The Rising Floor

The Rising Floor

My three friends aria Lucas, James and I went on vacation to Spain. We just wanted to take a break before school started again. But it was weird. The hotel was very big and tall, made of glass and metal. It had screens everywher. The doors opened by themselves when you walked close to them. I’ll be honest—at first it felt cool, but also kind of creep, like someone was watching us.

On our first day, we were swimming in the pool, laughing a lot and having fun, but the sky looked strange. It was always blue—no clouds, no birds, like nothing was moving.

Some time later, we went back to our hotel room. I looked at my phone and saw a warning. The words kept changing or even disappearing. It said “flood warning,” but also “stay inside the buildin.” I didn’t understand it, so ignored it and went to take a quick nap before dinner,

I had a bad dream about water filling the room, and I couldn’t move. I woke up to screaming and loud rain. My heart started beating fast. I felt terrifie. Is my dream coming true? I ran to the window to look outside. When I did, I almost collapsed. I couldn’t think—only fear

Cars were floating and crashing into buildings. The Water had already reached the second floor, and it was still rising. My mind went blank. I didn’t know what to do. I fell to the floor and started crying. What if I never get to see my family again?

Aria woke up when she heard me crying. She rushed over and asked if everything was okay. I didn’t answer—I just told her to look ou the window. She stared, shocked. She said we needed to leave and go higher up

First, we ran to the room next door where the boys were staying and knocked lou on the door. They woke up and opened the door, they looked confused. Then we ran into the hallway. People were screaming and running anywhere. The hotel speakers turned on and said “please stay calm. Everything is under control,” but it clearly wasn’t, nothing was under control.

The elevator was full of people trying to escape, so we took the staff stairs instead. We reached the 15th floor. That’s when I noticed Aria wasn’t there. I told the boys she was missing, but they said we didn’t have time and kept going up.

I couldn’t leave her. she was like my sister.

I ran back, screaming her name until my throat hurt. I checked almost every room until I heard faint screams. It came from one of the rooms. Inside there was a pregnant woman alone, giving birth. The room smelled like blood and metal.

I told her we had to leave, but she just smiled, like she already knew what was going to happen. She said, “Don’t worry. I just want to see my child one time. …One last time.”

when I heard that, tears started rolling down my face. I was shaking. I didn’t know what to do anymore.

Then the speakers turned on again—but the voice sounded different. Deeper. Scarier.

”Emergency plan update,”

It felt like the hotel wasn’t trying to save us. It was testing something.

The water reached my legs. It felt heav, like it didn’t want me to move. I ran back toward the stairs, screaming Aria‘s name until my voice broke. Suddenly, I slipped, fell, and hit my head. Everything went blurry.

The last thing I heard was someone calling my name.

- written by Eniola felica Ogundiran