No Sleep After Dark

3. The Forgotten Floor

Posted by u/OfficeAfterDark · 5 months ago

Series: Floor 14 – Trapped

Building has 13 floors. Always has. But during October storm, elevator jammed between 12-13. Maintenance pried doors—dark corridor beyond. Dusty, flickering lights, smell of old paper and decay. "Storage," they said. I stepped out to wait.

Doors closed. Elevator left.

Hallways endless. Offices frozen in 1978: rotary phones, typewriters mid-sentence ("The error in the blueprint must be..."), calendars yellowed.

Phone rang. Answered.

"Welcome back. The architect left a spot for you."

Hung up. Another rang. Same voice: "Don't leave. We're still drafting."

Wandered. Found files: names crossed out. "Structural deletion." Photos of people fading into walls.

Footsteps. Slow. Crinkling. Hid. Figure: skin like crumpled parchment, no features, just creases suggesting eyes.

More came. "Working"—typing air, filing voids. One turned. Head c****d. Skin unfolded into smile.

Ran. Loops. Stairs to another 14th floor.

Journal under desk:

"Day 112. Mistake sealed. But the floor remembers mistakes. We become the paper. Folded away."

My arms itched. Faint lines like folds.

They chased. Arms stretching like torn strips.

Vents. Emerged same floor.

Days? No time. Hunger, thirst. Collapsed.

Elevator dinged. Dove in. "1."

Descending. Reflection crinkling.

Back at desk next week. Coworkers normal. But hands feel papery. People walk through my arm sometimes.

I push buttons between floors now. Doors open to dust sometimes.

If your elevator hesitates... stay inside.

Update: Skin creases deeper each day. I fold a little more.