one shot
Another day about the routine of always waking up, eating something and hoping for a good day. Every day I woke up and thought about what my routine would be like if I had taken a different path in life, if I had taken more risks, if I had spent one more night awake working or studying. Well... anyway, that doesn’t matter anymore, my life is now this, and I don’t see many possibilities for things to be different from now on.
Every day I wake up tired from the night before thinking about ending it all, but this time things were a little different... I always leave at six in the morning for work while listening to the radio in the car and smelling my cup of coffee that gets cold while I drive, because I don’t have time to drink it all at home, then I get to my office and have to listen to my boss in my ear searching for the smallest details to criticize me in some way, sometimes I wonder why he doesn’t just fire me since I’m as useless as he says.
Anyway, I remember that I can still mention a single different event that occurred that week, I was on my lunch break when I noticed that one of the lights at the end of the material stock was starting to flicker, honestly, that wasn’t my problem, but somehow a good-natured spirit came over me and I decided that I was going to change that bulb, once again, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t know the reason for all this, maybe an instinctive part of me wanted to fight a little longer and still have hope for a better world, so that must have been my motivation.
My boss’s niece who works in a department close to me said that there were spare bulbs on the third floor, I was honestly confused about this, she is a good person and a good employee too, she has never treated me badly, however, because she is related to the owner I can’t help but believe that she is here just because she is related to him, but I also can’t ignore the fact that she is much better than me at what she does.
The elevator in the building where I work is always having problems, and I always said that they needed to fix it before someone gets hurt, and in fact, I think that ended up happening today, but not in the way I expected.
I got there and realized that the buttons were a little stuck, they were harder than normal to press, until I heard the sound of a man who said from afar “Hold the door for me, please”, and I could not deny that request in any way, so I held the door and that man entered the elevator with me.
There was something strange about that man, he seemed tired and kind of disconnected from the things around him, as if he was starting to get drunk, but he didn’t smell like beer, instead his odor was something similar to lavender, and for some reason he was wearing clothes that would normally be worn in the summer or autumn season, since we were in the winter season, that seemed strange to me, but I wouldn’t be too indiscreet to ask him about it.
Until I had the idea of pressing the button for the third floor to finally reach my destination, unfortunately the button seemed a bit stuck, as if it had sunk in somehow. That was until the man approached me and pressed a strange button below the number buttons while saying something like “I’ll get off nearby”, but when did this button come into existence? And why does this man’s voice sound so strange? In those few seconds in which all this happened, I confess that I felt a little threatened somehow.
The elevator went down a little further than I expected, he pressed a button that was below the others, I thought that was a little strange, until I realized that besides the floors with numbers that are the ones I’m normally used to, there were at least twenty other buttons that I don’t remember seeing, whether in this building or any other, I also can’t say what language it was, because it was different from everything I’m used to.
The elevator went down, down a little more... and a little more... ten, maybe fifteen floors below, the building I worked in had no more than thirteen floors, I honestly didn’t know how to react, or if I should even say anything, so I just decided to act naturally, hoping that mysterious man wouldn’t notice that I was nervous and a little desperate.
Until I hear an “OH… sorry, I think I made a mistake with you, could you please tell me which floor you’re getting off on? I’m really sorry”, followed by a comical laugh. How should I react and what should I have answered? In the end I feel like it wouldn’t make much difference to the final outcome, I felt like this man’s prey and I couldn’t do anything about it.
I decided that the best way out would be to go back to the floor I was on, or press a random number and hope for the best, and in the end I said “Oh, I’m sorry, you can get off wherever you want, I think I forgot something upstairs, I’ll be back to get it soon”, and as soon as I said that I noticed a strange look coming from that man, he looked back at me and said a sincere “what do you mean? Upstairs?” and all I could do was respond with “Never mind, forget what I just said”.
And I ended up hearing a whisper coming from that man, his words showed embarrassment when he said “So you’re not one of us, are you?” and that made me stop looking at the door and the floor selection panel and start looking directly at him, I know I shouldn’t have done that, but as soon as I looked at him I had the biggest surprise of all, his skin was very different from what I’m used to considering human, it was wrinkled and greenish, his eyes had red irises and his hair looked like a very poorly made implant, besides his clothes were slightly damp, with something that to this day I don’t know if it was water or another type of material.
The exchange of glances followed by astonishment was almost instantaneous when I realized that he also seemed to have been frightened by my appearance, and in that one second that seemed like an eternity, he attacked me, while desperately shouting “I’m not going back to that box, I need to talk to Clarke, I need to talk to my son”, I didn’t know what to say, and I wouldn’t even know how to respond to that, he simply attacked me and started trying to strangle me, for a creature with that appearance I expected a slightly greater level of strength, but he seemed to be beaten.
I decided to fight for my life, and with a crying face we started a fight right there, two apparently irrational and lost beings attacking the stranger out of pure and simple fear, he then decided he was going to punch my face, but I was faster in my instincts and managed to go behind the man to strangle him with something that looked a lot like a tie that he was wearing, finally, he stopped moving, and I could finally realize that until now the elevator had not stopped going down.
I don’t know if it should have, it wasn’t intentional, but that creature stopped moving, I don’t know if it will wake up soon or not, it’s been 18 hours since he’s been out there, I found some water in his coat, it seemed to be in good condition, and even if it wasn’t it would be good to quench my thirst. My hands are shaking and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, the button is gone, I can’t see any more buttons.
I also found a notebook and a pencil in his pocket, there are some notes about something that I think has to do with physics, I don’t know, because I don’t understand what it is, I also found a small heart necklace that had a shiny metal inside, I don’t know anything... I... I just want to get out of here... I need to go back to my bed... please, free me...
Official Gazette Note
“TRAGEDY IN INDUSTRIAL BUILDING: MAN FOUND BURIED AFTER KILLING COLLEAGUE DURING OUTBREAK”
Authorities are investigating an accident that occurred at the Demacol construction company building, where two employees were trapped in an elevator after a structural collapse. Reports indicate that the release of toxic gases may have driven the men insane. One of them was found dead, while the other, rescued after almost 48 hours buried, was in a state of shock, repeating incoherent phrases. Police are investigating the circumstances of the crime and the possible effects of exposure to the unknown gas.
End.
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