The Fifth Floor

Lucas Fisher has never had it easy. In the early morning of what is supposed to be a relaxing night, turns into a nightmare.

“Lucas Fisher”, the gas station attendant motioned Lucas’s I.D back to him. “What kind did you want sir?” “Let’s get the Lucky 22’s”. The attendant pulls the ribbon of lotto tickets, spinning in its plastic case. Lucas takes a glance at the cheap nameplate attached to the attendants’ left shirt pocket. “Jacob”. “Here you go and your coffee”. Lucas thanks the man and proceeds to walk out of the store, struggling to open the door and shove the lotto tickets in his pocket at the same time, balancing his coffee in the other hand. The morning sun seemed to infiltrate itself over everything, he pulled his sunglasses that were folded on his t-shirt and placed them on his face to confront the sun’s rays. If anyone looked at Lucas they would have seen a man in his 30’s, short hair that hasn’t been touched in days. Lucas also wore an old t-shirt with a sports team logo on it, dirty jeans and your basic lace-up shoes. That’s what people would see if anyone cared to look at Lucas Fisher.

A blast of cool air glances over his face as he enters his apartment lobby. The lobby clerk was too busy assaulting the keys of his keyboard to notice his entry.  He blows into his coffee, trying to cool it down. A ding rings out as he approaches the elevator. Two older women step out of the elevator wearing what looked to be work-out clothes. “Morning”, the ladies said as they passed by. Lucas just nodded in conjunction and stepped inside the elevator. Floors L and 1-5 were the options. Without hesitation, he turned facing out the elevator and pressed 4. The old elevator creaked and bounced before it began to ascend. Each floor passing seemed like the end for this old elevator, the grinding and clicking of the gears. “Someone needs to put this thing out of its misery”, He thought, taking his first sip of coffee.

The ding echoed off the walls and down the hallway. The floor smelled of mold and stale air. The color of the carpet matched the walls and the doors, brown. Stained, fake gold plating covered the letters screwed into the old wooden doors. The lighting was just bright enough to know what door you stood in front of, other than that, useless. Lucas started to make his way to room number eight. With each step down the hallway, the light at the end seemed to flicker in response. He pulled his key from the old jeans and inserted it into the lock. Bare as bare could get, one couch a single chair to a table with old drapes somehow still intact on the windows. Lucas latches the door shut and pulls the chair out from underneath the table. A penny was extracted from his pocket as he began scratching away at the lotto tickets he just bought.

“There all past due! I’ve told you this for weeks now”!

“You only brought it up just yesterday, what do you mean week's!?”  Day in and day out it never seemed to stop. Two residents lived above Lucas, a couple, and for the past few weeks have been arguing and fighting non-stop.  At first the “broom to the ceiling“ trick would work, by now it was pointless. All he could do was endure it until they both wore themselves out. A flashing red light caught his eye from across the room. The chair made a mumbling sound as he got up to investigate the light. “Huh, a new message”.  Lucas pressed play on his answering machine. “You have one new message; first message from today at… 8:30 AM.” “Hey, Lucas it's Dr. Malone just letting you know your prescription is ready”, “End of messages”. The doctor has been calling at least every other day, for the past week or more. Not having insurance and not having money makes it difficult to get medication. “Then why don’t you just leave!” “Maybe I will if you don’t shut your mouth!” The fighting continued, all it is anymore is white noise.Lucas hasn’t been able to sleep, to enjoy a peaceful morning since he could remember. Their voices pierced through the paper thin ceiling and walls. When he’s trying to sleep, to eat, even taking a shower, there was never a silent moment.  

He steps over to the table and slides the chair back underneath. “What if I call the cops? Maby then I can get a break from all this noise”. Options ran through his head attempting to think of a solution. Walking towards the bedroom, strips of clothing dropped to the floor as he made himself comfortable. His hands grasped the old wooden knob,opening it to reveal a bedroom.At first glance,anyone would mistake the bedroom door for a closet, but it was the closest thing to his own room he had. A makeshift nightstand stood idle next to a twin size bed. Stained flooring continued from the rest of the apartment into the room. The light was emanating the room from a single window on the left side of the wall overlooking the street below. The dresser stood kitty-corner to his right, a mirror atop reflecting the light from the window. Lucas shuffled his feet to the dresser,pulling the top drawer open. Several scattered pill bottles rolled around from the drawer being opened. All the bottles were empty and have been for quite some time. His insurance ran out the same time the company decided to lay people off. Lucas knew it was coming, but didn’t expect to find a new job was going to be this difficult.

