As I walked onto the elevator the pale thin young man in jeans and a t-shirt stared down at his feet. “10th floor” I said. The young man didn’t move a muscle. Frustrated, I reached around him and pressed the button myself.
“Oh shit,shit, shit” the young man muttered to himself. “Are you alright?” I asked. He obviously wasn’t. He was fidgeting and started to sweat as his feet began to tap the elevator floor. He didn’t answer but continued to mutter to himself never taking his eyes off of his own feet.
The elevator began to rise which is probably why he was so nervous. The button to the 1st floor was lit and it should have gone to their first. Instead it was on its way to 10th inexplicably.
“It’s a warm night” I said casually to no effect. The young man just kept staring at his feet and muttering to himself “Oh shit,shit,shit”.
I smiled a little. I was an attractive woman in my 30s. In any other place I would have caught the eye of a young man like the one standing here. My black dress was modest enough so I didn’t stand out. It wouldn’t do in my position to draw a lot of attention to myself. Still I thought it showed my figure to its best advantage to anyone who saw me.
At last the door to the 10th floor opened and I left the elevator. “ Well, this is what you came for. You might as well get out.” I said. Few seconds later I could hear his footsteps following me.I walked along the corridor and stopped along one of the large windows and gazed out at the twilight cityscape. The young man stopped ten feet from me and stared out the window. The red from the distant cross reflected across his forehead as beads of sweat gathered. The blood drained from his head and he turned Grey. “Oh fuck, shit “
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” I asked. “Care to take a walk with me?” He didn’t answer, instead he turned as if to get back to the elevators but suddenly he froze, confused.”What happened to the elevators? “ he asked, staring at the blank granite walls that seemed to extend an eternity in either direction. “ Where are the elevators?” he whimpered obviously scared and confused.
Then he made the his first mistake. He looked up at me, directly into my cold, black eyes. He was mine, them’s the rules, as they say. But of course he couldn’t have known this yet and he took off running down the hallway, looking for the elevators.
The next part was always fun for me. I took a tissue out of my purse and began to buff out a scratch in my black high heels. In a few minutes down the opposite end of the hallway I could hear his footsteps as ran in a panic till he saw me leaning against the wall.
“What the hell?” He asked visibly confused looking back over his shoulder at the hallway he had just come from. “Hi again” I said “It’s Mitch, right?” He didn’t answer but stood there looking like a deer in the headlights. “Your name,” I asked again. “It’s Mitch, right?” He just nodded his head as he stood there staring at me, beginning to tremble.
If this kid started to cry I was going to make him regret it. I hated when they cried. Believe me, I hadn’t even started to make him regret playing the elevator game. I had tricks he couldn’t begin to fathom that would make his time here miserable beyond comprehension.
” Look Mitch, I want you to stop and count to ten, okay? Now you wanted to play the game and you knew the rules. This is just business. Nothing personal. So just calm down and for Christ’s sake wipe the snot off your nose.” I said as I handed him a tissue. “ We’ve got a long night and there are a lot of places we have to go before it ends.”
” Are you the devil?” He asked, still trembling a bit.
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Mitch, but thanks for asking.” I said slightly blushing. Mitch was going to get along well here. He was already asking the right questions. “ No, my name is Lucy. “ I said extending my hand in my most real estate broker manner. “ I caught you, so you’re my responsibility.”
“You…You caught me?” He asked.” What does that mean.” “ Well Mitch, are you familiar with the concept of fly fishing?” I asked . He nodded, still unsure of his place here. “ Think of yourself as Trout” I said. “ You were playing the elevator game and I caught you, Like the Lure?” I asked, motioning my hand down down my thigh.
” Anyway We’ve go a lot to get to tonight so let’s go down to the ground floor and get started.” I said as I pointed to the elevator a few yards down the hall. I noticed a wet spot appear on his jeans as he looked at the open elevator door.
” We’ve got to get you an apartment first thing, Mitch.” I said and turned to get on the elevator. Poor Mitch turned around and began running down the hallway again. I shrugged and got on the elevator alone. I pushed the first floor button and descended.
I got out on the first floor and in less than a minute Mitch came running down the hallway towards me. At first, He looked confused when he saw me but I knew he was broken. I could tell by the sheer terror in his eyes that he would be as obedient as a sheep dog from that point on.
We exited the building and I hailed a cab. “Come on, Mitch.” I said motioning him into the cab. The cabbie looked in the rear view mirror and asked “Is this one a newbie?” Mitch turned a little green when he looked at the cab driver and saw that he had neither eyes or a mouth. “Yeah,” I said “ I’m going to show him his new apartment.”
We arrived at a dirty run down hovel a few minutes later. “Chop chop, Mitchell, places to be.” I said holding the door open for him.
In a few minutes we had ascended the staircase to the fifth floor and I reached into my bag and pulled out the key to his new place. I found number 566 and opened the door. We both walked in.
Something about the rats scurrying into their holes and the dozen or so roaches sitting in the rust colored sink seemed to lower his mood considerably. “Cheer up Mitch, in a couple of decades you’ll come to love this place.” I said loudly over strains of Detroit Rock City playing in the next apartment. “Your neighbor likes to cosplay as Gene Simmons,” I said proudly, “ Spits blood and everything!”
” Now we need to get you some hipwaders for the lake of corpses. Don’t want go in with those shoes.” I said pointing to his shoes. “ Lake of c…c…corpses?” He stammered. I could see him beginning to panick. “Oh don’t worry, thats just what we call it.” I reassured him. “It’s actually more like a swamp.”
“I want to go home,” he said desperately. “Can’t I please go home?” I looked at him for a second and considered his request. “ Look Mitch, I’m not a monster.” Which was technically not true and I said “I can always use someone on the other side looking out for me”. I took out two cotton balls from my purse and stuffed them into my cheeks. I then did my best Marlon Brando Godfather imitation. “There may come a day, and that day may never come , when I need a favor from you.” This didn’t amuse Mitch as much as I hoped so I took the cotton out of my mouth and said “ I like you Mitch, I’m going to send you back, but I swear , you so much as look at a ouija board and you’ll be knee deep in the lake of corpses before you can say Beezlebub, got it?”
“Really?” He asked. “Sure, but this is the last time I take pity on one of you kids , I got a quota to meet.” I said.” Let’s get back to the building.”
We caught a cab and made it back to the building in a few minutes. Mitch looked much better knowing that in a few minutes he would be in his own universe again. I have to admit I felt a little pretty good too. “You keep your nose clean, kid. You know how to get back from here, right?” I asked. “ Yeah,” he said “ and thanks.” I got off on the fifth floor and started writing up my report. I figured it would be at least two or three days till he saw me shopping. I looked forward to walking him to his new apartment. That swamp wasn’t going to clean itself.