Assignment #10- Ellis Padgett- The Elevator

When I woke up, I was on a beach. People were scattered around, tossed aside like the debris that decorated the beach. From amidst the chaos, a resounding scream could be heard; at the same time, a plume of fiery smoke lit the sand. A plane crash, maybe- but I was just confused.
The next image I saw was of the night sky- crystal clear contrast between fragile stars fighting the darkness. My eyes shut again.
Strangely enough, I was not scared. I felt serene, watching chaos unfold around me as if I was a character once removed, twice forgotten. Almost as if I was a ghost myself.
That same feeling accompanied me as I stared at a small little house on our middle-of-nowhere island. Strange- we had not seen any evidence of living. And yet here it was- a small shack, not even big enough to be called a house, in the middle of the jungle. I stood there and stared at it, motionless. No feeling of curiosity, no feeling of dread. There was a shack in front of me, and I simply accepted it. Yet somehow that lack of motivation propelled me onward.
I stepped inside the doorway, the door whispering a soft hush instead of creaking- almost as if the hinges were brand new. Looking closer, they were: three gleaming, golden hinges stabilized the doorway, so new I could almost see my face in them. But not quite.
The shack was quite modern. No, it's not modern, it's out of place. It was in the shape of a minuscule L, with a room in the front and a very tiny, claustrophobic hallway extending back and to the right. The front portion had a room. That's when curiosity finally began to seep in. Color seeped back into the world, my heart sped up, and I shut the door behind me...but then I reopened it. An escape- just in case. My hands traced a marble counter-top, disrupted by a small sink. It was littered with various objects; trash, crumpled up papers, food wrappers, a flashlight, and some batteries. Notably, the batteries tumbled out the side of the flashlight, all of them close to falling off of the edge. There was trash on the floor, too. Not to the point where you could see it, no; it was pale and suburban like everything else. But to the point where you had to choose your steps wisely. There was mold caked into the corners, but everything else looked quite clean. Almost as if a person- very polite- had mopped. But who would do that on a this abandoned island?
There was a table in the left corner; more papers, spreadsheets, and batteries. Batteries everywhere. My heart started to speed up. The cabinets below the sink were empty- more papers, more batteries. Were any of them full?
I slowly stood up, and with soft footsteps, approached the corner of the L. Something was around it, I just knew- ...nothing. I was staring at a thin, tiny hallway made up of the same beige walls as everywhere else. Empty, empty. Except for a door.
I took a few steps down to the end of the hallway. Pressed on the right side was a door- no, not a door, an elevator. One button hung on the wall to the right, caked with grime and dust, save for an old fingerprint that had separated its layers of dirt. The elevator itself looked brand new- shining metal, just like the door hinges. My heart beat faster.
I walked back to the front room a bit faster. The door, please let the door be open- it was. Wide open, peering out into mangled jungle, just like I had left it. I gripped my hands tighter, but beneath my fingers I felt a cool, smooth surface. Looking down, I saw a flashlight- no longer on the counter top, but now in my hands. I flicked it on, and a dim light shone in the already bright room. Ding. Down the hallway, the elevator door slid open. So I went in.
It closed from top to bottom rather than left to right. My heart beat faster and faster. The elevator was much smaller than I had originally thought, fine in height but restricted in width. The actual mechanics failed to maintain the newly polished glow. It creaked and whined as it went down, and down, and down, and down, and-
I looked to my side. It was very dark now, but I saw the outline of a person standing beside me. The elevator was so small our sides were touching. I stared at the dark silhouette, but they simply continued to look straight on in the direction that I had entered.
We were very deep now. I could still feel the flashlight in my hands, and feel the stranger at my side. I continued to look at them, hoping they would notice I was there, that they would tell me where we were going.
Ding.
The door began to slide open, bottom to top. What it revealed was...complete darkness. The kind where you can put your hand up right in front of your face and still see nothing. That's what I did. The person next to me still didn't move. Finally, I could feel the sense of dread seeping in. What was I looking at? It felt so vast, so expansive, so huge. 
With shaky hands, I switched the flashlight on. Turning slightly to the left, I directed it out into the darkness. To this day, I can still remember very clearly what I saw. A library.
It was deep, enormous, industrial. The ceiling reached as high as a mountain, with the weak flashlight failing to reach the top. It had layers, stacked on top of each other. The shelves themselves were as big as buildings, each stacked to the brim with books. Old, flaking books, falling off of the shelves. A ladder would allow you to reach the very top ones. The floor was dirty, and it smelled like metal. One word stuck out in my mind: industrial. My flashlight reached around the corner of the first shelf before it stopped. It barely caught a glimpse of a metal hatch in the ground, cemented shut by rusted chains.
I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back so badly, I just-
My flashlight swept across what was right in front of me. An enormous desk- the librarian's desk- sat against the far wall. But in front of it was a thing- a monster. It stood half as tall as the shelves, with skin that was completely white. It wore a suit, and walked with a smooth step. In front of it was another beast- fast approaching. I heard its footsteps- tiptap tiptap- coming on fast, and could barely make sense of a spindly, black creature on all fours running towards the elevator.
There was a button in the elevator, and I pressed it with speedy hands. Slowly- too slowly- the door started to close, top to bottom. I swept my flashlight up and away- but I was too fast, and I dropped it. Its pale light streamed through the air. It caught a glimpse of the tall white creature by the desk, and illuminated its face. My heart dropped to depths it has never again reached.
The face was human, yet it was not. Its mouth refused to open, and as for lips, there were none. Instead, the mouth lining curved slightly into a cemented smile. And the eyes- they were gouged out, nothing but little buckets sloping inwards into a grey mess. Slowly, the monster leaned its chin forwards and smiled- and walked towards me in grand, sweeping steps.
The elevator was almost closed, almost, almost...the black creature reached out a hands towards my feet at the bottom. The person beside me did not move. Opening my mouth, I let out the biggest scream I have ever been able to muster.
When I woke, I was in my bed. I've always had nightmares- they're just a lot more visual in my teenage years.