Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Interview - Part One

This is a new short story I've started working on. I will post it in parts as I finish them. I don't know how long I'm going to try and make it.



The Interview


            As he stepped onto the elevator, William Worth adjusted the faded gold tie he had dug out of a box of his grandfather’s old things. He didn’t think it went with his grey suit, but that suit had only cost him five dollars at the thrift store. He hardly had any money left from his grandpa’s death. It hadn’t been much, but it was enough to get him by for a few months. This is why he was excited for this job interview.

            He had been sending out application after application for a while, and hadn’t heard anything back until last week. He received an actual letter with a time and an address for an interview. He wasn’t sure which job it was for, and he didn’t care. He felt lucky to have finally heard something back.

            William wanted to make as good of an impression as he could, so he set out to find a nice suit for his meeting. He had not anticipated just how expensive a suit actually was. He was ecstatic to find one as cheap as he did, and while it didn’t look the best in the world, it would suffice. His grandpa’s old tie was the only physical thing he had left from the man. His cousins had gobbled up everything else they could, despite what the will said.

            The elevator had a pungent smell. William could not figure out why it was so bad. The building he arrived at had looked nice enough from the outside and the lone hallway behind the door has seemed inviting. Now that he was in this small, enclosed room, stuck with this terrible scent in his nostrils, he had a feeling his afternoon would be going slower than he hoped. He reached out and pressed the only button he saw on the panel. A loud, groaning noise rang through the shaft and the lift lurched upwards with an odd slurping sound.

            William wondered how old the elevator was and what could be causing it to make that sound. As he pondered, he felt a warm drop of something hit the top of his head. He reached up to wipe at it. He was surprised to find it was slimy. He was even more surprised when he looked up and saw what seemed to be a tentacle coming through the ceiling of the car.

            William let out a scream as he backed into a corner, sliding down to the floor to avoid the flailing arm. It made squishing noises as it thrashed about, searching for the elevator’s occupant. William couldn’t believe what he was seeing and began to cry out for help before remembering he hadn’t seen a single person since his arrival. As his panic set in, he noticed a small glass case against the back wall. It was candy apple red and had a small hatchet in side of it. The front read, “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass.” William stood up, maneuvering around the tentacle until he was close to the case. He had no other idea than to punch at the glass, which broke surprisingly easy.

            The hatchet felt good in his hand as a tiny bit of blood trickled from his knuckles. He gripped it tight as he ducked underneath the slimy tendril, moving behind it so he couldn’t see the suckers. He had no idea what was going on or why it was happening, but he was not about to allow himself to be killed via monster in an elevator. He reached back and then brought the hatchet down into sticky, thick flesh. It made a sickening noise as green blood spattered around the elevator. William screamed as he hacked at the tentacle again and again until it split into two pieces, retracting into the ceiling and dropping onto the floor at the same time. As it hit the floor, there was a light “ding” and the elevator came to a stop.

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