The Elevator: Part Two (complete)

I was on a movie lot, script clutched in my hands, wringing the paper for all it was worth. I had memorized every line, studied every nuance, even read the novel the movie was based on to prepare. I wanted to be perfect - no, better than perfect. I wanted to be the only option, the pristine gemstone, the completion. 

“Next!” The word rang out and I was filled with hope, excitement, and dread. I breathed all that out to make myself a husk and allow the character to live through me. I walked in front of the director and the casting associates.

“Go on.” The words were said dismissively. I was an unknown, worse than unknown. Even unknowns in Hollywood were worth something, but I was less than that.

I nodded, breathing myself out again to inhale the character. I recited two lines, and only two lines, before I was cut off by the director. He turned, whispering, and for a brief moment, I had hope. 

“Sorry, ma’am, but we’re going in a different direction. Next.” I was led away, taken off the set, and left in confusion. 

A different direction, what did that mean? Was I not tall enough? I could wear heels! Was I not busty enough? I could fake that! Was my hair too red? I could dye it. Hell, I would even shave it off! But what was the reason? What? What?

“Don’t look so down. If it makes you feel any better, the director is just trying to scare the star he wants. He has no intention of casting anybody back there.” A man with a cigarette spoke to me. He came away from the wall he was leaning on to approach. His hair was ashy blonde, and his eyes were a hypnotizing violet. 

“Well, that just makes me feel worse,” I complained. “He didn’t care for me. He never saw me. I was just another mannequin off a pile.” I tossed the script aside. “I may as well be hunk of garbage.”

“You’re far too pretty for garbage,” he smiled at me. “With hair like that, you must get all sorts of men staring.”

My cheeks reddened as I looked at him. Not only was he charming, he was handsome to boot. “I’ve been told I should dye it.”

He hissed in revulsion. “You’d best not! Tons of ladies out there are fighting to get locks just like that. Some are even willing to lie to say it’s natural.” He grinned at me. “Name’s Prince.”

“Prince?” I arched a brow. “What sort of frilly name is that?”

“My name,” he laughed. “Well, not exactly, but it’s the name on my checks.”

“Ah, a stage name,” I said with a grin. “That explains it.”

Those stunning eyes of his gave me a once-over, and he tapped the ashes off his cigarette. “Well, then, what’s yours?”

I gave him the eyes right back. “Agatha.”

“See, you’ll need to change that.” His grin was flirty. “No one on stage or screen has a name like Agatha.”

I laughed and put my hands on my hips. “There have been plenty!”

“None I can see.” He offered me his hand. “It’s my pleasure to see one now.”

I took his hand, and he gently kissed my knuckles. “Where are you heading to, Agatha? Perhaps this Prince can buy you some lunch.”

I could feel this was the start of something new and powerful for me. “I would like that very much.”

Prince took me to a diner, small and unassuming, where an old couple took our orders. We took a number and headed to a booth in the back.

“My business partner and I have been searching for models,” he started off as he tapped his cigarette case.

I groaned and leaned back in my seat. This was not the start of something new and powerful for me, after all. “I get it.” I pushed against the table, making it slam into him. “That’s what this is, right?” I stood up and gathered my things. 

Prince grunted. “Wait, Agatha!”

“I ain’t buying what you’re selling, pal!” I hissed at him. “I ain’t so desperate to take the shit you’re selling and believe it’s gold. Fuck you and your business partner, and the white fucking horse you rode in on!”

“No, Agatha.” Prince got up to chase after me. “I didn’t mean it to sound like I am selling you…” He flushed, then shook his head. “He’s a makeup artist, and he needs models. I take photographs for him.”

I looked him up and down like he stepped in something, and I was trying to find where it landed. “Sure,” I grumbled.

Prince let go of my hand and straightened out his jacket. “It’s all up and up, I swear. We’re just trying to get our own business off the ground. Plays, movies, anything, we just want to create something for this world. And I thought maybe a dreamer like you could help. If we could get some good jobs in makeup or whatever, then we could really stretch our wings.”

