24-01-2020, 08:03 AM
1
Everybody Out! - Part 5
At first Adrian thought there must be a fault. The lift appeared to be stationary, and he searched in vain for a Help button. No, it was moving, he realised. Christ, it was slow! How the hell did Mr Big get to work? He would be quicker taking the stairs, or perhaps he left the house an hour earlier. This was ridiculous! He could tell the lift was ascending, although at such a gentle rate it was unbelievable. Well, this would be the first thing he’d mention once he did get up there; things would have to change once he was on the executive staff….A movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. All the walls were seamless mirrored glass, as was the ceiling. Each view reflected Adrian’s crumpled suit, gelled hair and darting eyes, like one of those fairground hall of mirrors, he thought. Quite creepy really. Except surely the ceiling and walls hadn’t been quite so close? The lift crept on, smoothly, silently, towards the top floor. Adrian Forrester stood enclosed within his mirrored box, sweating through his shirt and running his hands down the walls, looking for – what? He sank to his knees, placed a pen an a short distance from the angle of the wall and floor and watched incredulously as the wall inched its way towards the pen until it lay right up against it. The pen then began its creeping journey towards him. Frantically peering up at the ceiling, he was sure it was at least six inches closer to the top of his head now. Was he going mad? And why didn’t the bloody lift move faster?
“Help!” he yelled into the vacuum. “Help needed in here! Anyone hear me?”
“Hello Adrian” came the soothing velvety voice of Angela.
“Who – where are you? What the hell’s going on here? “ Adrian felt himself falling through the fabric of sanity. He wanted his flat, his pub, his mother.
“This is your practical test, Adrian” Angela explained in a patient tone, as if to a backward child. “Remember? To see if you’re as good with your hands as you said you were. You need to stop the walls and ceiling shrinking before you reach the top floor. It’s not far to go now. I’ve slowed the lift down to make it easier for you, but you don’t have long, Adrian. See you on the top floor – maybe.”
Adrian screamed. He was by now on his knees as there was insufficient head room for him to stand, and the side walls were sliding ever closer. He squatted with his arms out at his sides to hold back the movement, but nothing helped. He began to blubber, and begged the disembodied voice to let him out. A warm wetness squirted down the leg of his trousers and puddled on the shiny floor. The lift crept ever upwards.
Angela’s kindly voice echoed around the tiny space of the lift, although Adrian by now hardly registered the fact. He lay flat on his face, his wobbly stomach spread out on either side of him, legs bent, arms squashed to his sides. Fat drops of greasy tears slid down his cheeks and the remnants of a long-forgotten garbled prayer tried to escape his mouth.
“This is what we do, Adrian. We’re Corporeal Recycling of Useless Deposits – CRUD for short. Oh look, here we are – the top floor. Everybody out."
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