Hell Theater
Overtime

At 19:31, and I was the last person in the office. But instead of going home, I stood still in front of the elevator door holding a box of paperclips.

"Not going up?" Ask Ray. He pushed the hold button for me. Behind her stood Megan, Carla and Marcos, who all looked tired after a long day of work.

The first time this happened, I was about to say yes, but I immediately changed my mind as I remembered to slightly lose weight. So I said, "Thank you, but I came down the stairs."

But this time, I didn't say anything.

"Give up" said Ray chimed in at the end, as if I had said something. He removed the button, and the elevator door closed slowly. But before it was completely closed, from the gap of the remaining door I threw a box of paperclips into the elevator. The object was thrown into a corner, the lid was exposed, and the paperclip inside was thrown out like a paper clip bomb. Next, here I am. Alone again.

No one in the elevator thought my behavior was weird. In fact, they are completely unconscious. I've done this experiment many times, so I'm not surprised that they're mediocre. I was also not surprised when I saw the paperclip box reappear on my desk, as if I had not touched it at all.

My other experiments were the same as the results. I held the elevator door, I screamed and begged, I even pulled Ray's arm rough, but it was still no different. They don't respond, and then it'll all happen again. I would always end up alone in the office, at least until the elevator arrived and Ray would take me on the ride again like before.

I'm tired of trying, but there's nothing else I can do here. Phone, radio and fire alarms are not working. All computers are dead. I found a cute romance novel hidden in Megan's desk drawer, but I already knew the ending. Because I've read it about thirty times.

The chance of you dying from falling down the stairs is 1000 times greater than in the elevator. But though I knew all that, I also knew that; whenever the elevator came down, when I pressed my earlobe on the door, I pressed it, I could hear the faint screams of my co-workers echoing through the hallway of the elevator track and echoing back up.

And that's why the time here always shows at 19:31. Because I should have died with them.

Well, well, there it is the elevator has arrived again.

"Not going up?" Ask Ray.

I finally realized that I had to say yes.

SC: Creepy-s.blogspot.com