Elevator Game

  Doctor Vicious dangles an entire bus full of children with his robotic arm. He cackles and drops the entire bus of screaming children off an eighty-foot skyscraper. All hope seemed to be lost. Then something incredible happened. The bus was caught by a teenage boy wearing blue armor and a cape. It was the Hero. The Hero lowered the bus onto the ground, while Marcy, a popular and nice girl from his school, gushed over the Hero’s kindness. The Hero flies back to Doctor Vicious, looking him dead in the eyes.

“You’re rein of terror is over, Doctor Vicious!” the Hero announced.

  Doctor Vicious roars in rage. They rush at each other–

“Victor! I want a juice box!” shouted a child's voice.

  The Hero stops, confused.

“Victor! Earth to Victor!” said another girl’s voice.

  Victor blinked. He was in the car. With his overly optimistic parents, his freaky twin sister, and his annoying little sister and her overfed pug, Mozzarella.

“I want a juice box!” said his little sister.

  Victor rolled his hazel eyes then reached back into the cooler. He gave her a juice box. She snatched it with her pink nail painted hands.

“Thank you!” she blurted impatiently.

  Mozzarella snorted, then struggled to scratch his neck with his back foot.

“Mozzarella! Do you need a scratchy?” asked Victor's little sister.

  Victor shook his head.

“Anna, you have to get that dog on a diet. He looks like he’s about to pop at any second!” Victor told her.

  Anna rolled her eyes and scratched Mozzarella’s neck. Victor’s twin sister, Victoria, was happily reading a brochure. Her purple lipstick curved into a smile.

“Dad! This hotel has thirteen floors!” she said happily.

  Victor looked at Victoria in disbelief. Why is she always excited about things that are super unlucky?

“Well, I’m glad you’re excited!” Victor’s father chuckled.

  Anna wrinkled her nose.

“Thirteen is an unlucky number!” she retorted.

  Victoria smiled at her.

“It is, but there are at least ten rooms! That means we can play some elevator games!” she said enthusiastically.

  Victor saw his mother smile in the mirror.

“It’s so nice that you still have this childlike wonder about things!” she said happily.

  Victor shook his head again. He thought about the times Victoria got sent home from camp for scaring the other campers so badly with her stories, and how she had pictures of skeletons on her walls. Also how she had a crush on Edgar Allen Poe when she was younger. They pulled up into the parking lot. The hotel was made of ghostly white brick and had a red roof. It was surrounded by a barred fence.

“Here we are!” his father announced a little too enthusiastically.

  Victor looked at the hotel. A shiver ran down his spin. He couldn’t help but feel like someone or something was watching him.

  Everyone got settled in the room. It was simple. Victor’s parents took on bed, the girls took the other, and Victor always got the couch. This was one of the reasons that Victor wished he was an only child. 

“Why don’t you kids go into the pool? It will be a lot of fun! Just come back within two hours.” Their mother said happily.

Victor was reluctant, but at least it was something to do. They walked out of the hotel room with their pool bags. Victor grimaced at the ugly floral carpet.

“Let's take the elevator!” Victoria said happily.

  Victor shrugged then walked in. He was so busy daydreaming about being “Hero” that he hardly had noticed that Victoria was pressing random buttons. Until the elevator violently jolted. Anna screamed. Victor snapped out of it.

“Victoria! What did you do?!” Victor snapped.

  Before Victoria could explain, the elevator opened. Victor glared at Victoria and walked out of the elevator. Anna followed him.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t get us stuck!” he snapped.

  Victoria looked around and panicked.

“Guys! Get back in the elevator! This isn’t our world!” she ordered.

  Victor turned around and stared at her.

“What?!” he asked.

  Victoria rushed out of the door and grabbed Victor’s arm and Anna’s hand.

“We are in a different universe! I pressed the buttons in the right order in order to go into an alternate universe, and it worked! Look at the carpet!” Victoria told him.

  Victor glared at her. Anna gasped.

“Victor! She’s right! The other carpet had flowers! This one has skulls on it!” she squeaked.

  Victor looked at the ground frustratingly. Then his eyes widened. There was not one flower design on the carpet. Only skulls. He looked at Victoria.

“So the carpet’s creepily different. That doesn’t mean–”

  A blood-curdling roar had been unleashed in the distance. The children panicked and ran from it, not thinking of where they were going. When they had stopped running, they gasped for breath.

“What…was…THAT?!” Victor gasped.

  Victoria looked around.

“I don’t know! I was expecting a random woman or something! I honestly didn’t think it would work this well!” Victoria stammered.

“What?!”

“Never mind. We just need to get back to the elevator.”

  Anna looked around.

“Which one?” Anna asked.

  Victor looked around. They were in the middle of a crossroad of four hallways. Down each one was an identical elevator.

“Oh no…” Victoria whispered.

  Victor took a deep breath. He had heard the wrong thing to do in situations like this was to panic.

“Uh… Let’s try that one.” he pointed to an elevator.

  They walked cautiously towards that one elevator. Victoria put in the number sequence. The elevator jolted. When it opened again, they were in an arcade.

“Cool! I didn’t know the hotel had an arcade!” Anna said happily.

  Victoria looked at Victor cautiously.

“It didn’t say in the brochure…” she warned.

  Just then, they saw a group of teenagers. They looked human, except for their green skin. They spoke a language that no human is familiar with.

“Not our world.” Victoria commented.

