Oh, hell no.
Xavier stood in the elevator, in front of the open door, staring at the empty corridor stretching ahead of him.
There was no way that he was going there. It was dark, creepy, and looked as if no one had set foot there in ages. And worst of all…
Xavier glanced at the display in the elevator.
13.
The problem? The hotel didn't have the 13th floor. They skipped it, just like many hotels tended to do.
This, on its own, could naturally be dismissed as an error. Perhaps the screen malfunctioned and displayed a wrong number. It could have been…
That is, if it weren't for the fact that the last floor the elevator had stopped at was the 21st floor, after which it went up for a very long time.
And 21st floor was the last floor. After that, there was only the rooftop.
Or, well, at least it was supposed to be.
Tzzt, tzzt.
The lights above Xavier's head flickered, startling him. He threw a quick, uneasy glance at the elevator's ceiling, before reaching out to press the button. Number 7, the floor on which he was staying.
And…
Nothing.
The door didn't close, the elevator didn't move. The diode in the middle of the button didn't even light up.
Xavier tried all the other floors, the alarm, the speaker. Even the emergency stop, even though it seemed pointless when the elevator wasn't moving. He just wanted to check if anything worked.
However, it was to no avail. The elevator was still completely unresponsive.
He stared at the control panel for a moment, before turning back to the corridor.
…Yeah, nope.
He wasn't going there. He wasn't going to be like those stupid characters from horror movies, who willingly walked straight into danger. And yes, he had been the one to press all the buttons according to the instructions from the urban legend he had heard…
But in his defense, he was drunk. The first button he pressed was by accident, and after that, he decided to go along with it, just out of boredom… It's not like he expected anything to happen. It was supposed to be just a stupid legend, after all. If he had known…
Xavier let out a sigh, and leaned against the back wall of the elevator, keeping an eye on the corridor. Thinking logically, if there were any ghosts, or monsters, or whatever, around, the chances that they would find and get him weren't any lower if he ventured outside, quite the opposite, since he could be invading their space. As for looking for any exists… The elevator was still his safest bet. It might have been unresponsive now, but once the morning came…
He checked his phone. Quarter past four. There should be around two hours left till dawn.
He could afford to wait that much.
While he was at it, he checked his connection - something he should have done right away, but had been too confused and startled to think straight - but there was no signal. When he tried to call the emergency number, it didn't work either.
Well, he hadn't expected much, considering the situation he was in. Of course, he still couldn't help but stare at his phone with disappointment…
In the end, though, he just stuffed his phone back in his pocket to focus on his surroundings instead. Not that he had much hope that he'd be able to defend himself in case any supernatural beings truly came - he was just a regular guy, who had no prior experience with anything paranormal - but still.
He should at least try his best, no?
The world around him seemed deathly still and silent. Nothing moved, except for the vapor forming in the air from his breath, as well as the elevator lights, which flickered every now and then. The air was frigid. So much so that Xavier couldn't help but huddle his arms, curling his shoulders for warmth, but even that didn't stop him from shivering. The alcohol in his system didn't seem to be doing much to warm him, the only thing that it was doing was…
"Gasp!"
All of a sudden, Xavier's head snapped up, his eyes widening.
His drunkenness and lack of sleep were getting the better of him, causing him to doze off. Thankfully, whether it was his survival instinct or something else, he managed to snap out of with before fully drifting away.
That was a close call. If he fell asleep now, he probably wouldn't even know what killed him.
Which perhaps wouldn't be so bad if he were to die anyway - at least he would be spared the fright and suffering - but still. It was too early to give up just yet.
He quickly scanned the corridor in front of him. Still perfectly peaceful and still, even if in an extremely eerie way. Xavier half-expected something to suddenly jump from the side or above, but no such thing happened.
Only after staring intently for a good few minutes, he exhaled with relief.
Seems like he wouldn't be dying just yet.
Keeping an eye on the hallway, he reached into his pocket to check the time. The small display in the elevator seemed to be broken, and it couldn't be relied on anyway. It was better to just check the phone…
Quarter past four.
…Huh?
Xavier rubbed his eyes, before taking a look again, but the numbers remained the same. Not even a minute had passed since the last time he had checked.
At least according to his phone.
But, let's be honest, that made absolutely no sense.
In a last desperate attempt, Xavier unlocked the screen, and opened the clock app, turning on the stopwatch. If the time on his phone couldn't tell him the passage of time, then at least the stopwatch should do the job. Xavier didn't know what that could mean to his plan of waiting for the dawn, but it was one of the last things he wanted to think about right now…
However, it was a problem he had to face, whether he liked it or not.
Because after reaching 00:59.99, the stopper just reset, starting the count again from 0.
Xavier watched it repeat a few times, his heart sinking lower and lower with each reset.
Then, he slowly lifted his eyes, taking another look at the corridor.
…No way in hell.