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It was close to midnight. Amy, a young woman in her late
twenties, walked briskly along the lonely road that led
to her apartment block. She had had a hard day at work
in the boutique. All she wanted to do now was to have a
quick shower and jump straight into bed. The sudden
hooting of an owl startled her and shattered the silence
of the night. Shivering a little, Amy quickened her
pace. When she reached the lift at the foot of her
block, she pressed the button for the lift. When the
lift arrived, Amy stepped inside and pressed the button
numbered 17. As the lift moved upwards, the tired girl
leaned back and closed her eyes.
At the tenth floor, the lift came to a halt. Amy's
eyes flew open in surprise. She tried the emergency
button but there was no response. The lift appeared to
be stuck. Amy panicked at the thought of having to spend
the night inside the lift. Cold sweat broke out on her
forehead and trickled down the sides of her face. Even
her hands and legs shook.
Without warning, the lift suddenly jerked back to
life and moved upwards. Amy let out a sigh of relief.
But when the lift reached the sixteenth floor, it
started acting weird again. It first stopped and then
began to move downwards. It kept behaving in this manner
several more times before coming to a stop on the 17th
floor again.
Amy was terrified by the peculiar behavior of the
lift. She tried shouting for help, but at that time of
the night, no one was awake to hear her. As she tried to
calm herself, a voice whispered, "Amy ... Amy ... ".
"Wh...who is that?" Amy stammered.
Silence greeted her query. Amy was almost hysterical
with fear by now. Although she was alone in the lift,
she was certain that the whisper had come from somewhere
inside the lift.
"Amy," the voice called out again, much louder this
time.
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Amy asked,
trying to sound brave.
"Don't you recognize me?" the voice asked. "I'm your
sister, Helen. I've been waiting for you to join me for
the last three years," the voice laughed eerily.
Amy felt shivers run down her spine. "You can't be
Helen! She's dead!" she cried out.
"Yes, I'm dead. And it was you who killed me. You
stabbed me in this very lift and made it appear like a
robbery. How could you, Amy? I was your only sister!"
said the voice.
"No, it wasn't me," Amy denied.
"Yes, it was you," the voice disagreed. "You were
jealous of me because I had everything that you wanted.
Now, I want something from you too. YOUR LIFE !"
"No ... ooo," Amy screamed. In a frenzy, Amy tried
pressing all the buttons in the lift. The lights went
out and it was pitch black inside. Amy screamed at the
top of her voice as the lift jerked and hurtled
downwards. Amy was still screaming when the lift crashed
to the ground and smashed her spine. |
