hit the button for the fourth floor. “Wow, this is a real high class place.” you mockingly tell yourself.

As the elevator leaves the floor, you feel a sudden jerk and the lights completely extinguish. The elevator screeches until it reaches a devastating halt. “Damn it!” you yell out, “How much is this storm going to ruin my life?”

Luckily you have a lighter which helps you find the red emergency box underneath the elevator buttons. You break it open, push the red emergency button, and are surprised to hear a voice afterwards since everything else seems to be going wrong.

“Help us, the elevator is stuck!” You shout to the voice.

“Is that right? Well I’ll get up there in a minute to help you out young’n” the older voice responds. You notice it’s the oddball from the desk. “Ok hurry up please” you plead, “I’m in here and there’s also a man who’s asleep in the corner”

The voice on the other end pauses and then asks questioningly, “What does the man with you look like?’

You wonder why he’d be asking you such a bizarre question, but don’t argue. Taking your light, you step closer to the repose man for a better look. You then return to the voice box, “He’s wearing a black hoody with a grim reaper on it.”

“Oh dear”, you hear the attendant whisper; “I don’t mean to frighten you young’n, but try not to wake him. The cops have barely shown up and are currently looking for a man in a grim reaper sweater that they saw run in. They believe he’s killed a few people tonight”

You drop to your knees. How can this be happening? Sheer terror overtakes your body and you begin to shiver. You don’t know how long it’s going to be before you vomit. Pushing the red button once more, you cry, “Just please get me out of here”

“I’ll have the police head up there with me in a few minutes” the voice comforts.

You sit as thoughts rush through your mind. “I’ve never been in so much danger before. This man might actually try to kill me” you thought. “Maybe I should see if I can find a weapon on him. That way if he wakes up before they fix the elevator, I’ll be able to protect myself”

You slowly slide over to the lying body. Every inch closer fills you with greater fear. While attempting to reach into his sweater, you manage to knock the man off his balance, causing him to falls towards you. Instinctively jumping out of the way, you see the man’s head hit the floor. It takes you minutes to gain enough composure to breathe. You then take your lighter to see what happened. Another sudden waive of fear jumps through your spine as you notice the man on the floor is dead! There’s blood coming from inside his jacket. As you open it, you notice that the man has a slit throat.

“Help me! Help me” you run and scream on the intercom. “The man in the elevator’s not a murderer; he’s a corpse! He’s dead! He’s bleeding everywhere! Please get me out of here!”

“We know” the elderly voice calmly announces. “I’m sorry young’n, but the cops just advised me that there’s no way the killer is in the elevator because there’s just been another murder. No doubt the man with the sweater was running for his life when the cops saw him. The safest place for you is to stay in the elevator until we find the real murderer”

“ARE YOU CRAZY!” you shout louder than you’ve ever shouted before “Get me the hell out of here! I’m stuck in an elevator with a dead body!” The voice doesn’t respond. You yell again, “Can you hear me! Let me out of here!” Still, you hear nothing.

You gather the nerve to move the body back to the corner so that you’d have a place to sit. Falling to the floor, you cover your eyes in an attempt to hide from the horrific situation. After what seems like an eternity, you hear an eerie voice. “You won’t get out of here you know.”

“What the hell?” you think to yourself. And then out loud you ask “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m right by you.” the calm voice responds, “I’m not leaving alive and neither are you”

“Holy shit I’m losing my mind now” you think as you quickly run to the intercom “Let me out of here! Do you hear me you bastard! You’re making me stay inside an enclosed box with a dead body!”

There’s still no response from the old man. You sit back down, now mortified. “Is this dead body’s ghost trying to talk to me? Oh lord, help me.”

“Who are you” you ask aloud to the strange voice.

“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE.” It responds menacingly laughing.

Strongly believing that you’ve lost your sanity, you become angry and decide to call the dead man’s bluff.

“Oh really” you announce with and unsuspecting sounding confidence. “I’d like to see you get up and do it. Oh that’s right, you’re dead!” you say sarcastically.

“You should say your prayers; this is your last day on earth because soon you’re be in the earth ha ha ha.” The haunting voice responds.

You stand up quickly and yell, “Come and do it then!” you almost feel as if you want to see this dead body stand to prove that you have indeed become temporarily insane. “I want to see you appear”

“It’s your turn to go to the graveyard” the voice laughs.

“GO AHEAD! TAKE ME TO THE GRAVEYARD” you yell out. “What’s the matter? You’re decaying body won’t let you move?”

You begin kicking the body and shrieking for it to get up. All of a sudden the elevator spins. Did the body just move? You feel the vomit attempting to crawl up your throat but you manage to hold it down. Amidst your bewilderment, you notice the body standing and treading towards you. “No!” you bellow fearfully, “this isn’t really happening!”

“You asked for it”, it responds. Quickly, you run to the intercom, hit the button, and cry “help!”

Two Hours Later

The lights in the building are restored, and the police await outside the elevator as the door finally opens. As expected they find a shivering soul crawled up in the corner. On the opposite side lies a stiffening corpse. “I’m sorry that you’ve suffered such a traumatic experience; we’ve assigned for you to see a counselor” said an officer.

It wouldn’t be until the following day that the authorities search where the murderer was hiding all along, in the elevator shaft. There, they find your lifeless body