I pulled my arm away from him. “You don’t start off conversations very good.”

“That’s why I read scripts for a living - so I know what to say.” His laugh was a nervous one. “So please, come back and have lunch with me? I would love to introduce you to Desi.”

I followed him back to the booth and sat down again. He moved the table back and smiled at me from across it. I was still riled up. It’d happened to me once or twice - someone said they had connections, but I had to do such-and-such work. I didn’t fall for it then, and I wouldn’t fall for it now.

“Why an actress?” Prince asked me.

I shrugged. “It just feels good. I like performing, always have.”

He continued to ask me questions like that, personal ones that took us down a path of an intimate nature. I felt flattered. No man had ever talked to me in such a tender way before. I’d never had one ask me about my aspirations and dreams, let alone how I plan to obtain them.

After we ate, he took me to the home he shared with his business partner. I knew I may end up regretting it, but I told myself I could always punch him in the dick.

Desi was an odd-looking sort - beautiful, but odd. His hair was pure white and his skin had a milky pink tone to it. He instantly took a liking to my hair, and pulled me to his workstation. “She’s a lovely one for sure,” Desi assured Prince. 

“Oh, thank you,” I chuckled anxiously. “I’ve never really had my hair done before. I usually just get it trimmed or cut.”

“I can see that.” Desi fanned out the ends of my hair and started snipping away at them. “Do you sleep in rollers?”

“Yes.” I watched as scraps of my hair floated through the air. 

“Silk pillowcase? Silk nightcap?”

“My nightgown is silk.” I tried to remain buoyant.

“You need to sleep with either a silk pillowcase or at least a silk headwrap,” Desi instructed me. “This is why your split ends are so awful.”

“I had no idea.” I sat like a chastised child.

Desi continued to dust away the split ends. “It will be fine. I will teach you and you will learn.” He let my hair fall around my shoulders. “You have a beautiful neck.” His fingers brushed from my collarbone to the nape of my neck. It sent electric shivers down my spine, and I quite enjoyed the feeling. 

“Really?” My temperature rose as I glanced at Desi in the mirror.

“Regal, swanlike.” His fingers pressed against my pulse. “Very alluring.”

Prince came up from behind, joining our reflections in the mirror. “Don’t eat her up just yet, Desi. I’d like to keep her around for a while.”

I started working with Prince and Desi, helping them build their production company. Prince got acting roles while Desi did makeup and hair for him, eventually branching out to help others at their workplace. I became an assistant, keeping track of their business and finances. I was able to move in with them, and it helped save on expenses in the long run.

It wasn’t long before things turned carnal between us. Being so close to two such beautiful people, I was drawn into them instantly, but I had never given much thought to what I was doing to them. We became passionate very quickly, and the taboo nature of our affair only brought it to a frothing, wonderful eruption. 

“There’s something we must tell you,” Prince said one evening. “Something that we should have shared with you before this went too far.”

“What’s going on?” I pull a robe over myself to combat the chill. “You two aren’t going to kill me, right?”

“No, no, nothing so horrible. It all depends on how you choose to look at us afterwards.” There was a shimmer to Prince’s eyes, one I had never noticed before.

“We’re both miscreations, to use the horrible term,” Desi grimaced.

I slouched a bit as I looked at them. “How so? You don’t look it.”

“We take advantage of that too. We can hide what we are, and have the privilege that comes with passing, but…” Desi’s jaw suddenly unhinged. The skin at the sides became blood-red, and rows of sharp teeth stood out. His long red tongue lashed out, and when he took off his glasses, his eyes were a pearly pink.

“A vampire.” I came close, tapping my finger against a fang. “Ouch.” It was so sharp, it pricked me with the lightest touch.

Desi took hold of my hand, lapping the bead of blood on my finger. I glanced at Prince, whose hair faded away. His head became elongated, and his eyes became wide-set, deep, and round. His skin took on an opalescent purple color, with a rainbow of shifting colors running throughout.

“What on earth?” I gasped.