Lucas worked for a factory down on Main and 3rd. It was south of the city,but still a manageable drive. Yet at the same time, it was nice having a break from the assembly line. Most of the work was very monotonous. Assembling medical supplies and equipment for a company called Curative.

Even with getting a break from the day to day duties of work, it was the only thing that kept his mind busy. “Then why don’t you just leave”, “This is my apartment, your sorry a*s needs to leave”.

Lucas slams the drawer shut with enough force for a few of the pill bottles to escape. Lucas, now steaming mad ,his fist’s clenched so tight they feel numb. “That’s it!, I've had enough! He grabs what clothes he can back off the floor to look presentable. He whips the door open and slams it furiously. The half screwed-in number on the door trembles. He could hear a few of the neighbors that lived by open their doors and start questioning him.”Is there some kind of problem?” a younger woman with a two-year-old clinging to her leg peered out the door and down the hallway.”The lady asked you a question! The late twenty-year-old pointing at the young women demanding a response. At this point, all the built up rage he had muffled anything that entered his ear. The sounds of the frantic residents of the hallway were just background noise. He had made his way to the elevator, repeatedly pushing the button. “Ding”, “for heaven's sake, finally!”. In one swift motion,he went from the hallway into the elevator and was already pressing number five. The elevator bounced and creaked as it made its way up one floor. The sliding doors opened themselves to reveal the Fifth floor.

One,Two,Three”. He was now in a brisk walk going down the hallway counting door numbers as he went. Finding room number eight  was not very hard, the arguing could be heard from the elevator. Lucas, trying to catch his breath halted in front of the door. Inside his bedroom, he felt the courage to stand up to the people who have been keeping him up at night. Now, standing in front of the door he started to feel nervous and uneasy about what he was going to say. He locked his legs, stood up straight and slightly raised his head. “Three big knocks should get even the loudest person’s attention”. The sound of flesh and wood broke the back and forth bickering. The deadbolt was unlocked with a hideous grinding sound. “This is it”, Lucas took in one more big breath, the door swung open.“Whatever you’re selling, we don’t want it”. A very fit and muscular man stood in front of Lucas. He wore what looked like an old t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, faded denim jeans that draped around a pair of work boots at the bottom. Lucas peered behind the man to see frightful women, her shirt looked to be torn, a fresh bruise was placed on her face moments before he arrived. “Hey! what the hell do you want?” His eyes returned to meet the man standing in front of him. “ It’s been days since I had any real sleep, all I hear is you two fighting, non-stop”. The man opened his mouth to deliver a response but was interrupted. “Day in and day out, you two never close your mouths, you guys even sleep!?, Just for once can you take a break and shut..up”. By now, the man was not standing at his door but face to face with Lucas. “Is that all?” Lucas firmly nodded. “I'm going to do what I want and when I want if you EVER challenge me again you will be escorted out with broken limbs by an ambulance, got that?” Lucas has never been met with such ferocity, he was stunned. All he could do was nod his head in agreement and attempt to make his way back to the elevator. The man backed off and turned towards his door. Lucas, with his head down and heart racing walked back to the elevator. He pressed the button to return to the floor below. He jumped as the man slammed the door shut behind him. And once again he could hear the couple fighting and yelling.

