Long Way Down Elevator Novels & Stories

The heavy metal doors of the service elevator slid shut, cutting off the bright lights of the executive floor. Aryan leaned heavily against the cold steel wall of the descending cage. As the elevator began its rapid sixty-floor plunge, his starving stomach dropped violently. A wave of intense vertigo crashed over him. He grabbed the metal handrail with his bloody, bandage-wrapped hands, gasping as the rough fabric tore at his open wounds.

With a single, powerful lift of his broad shoulders, he hoisted my body out of the stalling elevator box, pulling me across the threshold and slamming me hard against his chest as we tumbled onto the solid concrete floor of the stairwell. The elevator car behind us let out a final, cataclysmic mechanical shriek. The remaining cables snapped with a sound like a rifle shot, and the massive titanium box plummeted into the bottomless black void of the shaft, the distant, crushing explosion of its impact echoing up from the basement levels seconds later.

"My story, let me tell it…Thumberlina.” I found myself smiling at the interaction. "What floors?" Livvy immediately looked embarrassed. "Oh my God, we've been talking and haven't even moved." She pointed. "Thirteen for me." Then gestured vaguely behind her. "Twenty-one for Val." I pressed both buttons and the doors closed, starting our upward climb. Livvy glanced around the elevator. "Can I ask something?" "Sure." "Why is this elevator empty when the other ones looked like people were being packed for shipment?"

“I know. That’s why I can’t mess this up.” Downstairs, the elevator started descending. To a floor that didn’t exist. ---

"Let's go see the ledger's true foundation." The elevator didn't use cables; it was a magnetic drop pod that descended in a terrifying, silent freefall through the solid granite of the Alps. As the digital depth gauge on the wall flashed past ninety meters, the temperature in the pod dropped even further, turning our breath into faint, wispy clouds of silver mist. When the doors slid open, there were no lights.

ZARA’S POV The service elevator descended with a groan that sounded like a dying whale. It wasn't a smooth ride. It was a rattling, shaking descent into the bowels of the earth. The air inside the cage was hot, recycled, and thick with the scent of our similar panic.

Then she walked. The apartment shifted into movement around her. A second team fell in behind Marco, another went ahead to clear the elevator stack. The ride down was a slow descent through layers of security — keyed access, a stop on a private mechanical floor, a pause while a camera cross-checked lenses and heights and heartbeats. Siena didn’t look at the mirrors. She watched the thin seam where the elevator doors met and imagined a serpent’s body slipping through a gap that small.

Nicole had to admit that she was very pleased with this reception. She could not feel the real speed of the elevator going down, but since they arrived in less than three minutes, she guessed that it would not be too slow. However, none of them felt any discomfort or weightlessness from going down the elevator, which showed how high-tech and well-built the elevator was. Eric suddenly said from behind, “Mr. Lieberman, where do you work?” Although Nicole hated Eric’s interrogative behavior, she did not interrupt him rashly. Jeff paused and slowly curled his lips.

They rode the elevator together in total silence. Amelia's eyes almost came out their sockets when she realized that they were going down not up. It widened even more when they stepped out of the elevator. She wrinkled her nose in distaste as the strong smell of cigarette, tobacco and other hard drugs hit her hard. She tried her possible best not to lean over and retch.

Sharky's with Doug and Melissa started ok. We ordered and had had some drinks and appetizers when the beer started working on my bladder, and there was no ignoring it anymore. I had to visit the ladies' room. Rob stood up to let me slide out of the booth, but I tripped over his foot when I stood up. It scuffed my shoe, and I said, "Shoot! I love these shoes."