The 15th floor was indeed an artificial hell. Lucas and Austin could testify to this fact. Even before they made their way up the elevator, the floor's horrors had already manifested themselves as shadowy hands that had once 'killed' Lucas. At the time, three people were originally meant to explore Nyxshade's hellscape, but the third was sane enough to turn back.
She now sat opposite the building that gave her a soul-wrenching experience.
"Why are they taking so long?" Eve asked herself as she sat outside the bakery's cafe that made the sweet-smelling pastries from before. An hour had passed since Lucas and Austin had boarded the elevator chartered for the fifteenth floor.
As Eve contemplated their condition, her body shook fervently.
"Are you alright, miss?" a concerned waiter asked. Then again, he was probably trying his best for a tip.
"It's nothing," she responded placidly.
In truth, she hadn't forgotten the stigma the floor left on her. After Austin made his move, Lucas followed. The former had a lingering trauma and a desire to right his wrong. The latter, she had too little information about.
She could only assume it was impulsive, which would make him truly insane.
The cafe was about to close. It was quite late now, the only places open being the clubs and hotels. Eve remained where she was, fear and worry plaguing her mind. Counting the windows of the building, she observed each floor's interior; most were dark, but some were bright enough to make out the movement of distant silhouettes.
After some time, she reached the 15th floor. It was dark, like she expected, yet she continued looking at the window.
How long went by like this?
In reality, the reason she stayed behind was her guilt. Left to her fear, she would be at the border right now. She felt responsible for the decision Austin had made. He was not a normal person, she would know. Yet she let him go into that… place.
That Lucas Ross didn't help the situation either. Though from what she heard of him, that much should be expected.
The cool night breeze moved through her ginger hair and between her green dress. It carried hints of her lemon tart, which she had forgotten about. As she took a bite, she squinted her eyes at the window she hadn't looked away from until now.
Nothing changed, so she turned away, or rather, thought about turning away before a heinous face greeted her at the window. Staring into her soul, it grinned end to end, its disproportional face pressed against the glass.
"Ahh!" The sound escaped from her lips just as her legs jolted into motion. Now, it was late, around midnight, but a few people could still be seen here and there. They stared at Eve like she was some madwoman as she ran through the streets.
She continued this movement, not looking back for a second. As she ran across a street, the headlights of a car could be seen from her left.
Fwoosh.
"You crazy woman?!" the driver screamed.
Eve paid him no mind, instead hopping inside the passenger seat.
"Twenty-two Admiralty Drive, Paradise Waters," she stated.
"What are you…!"
"You're a taxi driver, aren't you? Take me there now. I'll pay you double."
The man grumbled as he stepped on the gas. Eve looked out the window, her hands now making rapid spasms.
What was that heinous creature she saw at the window?
"Monster under the bed…"
She couldn't have imagined such a creature would be so horrendously disgusting to look at. It was an otherworldly horror, a grey-skinned creature that smiled from eye to eye. Lucas and Austin were currently up there with the terrifying existence.
"Could they be de…" she cut off the thought.
She hoped that Lucas Ross would keep Austin safe. He is the man who survives the impossible, after all.
She looked toward the taxi driver. His face was tense, partially annoyed, as he held the steering wheel tight. It was quiet, creepily so. At this hour, a pin drop would be enough to turn heads. The atmosphere in the vehicle didn't help things. Eve didn't have a problem with this though. Right now, she needed time to think.
What would she tell the others? She hoped they were gone by the time she returned.
She remembered the little girl… Lily. She was the person that lived on the 15th floor. Every day she went to bed, that thing greeted her. How could one remain normal after something like that? At such a young age, no less.
That girl was now in John's house, trying to live like nothing happened. How many children were out there in the world with stories no one would believe?
Eve had a story of her own. Her fingers went through her hair as she recalled the depressing tale. Right now, crazy things were happening in the world, things that couldn't be explained by conventional means.
Yet such things were kept under wraps. Stories of disappearances riddled the news outlets, yet their origins were never addressed. It was easy to conclude that someone, or, more accurately, some group—were behind all this. Suppressing the people and media. The government was the only force capable of such…
Ugh…
Eve said as the car had just gone over a speed bump faster than it ought to.
"I'm not paying you double to kill me!" she shrieked, arranging her hair.
"You almost did that yourself though…"
After some back and forth, the car returned to pin-drop silence. Eve sat there, her mind still shaken from the night's experience. She unconsciously tuned out the outside world as her body shivered on the spot. Her thoughts slowly returned to the moment, and she realized something. They should have reached their destination by now, yet…
At this point, she noticed the car was no longer moving.
"Are you here now?" the driver asked as she looked around, still surprised she hadn't noticed their arrival.
"Get down! Can't you hear?"
Eve embarrassingly got out of the car and handed all the money in her purse to the driver.
Sorry Julynn, she thought, as the purse wasn't even hers to begin with. She walked down the street until she reached a familiar area. Walking up to the door, she stopped as her hand hovered at the doorbell.
"What would I tell them?" she whispered these words to herself as the door swung open almost immediately after.