He was once again back on his own floor, returning to his room to get some sleep. The concerned neighbors no longer stood in the hallway. He opened his front door and closed it behind him. His back against his front door facing the living room. He threw his head back creating a thud sound. “I'll just call the landlord in the morning”. He didn't have enough money to change apartments let alone wash his laundry. He dropped his head looking at the floor and gave out a long sigh before heading to bed. Lucas eagerly climbed into bed, creaking and other noises erupted from the bed with each movement. He pulled the sheets up to his face, kicked one leg out from under the blanket and fell asleep. The ear shattering sound of women screaming woke him. Lucas’s eyes popped open,looking at his ceiling. “Its finally quiet”. Confused and not sure what just happened, he lay there motionless. A few minutes later he heard a man on the phone above him. “Roger! I didn't mean it man”, the man was talking through what sounded to be him sobbing.”She went too far and I couldn't help it “. “You have to help me, you owe me that”. Even though this conversation was happening on an entirely different floor, Lucas was being as quiet as possible getting out of bed. “Ok..ok...I'll see you in 10”. He tip-toed to his front door to look out his the peephole, seeing if anyone was out in the hallway. Nobody seemed to be in the hallway, maybe they were doing the same thing he was. Moments later he could hear the elevator going up to the Fifth floor. “That must be Roger”. In his curiosity, he stood completely still, barely even breathing to hear what was happening. “What in the hell did you do, there's blood everywhere, we'll never be able to clean all this”. A man's voice said that he's never heard, Rogers. “She took it to far man, she was coming at me with a knife, I defended myself”. Rogers' voice interrupted that of the man's, “Nobody's going to believe that story, we have to get this dealt with now while it's still dark”. Lucas  looked over at the kitchen clock he had hung up, 3:28 AM. Panicked, he ran over to his phone while at the same time trying to not make any noise. “911 what's your emergency”. Whispering into the phone hoping the people upstairs wouldn't hear,” There’s been a murder”. “Do you know who's been murdered, sir?”. “Yes, a husband killed his wife and now they're attempting to clean the mess”. “Were sending somebody now, do not interfere and stay where you are”. He placed the phone back on the counter, he looked up at the ceiling. “I got her feet just go”. Lucas knew he shouldn't interfere and that's what he was told, but he couldn't just sit here while this was going on. Anxiety and fear were making his heart jump. He placed on hand on his chest in hoping it would calm him down. The last thing he heard from the man that lived above was something along the lines of going down the stairwell. A settle screech broke his apartment silence when pulling the chair out from under his table. Multiple scenarios raced through his mind about what happened, what he could have done and what’s going to happen?. Twenty minutes had passed by since he called the police. A stern knock at his door broke his train of though, Lucas gathered himself, went to the door and looked to see who was there. Two officers stood waiting outside the door. One of the officers had his arms crossed, the other had his arms on his waist while puffing his chest out.

Lucas opened the door to reveal himself to the two officers. “We got a call from this address that there was a murder?. He couldn't find it in himself to get the words out fast enough of what had happened. “Upstairs a man beat his wife and killed her then called his friend roger to come help clean the mess, then they took the body down the stairwell”. Gasping for air, he explained everything in one long breath. Both of the officers looked alarmed and placed their hand on their weapons. “Where did this occur, sir!?. “Fifth floor room eight”, he told them. At the same time, both officers looked dumbfounded and took their hands away from the holsters.“You think its a joke to call in a false report to the police, especially a murder at that!. The officer raised his voice in anger glaring at Lucas. Right after that, the other officer chimed in, “we could take you in for such a claim, wasting our time from actual police duties”. Lucas was lost, he didn't know what to say, why did they not believe him!. “I know what happened and called you guys, I'm so lost, I don't understand!”. Lucas brought his hands to his head cupping his face in disbelief. “I heard her scream and then her boyfriend, husband, whatever he is! Call his friend to help move the body”. The officer reached out his hand for Lucas’s arm. “I've heard enough, come with us, sir”.