“Not exactly.” His mouth opened, and I could see the pink sheen of his skin went down his throat. “Desi and I have been together a long time, trying to hide ourselves from the world and protecting each other. You’re the first person we’ve felt safe bringing in. We don’t want to lose you by lying about who we are.”

I shifted in bed, looking between them both. I smiled and kissed both of them, bringing them into my open arms. “It’s strange, but I’ll get used to it. You are not miscreations, you are whole beings. Beings I love.”

I turned to Desi, exposing my neck for him. “Here.” I smoothed my fingers down the sinew of my throat. “You always say I have such a lovely neck. Now I understand why you liked it so much.”

Desi placed his hand on my waist. “Are you sure?”

“I want to share myself with you, all of you. It’s OK.” I closed my eyes, holding my breath as I felt his mouth on my neck. Then I felt a prick, but not the pain I was expecting. There was a low rumble in his throat, and his hands tightened around me. I felt heat as he drank my blood. It bubbled to the surface, burning near his lips. I grasped his chest, moaning as his lips pulled away. Licking the wound, he took in a deep breath.

“Delicious,” he moaned. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

I giggled and fidgeted. “I’ve always been curious what the infamous vampire kiss was all about.” I smiled up at him. “Now I know I can have it whenever I want.”

“That was a treat to watch.” Royal pulled me into his lap. “I need to capture it someday on film.” He bit the other side of my neck and groaned. “Now that you know us, it’s time that you truly know all of us.”

I was pulled into bed, where we made love more passionately than ever before. Now there were no secrets between us. I received all of them, and nothing was kept away.

We had to hide from the public eye, so we moved from our home and found a place to private place to stay. The True Love’s Kiss was strangely named, but an absolute breath of fresh air. Only members could come in, using special keys. We could live our lives peacefully there. We ran our company from another room, and solicited help from the other members of the True Love’s Kiss.

We soon branched into the True Love’s Kiss business as well. We started cataloging a photo album of the residents and staff, posing them seductively in photos to highlight the beauty of the supposed miscreations. Kept hidden, yet fetishized, we decided to bring to light what the world wanted hidden. We sold pamphlets of our photographs, making enough money that the law started sniffing at our door.

We were banned from printing such salacious and horrible things. What about morals? Think of the children! Yet it was always the same people who cried wolf, and I would bet my bottom dollar they had visited the True Love’s Kiss at least once.

We worked underground, using our skills to uplift the monster community. Desi’s makeup and styling, along with Prince’s - at this point he had taken the name Royal - photography and keen eye, we were able to make a movement. It was counterculture, and there was an uprising in the making. 

That is, until one foggy day, when the three of us wanted to go out for dinner, but the rain was too heavy. “Let’s go up to the dining room,” Desi suggested. “We can make a day of it.”

“I really wanted to show off my outfit,” I pouted.

“You can,” Royal grinned. “Who cares if it’s just to us?”

“I always show off to you!” I playfully shoved him. “Well, fine. I’d hate to ruin my shoes in all that muck, anyway.” We started to head to the elevator when Desi and Royal were called over to the front desk.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing really. Just some business we need to sign off on.” Royal motioned to the elevator. “Ostivo is in the elevator. He’ll take care of you.”

I frowned a bit. “You won’t be too long, will you?”

“Of course not,” Desi turned and kissed my cheek. “You go ahead and order yourself something to keep yourself warm. Hopefully you’ll be nice and snuggly by the time we get to you.”

“Everything is on the house!” Royal exclaimed dramatically.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “You two best get back to me in one piece.”

“No promises,” Royal teased as I gave them both kisses.

I made my way into the elevator, smiling up at Ostivo before looking back out across the lobby, where Desi and Royal were still standing. Ostivo, the old minotaur, had been working in the True Love’s Kiss for decades. He signed to me, asking me which floor I wish to go to.

I pointed up. “To the dining hall, Ostivo.”

He nodded and pulled on the lever. The doors closed, and I wobbled as the elevator moved upwards. A few floors up, the elevator made a loud grinding noise. Ostivo yanked on the lever, but it seemed stuck.