Dante was walking out of the building with his neck turned backwards as he spoke to someone. He turned around when his face was only centimeters from Eve's.
"Whoa, look who's back. If you wanted a kiss you could have just asked, you know," he teased, to Eve's irritation. "Where's Austin and that other guy?" he asked, inspecting her surroundings, looking for them.
She ignored him, walking into the building with her head turned down.
"What's wrong?" Julynn's voice asked.
As she raised her head to answer this question, she found herself staring at a full house.
"None of you left…" she whispered, disappointed.
She moved to the center of the room, looking around to make sure someone wasn't present.
"I need to tell you all something…" she said, inspecting their eyes like she was hoping they wouldn't listen. It was enough time for John to prompt her to finish what she was saying.
For all she knew, they were dead. This was a fact she tried to ignore, like an itch that worsens when scratched, yet said scratching provides that temporary relief.
This was her belief: "Austin and Lucas are dead," that is what was true for all she knew. She understood such news would be devastating, shattering the morale of this ragtag group, but she needed to tell them the truth.
"Austin and Lucas are trapped on the 15th floor," yet why were these the words that left her lips?
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It was currently well past midnight and Eve had told them everything she saw. From the elevator to the grey-skinned horror, she didn't let a single detail slip her lips. A detail she modified, though, was that she saw Lucas and Austin at the window also. Her hands shook fervently as she spoke, an aftereffect of the experience.
"That's a lot…" Julynn responded as she finished her narration.
"That Lucas guy is bad luck," Dante said as the group faced him with questioning eyes.
"What? It's true," he defended.
This was a serious matter. There was a parade in one day, the chance they planned on using to get info. They already had a structured plan and had even implemented Lucas into it.
"You say you saw them at the window, correct?" John asked Eve, and she nodded her head.
"Was this before or after the grey-skinned monster appeared?"
She couldn't answer the question. No matter the response, it would end the same. The creature letting them show their faces at the window, that wouldn't make sense.
"She's still in shock, give her some space," Dante cut in, to Eve's relief.
"What are we gonna do about those guys?" Julynn asked, bringing the group back to the main topic. The absence of Austin and Lucas upset their plans greatly. More importantly, their companion was currently trapped in some hellscape.
The most important question was, what could they currently do?
Calling the police was an option, but with the speculation of the government's involvement, it was basically scratching an open wound. Everyone was in deep thought. There was nothing they could do right now. The only person that had information was the one they avoided mentioning until now.
"That girl should know something," John voiced their thoughts.
It was something that was morally improper. A little girl, scarred by a supernatural experience, had lost her parents after continuous encounters with some monster under her bed.
"There's something that's been buzzing my mind," John stepped forward and moved to where everyone would see him clearly.
"Firstly, the girl—Lily, was the sole survivor of that floor," he paused, glaring at everyone like he expected them to understand what he was trying to imply. "I find it unbelievable… it would only make sense if… if she was a part of the creature's—"
"Stop," Eve couldn't listen to what he was saying.
"I was trying to be realistic, but I know that was presumptuous of me," he looked around, waiting for the fire in their eyes to die down.
What he had just done would have an irreversible effect on the group. He had sown the seed of doubt in them. Did he do this purposely though? None of them knew.
"Secondly, this fact is one that I couldn't get out of my mind till now. The creature on that floor hadn't made a move till now. Why was this?"
They all sounded their thoughts in a loud cacophony. It was nearly impossible to make out what one of them was saying. John cut into that madness, sounding his thoughts once more.
"What I'm asking is simple, why hasn't the creature left that place even until now?"
Everyone shot answers at random. None of them made sense though, so John couldn't get one to satisfy any of his questions. Not that he was expecting one in the first place.
The baseline was this—their friend and associate were trapped in some… place. The only one that knew anything was the person that had the most history with that place. This person also happened to be a seven-year-old girl who lost her everything on that floor.
Once upon a time, that place was her home; a safe haven to her in times of distress.
She had moments with her parents, friends, and other family members on that floor. She celebrated birthdays, laughed, cried—emotions that couldn't be described were experienced there. Would it be right to now confront such a person with questions that wouldn't benefit them in any way?
"It's late, you guys can stay the night if you want. I'm going to bed," John left abruptly, and the group followed suit.
"Don't worry, they'll make it," Dante said as he patted Eve on the shoulder and left the building.
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It had been two days now. Lily hadn't woken up at this point and was receiving her food through a tube.
"I'll be back in the evening," the doctor left the room with those words. Eve was the only one present right now; everyone else had left with the doctor.
She looked at the little girl on the bed that hadn't woken up since Lucas and Austin's departure. She was pale, and her body shook every now and then. What happened to her? It was something the doctor couldn't even prescribe.
She was about to leave the room when she heard a faint voice. Turning back, she saw sweat streaming down Lily's face.
"Did you say something?" she asked this question like she was talking to a conscious person.
No response came for some time. Eve was about to turn back again, but then a scream made her turn once more.
"Don't do it, Lucas!" Lily exclaimed.