The worst thing he could have done, he did. Lucas pulled his arm out of the weak grasp of the officer and moved away, back into the apartment. “I'm only going to say this once, you need to come with us or we will be forced to bring you with us, we don't want that”.”Let's just try to stay calm”. The voice of the officer drifted through his head as he was trying to make sense of things. By this time the officers stood where his table was, he was backed up against his couch.He could tell that both officers were  growing increasingly impatient with him. Before he could react each officer had an arm, pulling it back behind him. “Sir, please stop struggling”. “What is going on!”. Lucas had never had a panic attack but he was sure he was having one now. His eye went blurry, his voice was crackling incoherently to plead them to stop. The officers escorted him out of his home and took him to the elevator. Before the doors shut he could see down the hallway, everyone was out of their homes and in the hallway to see what the commotion was. Some of them even clapping. The officer on his right pressed the button for the lobby. It took a moment for his sense’s  to come back, but when they did, Lucas was that much more confused. The button for the fifth floor had vanished. There were L and 1-4, not 1-5. “What happened to floor five? He said. ”.The officer looking puzzled looked at Lucas,” there’s not a floor five”, shaking his head. A bounce and a slight thud had meant they reached the lobby. Red and Blue lights flooded the lobby floor at this hour of the morning. Two more patrol cars sat waiting outside. The air was brisk and sudden at this time. Lucas shrunk his head and raised his shoulders when the cold met his face. “Take this one to holding, well be there shortly to write a follow-up report”. A man in uniform shorter than the previous two took him by the underarm and led him to the first vehicle. “Watch your head stepping in”. His mind was blank with everything going on, just a bad dream it seemed he was in. The gust of hot air from the car’s vents reached his face as he settled in the back seat of the patrol car. The officer slumped into his seat, said some numbers over his radio and proceed to the station. Street lights passed in a blur  as he gazed out the window. “No fifth floor?”, he kept saying over and over again in his mind. He could hear the operators and other radio traffic as he was lead through the station to the holding rooms. “Sit here, officer Tallon will be with you shortly”. A giant window stood in front of Lucas, painting his reflection. Everyone knew that is was a double sided window. A woman's voice broke the silence from outside the door. Some conversation she was having with the officer. Long red hair, a tight blue outfit along with two men wearing black suits entered the room. Both of the men stood on the left and right side of the door once they were inside. “My name is Doctor Hoffman”. The women sat down in the cold metal chair in front of him. “ we were informed of your situation and we think we can help”. His leg began to bounce, hands fiddling on top of the table. “What's my situation?”. “ I think you know, let me make a quick phone call and we can see what we can do for you”. His eyebrows raised in confusion, he leaned back in his chair wondering what he got himself into. “Like I said I'll be right back,quick call”. The lady left the room, the two men stayed at the doorway. Both men dressed identical, both had the same stern look. “This is Hoffman”. “Did you find him?”, another woman's voice on the other side of the line asked. Hoffman looked around to see if anyone was in the vicinity to hear the phone conversation. “Mr.Fisher would be perfect for the program”. “That's fantastic Dr.Hoffman, bring him back to the facility and we will start preparations. Dr.Hoffman smiled and nodded her head,” be with you soon”. Hoffman closed her flip phone and returned it to her pocket. Lucas still bouncing his leg was trying to hear what was being said on the other side of the door. Dr.Hoffman came back into the room with what looked like a smile. “So Mr.Fisher, you will be coming with me”. He shook his head and almost chuckled. “I'm not going anywhere with you and your two goons. Officer Tallon slipped through the doorway and gave a stack of papers to Dr.Hoffman. “Here are the release papers, you guys are good to go”. Lucas shook his head and scrambled to the back of the small holding room. “I'm not going anywhere with you!”, pointing at Dr.Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman signaled the two men in suits to retrieve Lucas. “I'll be waiting in the car”. Tallon watched as the two suits dragged Lucas out the door. The shorter officer who drove Lucas to the station walked up to Officer Tallon. “Is this legal? who is she with?”. Tallon still watching the two men drag him out the front door replied. “ She works for a psychological whatever called Curative. Fighting was useless, he didn't have any fight left in him. Lucas was thrown in the back seat and was held down by the two men that dragged him out. “Hold him still!”. Hoffman popped the cap off the needle and stuck it into the side of Lucas’s neck. Let him sleep, he going to need his strength for later. Dr.Hoffman signaled to the driver to go. The black car pulled away from the police station and disappeared down the street in the morning sunrise.

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

'The Fifth Floor'
Scott Marion,
Your main character is a very complex individual. I wondered just what the empty pill bottles had held and if there mention would be some kind of hint to the story's progress. The tale came together beautifully and this would be a good one to continue into another chapter.
Kathy

[Coyote Poetry]

Very detailed, organized and interesting story. I liked the set-up and situations in the story. Thank you Scott for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote