Status: Redo of my old story

Silence Falls

Chapter 28: Oddities

When the elevator door screeched opened at its stop, Alexis was just finishing the last of her inspection of the fragile interior of the rickety elevator and its decaying condition to yet see the terror awaiting ahead of them down the long hallway, but very soon afterwards she peeked past Bert's shoulder. This floor smelled heavily of rusted metal and perceptibly screamed of death to her. Her eyes widened with fear at the unnerving sight of it. There were suggestable dark splatters varying in sizes on the once gleaming polished metal walls that were now rusted red from neglect and the many doors along the hallway were visibly locked up so unbelievably tight with thick black chains and large planks of wood she wouldn’t be surprised to find out if on the other side was a brick wall. This place was terrifying just to look at, and Alexis could no longer recall why they were even down there to begin with. “Um, w-where the hell are we, you guys?”

“What the fuck?” Bam whispered softly to himself, his mind on another shocking revelation that had his expression of shock being mutually shared by Cris and Bert. The elevator trip the three had taken last night was like a petrifying universal studios ride that seemed never ending. Th trip they just took, however, didn't even take 20 minutes long and was smooth sailing all the way down in comparison to their first rocky ride. How was that even possible that just last night they were clinging to their lives within the rust box and tonight they were safely delivered to the dungeon floor they were currently on.

“I don't understand any of this anymore.” Bert whispered to himself in a unsteady daze as the boys cautiously stepped out of the elevator first to allow the ladies to exit next.

Otep quickly nudged past the three only to stand in front of them with a look of concern on her face as she inspected their shared expressions of fear and confusion closely. “Seriously you guys, what’s going on with you? You all look perplexed as hell and anxious at the same damn time.” Beginning to believe their shaky display had to do with their wild adventure the night before when they discovered her down here, Otep reached out to gently grasp onto Bert’s arm to help shake him from his reverie. If there was any of these boys that were gonna make a lick of sense about what was going on it would be him. “Bert, tell me again what the hell happened to you guys last night?”

Not one of them took notice of Alexis strolling past them to the looming big metal door down the hall by herself.

“We already told you, Otep. Last night, when we were all searching for you throughout this underground facility, we came down this very SAME elevator that you did only…it was different for us, much more different than before.” Cris spoke up before Bert could get his words together. He turned his back to her to glance back uncertainly at the ancient rust box they just stepped out of.

“What do you mean by different though? How different was the elevator ride from yesterday to today?” Otep questioned Cris further, not quite following him but wishing to understand their plight.

“The ride down was a ride straight to hell, that’s fucking how!” Bam cut in in a panicked but irritated tone. “I swear it took fucking ages to get down here to this very fucking floor and it wasn’t because we were having a few malfunctions along the way. No, we were fucking falling all the way down here, Otep! LITERALLY FALLING!”

Finally finding his voice again, Bert fiercely added in his own take on the matter. “We were falling so damn fast that we had to anchor our bodies down so that our feet remained on the floor or else we'd end up crashing our heads into the ceiling!”

“Which ended up happening anyway.” Cris murmured in closing.

“But that doesn't make any sense, you guys. When I went down that elevator the first time it was working just fine for me and took only five minutes to get down here. How could it have been as long and treacherous for you guys when it wasn’t for me the first time or the second time for all of us?” Otep asked them while she allowed their stories to sink in. She genuinely believed that what they had claimed had happened to them did in fact happen. True, she he didn’t normally trust anything Bam said, but because Bert and Cris were backing his tale, she had no choice but to believe as well. They wouldn’t lie about something like this just to be nice to the newbie. But still it honestly baffled her that they all experienced a different event on their way down here.

“Hey guys, over here!” Alexis called to them from down the hall where she stood facing a corner alongside the big door. The group hurried over to find her standing over an unfamiliar toolbox sitting in the center of a tiny purple kiddy wagon. Again, the group was baffled. “I found this toolbox just sitting he-” She ceased when she noticed all their startled expressions over the stated items. “What? Why do you all look so scared right now. Did I do something wrong?”

Before anyone could open their mouth to disclose to her why the mere presence of the toolbox and wagon, that hadn’t been there the night before, was troubling to see, Bert held up both hands in an order for them all to shut their mouths before another word could be said. “You know what? Let’s not go there right now because this night keeps getting stranger and stranger to the point where I can’t keep up with any of this shit anymore. How about we just keep moving, get past this big ass door and get that kid free so we can find out what condition they’re in.”