I tapped his shoulder, and he looked at me. “Everything peachy?” 

He frowned, shaking his head, fighting with the lever again. There was another low groan from above, like the sound of a death rattle. I reached over, grabbing Ostivo’s arm to comfort myself. Then the elevator jerked upward, before going into a drop.

It jerked to a stop, and I fell to the floor with Ostivo. There was a grinding and hissing. I started to hyperventilate, but Ostivo shook me and pointed to the latch on the roof of the elevator. He grabbed me, picking me up and aiming me towards the small door. I opened it, and Ostivo forced me through the door. I began to pull him up after me, and just then the cable broke.

I felt cold as I looked up through that empty shaft. Then I felt nothing, and then I really was nothing. Closing my eyes, I faded away. I burned away. And I was standing in the lobby of the True Love’s Kiss. I came in from the rain, finding myself in a strange place. I sat down and watched the people pass.

For years I did this, unaware that I was living the same day over and over again. Sometimes, Desi and Royal were able to find me and bring me home. Sometimes I would find my way to the elevator, unaware of what it was leading me to. I would stand there, staring up at the doors, and my hand would hover over the button, lingering as if between worlds. Sometimes, I wouldn’t even press it. I would snap from my stupor and go about my day as if nothing happened. 

Other times, my fingers would press the button and watch as the doors swung open. I would gaze into the elevator, seeing myself reflected in the mirror. This is where time would stop. I would breathe deeply as I stepped over the threshold. Gazing at the buttons, I would only see the button for the ‘roof’. It never occured to me to look at any of the other buttons. That was the only one that mattered. I would assure myself that everything was all right, but as soon as the door closed, I couldn’t breathe again.

Sometimes the reflection showed the dress I was wearing that evening. There was the little black dress that Desimir bought me, or the green turtleneck and pencil skirt that Royal said made me look most like myself. But I was always there, always standing in the corner of my vision, waiting for the elevator to go up. 

I would remember too late, seeing only the fear and panic in my reflected eyes. I never got to see them before that moment, to see the joy and tranquility I felt because I knew I would be spending my evening with the two men I loved. I never got to see my excitement or the daydreamy way I took off my gloves, imagining how I would dance with Desimir or share food off Royal’s plate. I never got to see those happy seconds before the world descended.

I would look just as terror took hold. My body shook and scrambled to grab something. My jaw dropped as my mouth opened wide to scream. Then the world would go black, and all of a sudden I was falling, falling, falling. Tumbling like a feather into the black abyss. Every time, no matter what, I would try to stop it, to save myself. But I always ended up falling down the elevator shaft, only to wake back up in the lobby of the True Love’s Kiss, unaware how I came to be there or how my days ended.

Why this time is different, I am unsure.

“I’m… I’m dead?” I whimper as I touch my face. I glance back towards the elevator. “What happened?”

“The elevator was old, ancient really,” Royal grumbles. “It just… gave. I can’t really explain it.” He touches my face, planting kisses where the tears have fallen before he nuzzles into my hair. 

“We think the cable had been fraying for a while, but no one checked it in so long.” Desi shakes his head. He touches the side of my neck, then places soft kisses on my jaw. “Ostivo tried to save you both. He tried to get you out, but we think all the movement made the cable give.” 

“Ostivo,” I gasp in alarm. I clasp my hands around my mouth. “What happened to him? Oh please, not him too!”

The guilt in their eyes says enough. Desimir takes my hand, kissing my palm while Royal runs my hair through his fingers.

“He would never want you to feel bad for what happened, Aggie,” Royal whispers. “He was a hero to a lot of people here. Always had been. Always will be.”

I nod, blinking tears from my eyes. “But why am I here now? What’s changed?” I wrap my arms around myself. “I always fall, and then I wake back up in the lobby. How was I able to stay? I never get to stay!”

“Before…” Royal croaks, “we always found you. We always managed to find you in the lobby and invite you up. But this time... this time, you found us. You got into the elevator yourself.”

