english,
Literary: The 16th Floor
Cold air bites my cheeks as I briskly walk towards the main entrance of our building. The street is dimly lit by the few lamp posts standing around our block. Light drops of drizzle tickle my face as I stumble on the uneven sidewalk. My hands are numb even though they're shoved deep into my jacket pockets. It seems to be the coldest day of October. I reach the doors and immediately feel relief as warmth greets my body.
My footsteps echo through the empty lobby which is usually bustling with people, especially when December begins to near. I glance at my watch and see that it is two minutes before 12:00AM and realize that only a few people are likely to be up and out at this hour on a Wednesday night.
And lately, many of my neighbors have been moving out ever since articles have been released that the land where our building was built on was once land of Lumads. Rumour has it that many were buried under this very land just so that the company owners could finally start their construction.
To the company's defense, the CEO said that when the permit for the land was finally signed to their name, they offered to give the Lumads an entire floor for themselves but they refused. They denied committing murder.
I don't know what to think about the issue yet but I don't think I could leave this place any time soon.
When I reach the elevator, I press the up button and check my phone while I wait.
2 new text messages.
Mom: U home?
Unknown number: Be careful.
The second text message immediately makes my heart beat faster. I read it over and over again. Be careful. Though they are only two words, they somehow send me into a cyclone of scattered panicked thoughts.
I reply. Who's this?
The elevator doors open and I step inside. I keep my eyes glued to the screen of my phone as my hand felt for the button of the 15th floor at the topmost of the panel since it is the highest floor of our building.
I wait for the unknown number to reply but I don't get any. I decide to answer my mom first. The message fails to send. There seems to be no signal in here. Weird. In the two years that I have lived here, signal has always been available except in the basement.
Suddenly, the lights flicker. Then darkness envelops me. The elevator abruptly stops.
Only my phone illuminates the space I am trapped in and the little light hardly does me any good. It must be my imagination but it seems even colder in here than outside. I reach out to press the emergency button on the panel but... the panel is gone.
A shiver rolls down my spine. My hands shake in anticipation that someone or something will suddenly jump me or touch me or seize me. But I shouldn't panic. I'm just trapped in the elevator and I'm sure one of the security guards or maintenance staff will get me out of here.
I hear a crash in a far corner-- but it sounds so far away that it would be impossible for me to still be in the small elevator. I jump and my head whips toward the crash and I turn on the flashlight of my phone. But there's nothing but a long stretch of darkness. Sweat starts to bead on my forehead.
A crash sounds again. From the opposite side of the dark space, this time. My eyes strain against the darkness, desperate to see anything. To get out of here.
The noise slowly continues until they no longer sound abrupt and scattered. They start to sound like drums, struck like a beating heart. The steady beat sounds familiar-- just like the music usually played in the elevator. Each sound echoes around me and then I start to hear low voices chanting in unison.
"Sa aming lupa, hindi kami lilisan,
Kapalit man ay luha't dugo, itong aming tahanan."
My phone vibrates in my hand, indicating that I received a message.
Unknown number: Close your eyes.
Close my eyes? Why on Earth would I close my eyes when I am all alone in the dark, on edge and jumping at the slightest noise?
Is there signal already? I try to reply to the unknown number but it fails to send.
Is this some kind of prank? What's going on?
Before I can do anything else, the beating and chanting stop. Blood-chilling screams echo around me and then total silence fills the air until I hear footsteps clacking above me. My heart begins to pound as they louden and slow until then come to a full stop.
Should I even risk looking up?
Unknown Number: Don't.
I do.
Two glowing red eyes meet mine, suspended in the darkness, merely three feet away from my head. They burn with an eerie fire. Slowly, the figure emerges until I can make out a man in a suit, eyes bloodshot and somehow with a lust for blood.
A chilling voice resounds around me, making the hairs on my skin stand. "Welcome to the 16th floor."
I feel something fall onto the back of my hand, something thick and wet. I flash my phone toward it and see that it is deep red. Blood. My nose usually bleeds whenever there is a sudden change in temperature. But when I touch my nose, it is dry. Instead, I find the dripping coming from my eyes, as if I were crying tears of blood.
And then suddenly I feel my body falling at a rapid speed, my arms flailing to the sides, my hair whipping against my cheeks as I fall farther away from the two horrifying eyes.
I close my eyes in an effort to erase the horrific scene. When I open them again, I am no longer falling through a dark emptiness, but I find myself in the elevator, my phone vibrating in my hand.
Mom: Psst! Answer, I'm worried.
The elevator doors open to the 15th floor at that moment. I'm too stunned to move, still out of breath from what I just experienced, that the doors begin to close. Just then, a hand is shoved between them and a man enters the elevator. He wears a gray jumpsuit and carries a toolbox, and if my instincts are right, he's probably an elevator repairman. He smiles at me and asks, "Isn't this your floor?"
It takes me about two seconds before I find the will to nod. My body remains limp and weak that I use all my strength just to step my two feet forward.
At the last moment, I step back to keep the elevator from closing.
"Sir, I-I think the elevator is..."
"Broken?" His lips form an odd smile. "The rains have brought some fluctuations in the electricity of the building."
I was going to say that the elevator is cursed but he might've called me mad. Does he know about the 16th floor? Or am I officially losing it? Must it be hypothermia?
"Oh, okay," I answer. "Just, um, be--"
"Careful?" he supplies. "We should always be. Here."
He hands me a newspaper with a picture of our building in the headlines.
"It's best to know about where you are, don't you think?"
I nod and start to walk towards my door. I am more than unsettled. So many questions occupy my head but I want to know most of all, who is the unknown number?
Who are you?
I quickly type into my phone, each tap as fast as my breathing.
And just at that moment, I hear a ding from behind me.
My eyes widen even before I look back. And when I do, the elevators are just about to close with the man grinning at me, a phone lighting up in his hand.
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