Not wishing to quarrel with their leader, they all regarded Bert taking up his stance in front of the door in preparation to drag the doors apart. Cris and Bam stepped forward to aid him with Otep tagging along behind them. On the count of three, they all hauled the doors open with every ounce of strength they had within them...or perhaps this time a little too much strength? Because the door easily slipped open like someone recently came down to greased it up for them for their troubles before they had arrived and in doing so it knocked the three boys and Otep off their feet and tumbling on top of each other.

“Oh shit! Are you guys okay!” Alexis cried out before scurrying over to help them all back up. Reaching down, she grabbed ahold of Otep's arm first, her hand slipping down to accidently brush over her hand and creating the same electric shock the moment their skin made contact for a second time. Otep pretend to take no notice of this and abruptly jumped back to her feet and together with Alexis’s help, they tugged the boys back up on their feet too.

“OK, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE NOW MAN?!” Bam shouted, causing his voice to echo and bounce off the wall in the hallway, but he didn’t care. He was sick of this! Just the night before it took the strength of a thousand men to open this damned door and now it slid open with the strength a single child possessed?! “I mean, what’s with all the sudden changes to yesterday’s ordeal!? This shit is starting to make me think I’m fucking losing it down here!”

“Bam, you need to try and down!” Cris swiftly shushed him, just in case someone was listening from somewhere on the same floor as them. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise him if it turned out they weren’t alone after all what with trying to yank that door open with all their might’s like the night before only to have it fly open like it was freshly lubricated a few seconds ago.

“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down, man! FIRST the elevator goes from universal studios horror ride last night to a decent one today, THEN a fucking toolbox appears out of nowhere too late for it to be of any use to any of us since we could have used it the night BEFORE, and THEN this big ass stubborn door slides open with no problem when yesterday it took all our strengths to simply crack the damned thing open!” Bam continued to shout in his crazed rant followed by frantic hands motions that only served to fuel everyone else to fall into whatever arguments they could think to rage about too. They were all exhausted and becoming highly irritated, so it was easy for them to just get it all out by quarreling along with him too all at once. They all had about just enough of all the oddities that seemed to be transpiring throughout the night.

As the group started up their own arguments, Alexis merely stood scrutinizing them, not really having any opinions on what was happening tonight since this was her first time tagging along with them. She viewed Bam and Otep arguing mainly against each other, saying how each other was wrong about how the elevator operates and the door functions. Meanwhile in the background, Bert and Cris sided with both opposing sides, and tried to bridge the issues so they could all work together towards an agreement with these mechanisms.

With her back facing the black abyss of the now accessible room behind her, Alexis felt a peculiar warm welcoming breeze waft from within the room causing goosebumps to climb up her arms. With a shiver, she instantly crossed her arms over herself and turned around to face the empty darkness. The hallway felt too cold to bear suddenly, as if they had been dropped into a dark winter forest, lost to the knowledge of the world. The big black room was radiating an aura that mimicked a warm cozy house against the outside winter chill. Strangely unafraid, Alexis slowly stepped inside feeling totally unsure of what she was about to face within the confinements inside the blackened room, yet only knowing that the fear that would normally be within her in a situation such as this wasn't there, but instead was replaced with a sensation of stability.

The room was utterly empty except for the massive cross that stood against the wall. Alexis took one look at what was widely known as a symbol of love and protection and stepped back out due to a feeling of sickening distress unexpectedly overwhelming her senses, but that was instantly gone so quick she halted in mid-step for a moment in turmoil. A warming breeze tenderly caressed her face and melted away what was the rising fear that made her body go rigid, relaxing her muscles into a languid state. Alexis closed her eyes slowly in comfort, her body composed as she slowly exhaled the last of her worries away. Her big brown eyes opened with a rush of impenetrable confidence that obliged her to step closer to the cross. As if lost in some kind of drug induced trance, Alexis lazily outstretched her arms out toward the figure now becoming visible on the cross, and when she got close enough she gently placed her palms on it’s chest.

“Alexis, there you are! You scared me to death for a moment there when you disappeared like that, woman! Don’t do that shit again, you hear me?” Bert strode in and chided her loudly, making Alexis jumped back from the cross from where she had stood with her hands touching him.

Blinking her eyes frantically and slightly shaking her head to expel her hallucination, Alexis looked up at the cross in bewilderment. How did she get over here when she was just in the doorway a few seconds ago? She couldn't recall...

“I thought you'd somehow went back up in the elevator without the rest of us knowing.” Bert continued on until he stood beside her and stared up at the cross with her. Suddenly his demeanor changed into one of panic. “We need to get this kid off of there, pronto!” He declared to anyone listening as he abruptly spun around and rushed out of the room to sift through the toolbox outside in the hallways for a tool that would aid in them freeing the poor soul from its confinement to the cross.