“I can’t recall…” I touch my fingers to my temple. “I could never recall day to day, but that never seemed to bother me. Instead, it just…” I grimace as I try to think myself out of the fog. Bit by bit, I piece things together.

I gasp and reach for my bag, the one I had with me. Somehow I have that sketchbook. Each day, I drew someone. I go through the pages, knowing in my head that I had drawn someone different every day. But each page holds an image of the same woman. She looks so sad and terrified, like she’s lost in a crowd. Her eyes seem to dart around, trying to find something familiar. In each picture, she’s searching. Each picture is of me.

I didn’t know this woman. I had no clue who she was. But it was my reflection I kept capturing each day. I was lost, trying to find Desi and Royal, who had promised to come back to me. They promised to find me in the dining hall, but I wasn’t there. I never made it there. They couldn’t find me. I couldn’t find them.

I close the sketchbook. “I didn’t even know…” I whisper. I look between the two of them, all of us still on the floor before the elevator doors. “How long has it been?”

Desi’s expression is sorrowful. Streaks of red still stain his cheeks. “Far too long. I can’t even remember anymore.”

“It feels that way, doesn’t it?” Royal clears his throat. “It’s been ten years since the last time we found you,” he says with an exhausted nod. “And seventy since we lost you.”

“Seventy…” The word catches in my throat like steel barbs. “I’ve been lost for seventy years?” Where have I been? What have I been doing? I look at them again. “And you stayed here all this time? Why?”

“Well, that’s easy,” Royal murmurs, “we could never bring ourselves to leave this place.” He sniffles and shakes his head. “We couldn’t leave you. We couldn’t just let go…” He stops and hangs his head. “So we built our home on the roof.”

“We kept seeing you, but we were uncertain,” Desi whispers. “These small flashes and flickers, like you were the flame of a candle.” He wipes his eyes again. “We’d catch you in the corner of our eye, but we didn’t know if it was grief making fools of us.”

“It wasn’t until five years in that we saw you, fully saw you.” Desi offers a small smile. “You were sitting on the fountain eating a cruller and watching people go by. I had never been so relieved in my life. But when I tried to take you home, you vanished.”

“Each time we got you closer and closer. We guided you to the stairs because when we took you into the elevator, it always seemed like you vanished.” Desi looks me over. “We got to live a few more moments with you, but you always went away by dawn. It feels almost too good to be true that you’re here with us now.”

I cling to them, holding on so tightly. “I don’t want to go!” I sob. “I don’t want to go back to the lobby!”

Things go silent for a breath, and I quickly open my eyes. I look around. I am still in the suite. “What’s changed?” I whisper.

Desi and Royal stand, helping me off the ground. I take a cautious breath, but really it does me no good. I’m a ghost haunting this place. 

“Is it OK?” I look up at them. “Am I here?” I walk through the suite, moving things, touching things, testing to see if it’s real. As far as I can tell, it is. I turn to them, looking deeply into their eyes. “Maybe it’s because I found you,” I whisper. “I’ve been searching all these years. Maybe that’s all I needed to do.”

“I’m so scared,” Desi laughs. “I don’t know what to think.”

“I’m not in the lobby.” I glance to the glimmer of light coming through the curtains on the window. “Maybe that’s a new start.” I reach for them, taking their hands into mine. “As long as I never lose you again, I think we’ll be here forever.”

“We’ll wear leashes from now on. How does that sound?” Royal teases as he wraps his arms around me.

“I’ve been trying to get you to do that for years.” Desi joins in, kissing the top of my head. “We’re not letting you go again, you can rely on that, Agatha.”

I take in a deep breath, letting the air fill my lungs. “Good, I’m so happy.”

The suite becomes my home. I never return to the lobby again, except when I want to. Occasionally, I’ll see my reflection, and I won’t know who she is. But unlike before, I’ll eventually laugh and wave to myself. 

I am no longer haunting the True Love’s Kiss. I am not a ghost in their halls, but a free spirit able to live with her loved ones. I have not just found Desi and Royal, but I have found myself again as well. I am no longer at the bottom of the shaft looking upwards, I am finally in the light, and in my home.