  Victor shook his head. Victoria pressed a few buttons that caused the elevator to jolt again. They were back in the hallway. The one with the skull carpet. They tried another elevator. This one led them to a fancy restaurant full of dog people. The next elevator went to an abandoned hotel. Frustratingly, Victor walked out of it.

“What are you doing?” Victoria asked.

  Victor picked up a piece of rubble. He scratched it on the door. It made a white mark. He smiled and went back to the elevator.

“In Master Magic, issue twenty-seven, ‘Labyrinth’ Conwell had gotten the idea of marking where he had been.” Victor said proudly.

  Anna raised a brow.

“I can’t believe your nerdiness is going to save our lives!” she replied.

  Victoria’s face brightened up.

“A Labyrinth! We are in some kind of Labyrinth! In ancient Greece there's a myth that these kids would be served to the minotaur for lunch until Theseus came and slayed him and saved everyone! Unfortunately, he’s also kind of a jerk.”  she informed everyone.

  The elevator jerked again. Back to the skull carpet Labyrinth. Victor marked the elevator. They heard the roar again. They ran. They stopped in front of the next elevator, catching their breath.

“We need a sage. Or someone who knows about this place!” Victoria gasped.

  They went into the elevator.

“How is that going to help?” Victor asked.

“We have a better chance of surviving in case we come across that thing.” she replied.

  The elevator jolted. They came out into a lobby full of faceless people. Victoria walked up to the janitor.

“Excuse me, sir? Do you know how we can get back to our own universe?” she asked.

  The faceless janitor faced her. Even though there was no mouth seen, there was an irritable voice.

“I don’t know what you're talking about! Did your parents ever tell you that it’s rude to let your face show in public?!” he snapped.

  Victoria backed away. Obviously this guy wasn’t in the mood to talk. She went back to the elevator. A spotted baby goat stepped in front of the elevator. Everyone smiled.

“It’s so cute!” Anna gushed.

  Everyone quickly changed their mind about the “baby goat” once it opened its mouth. The mouth was filled with tentacle-like tongues and rows of needle teeth. Everyone screamed as the elevator closed. They got out of the elevator. Victor wrote: “Faceless people, and scary goats.” 

  They went down six more elevators. Some had seemed normal than the past ones, and the others were bizarre. Finally, they went to the seventh elevator.

“Please, let this one be it.” Victor muttered.

  The elevator went into a penthouse. Sitting on a large red chair was a beautiful woman with dark skin and purple eyes. Her dress was iridescent and decorated with glass butterflies.

“I take it you're lost?” She asked.

  The children nodded. The woman sighed.

“A new one each and every day.” she sighed.

  She stood up and beckoned them to come in.

“Come on, let me tell you about what you need to know about Labyrinth number eighteen.” she said calmly.

  They cautiously stepped in.

“I take it you’re from earth? The human inhabited earth?” she asked.

  Victoria nodded.

“Yes, we are trying to get back.” she explained.

  Just then, Anna screamed and hugged Victor. She was looking up. Victor’s hair rose. Outside, on top of the skylight, was a pale man with long claws, and a black suit. He had bright yellow eyes and a gaping smile that stretched ear to ear. It was not at all a pleasant smile.

“Oh relax! That’s just my husband! Don’t worry, he’s not allowed in here when there's a guest. An enemy, however… he is more than welcome.” the purple-eyed woman told them.

  She lovingly smiled at the man. Victor could not look away from the terrifying man. Victoria cleared her throat politely. The woman smiled pleasantly at her.

“In order to get back, you must go through the same elevator, here are the directions.” she informed them.

  She gave Victoria a piece of paper.

“As for the Durqwerty, he’s harmless. Just don’t look him straight in the eye and be respectful. If you pull an arrow out of him, he’ll lead you to the right elevator in case you lose the directions. Now go. My husband is getting hungry. Safe travels!’ the woman informed everyone.

  They thanked her and went back to the elevator. They walked through the winding hallways.

“Why would she be married to that scary man?” Anna asked, shuddering.

  Victoria shrugged.

“Well, you know what they say, ‘love is blind.” she replied.

  Anna shuddered.

“I don’t ever want to be in love!” she proclaimed in disgust.

  Then, they heard a noise. It was like a bear sniffing the ground.

“It’s the Durqwerty!” Anna gasped.

  The Durqwerty appeared. Anna covered her eyes. The twins shielded their eyes. The tail was covered in matted fur and blue ooze. Victor saw an arrow in its tail. He wondered if he should pull it out. Or if the woman was lying. The creature put his tale out expectantly. Victor closed his eyes and pulled the arrow out. The creature sighs in relief. He grabbed onto Victor’s hand, and Victor made sure his sisters were near. They walked to the elevator. They went in. Victoria pressed the buttons. The elevator was starting to close. Victor opened his eyes to see a large bear-like creature, covered in arrows, lumber away.

  The elevator opened. They were back in their world. Floral carpeting. Victor had never been so happy to see floral carpeting.

“We should tell someone about this! This is amazing!” Victoria told Victor.

  Victor looked at the elevator.

“You could tell whoever you want, I don’t think they’ll believe you. I wouldn’t believe me if I told myself.” Victor told her.

 They went back to the hotel room, where they were greeted by their parents and Mozzarella. Anna looked down the hall. Walking arm and arm, was a dark woman with a shiny dress, and a man in a suit. She went inside. Victor looked at the window and wondered if it was all a daydream.