The Ghost in the Elevator

Late one evening, in the heart of a bustling city, Mallory, a junior architect working late on a deadline, enters the high-rise office building's elevator. The building, one of the oldest in the city, is mostly abandoned after hours, its once-grand marble halls now silent.

Mallory presses the button for the ground floor, but as the elevator descends, it jolts to a stop on the 13th floor—a floor that doesn’t exist in the building directory. Confused, she checks her phone, but there’s no signal. The elevator doors open with a slow, groaning sound.

Curiosity gets the better of her, and Mallory steps out. The hallway is dimly lit, with flickering overhead lights casting eerie shadows. The air smells faintly of mildew and something metallic. The walls are lined with portraits of stern-looking men and women, their eyes seeming to follow her as she walks.

At the end of the hallway, she notices a room with a door slightly ajar. Inside, a single desk lamp glows, illuminating a stack of architectural blueprints. The designs are for the very building she’s in, but the plans are far more advanced than anything she’s seen—featuring futuristic additions like solar panels and eco-friendly materials.

As she examines the blueprints, a voice behind her says, "You like them, don’t you?"

Startled, Mallory turns to see a man in an old-fashioned suit. His presence feels out of place, like he’s stepped out of another time. He introduces himself as Victor Lane, the building’s original architect.

But Victor has been dead for decades.

He explains that he’s been trapped here, unable to move on, because the building was never completed the way he envisioned. His designs were rejected, his dreams of revolutionizing architecture stifled.

"You’re an architect," he says, staring at her intently. "You can finish what I started."

Before she can respond, the floor begins to tremble. The ghostly figure of Victor flickers. He warns her to leave before it’s too late, but Mallory feels compelled to stay, her fingers itching to take the plans with her.

The tremors grow stronger, and suddenly the hallway begins to dissolve into darkness. Mallory runs back to the elevator, clutching the blueprints, as ghostly whispers fill the air. She barely makes it back before the doors slam shut and the elevator resumes its descent.

When she finally reaches the ground floor, she finds the building security guard waiting, his face pale. "You’re the second person to come out of there alive," he says. "The last one didn’t make it far."

Mallory quits her job the next day and devotes herself to completing Victor’s designs. Over the next few years, she becomes one of the most renowned architects in the country. Her final project, however, is the most personal—she renovates the old high-rise, following Victor’s original plans to the letter.

On opening day, as she stands on the rooftop admiring her work, a faint breeze carries a whisper to her ears: "Thank you."