I had a bad case of the munchies. Smoking alone in the privacy of my hotel room, the hunger for cheap junk food gradually filled me until I reluctantly determined that the situation needed to be dealt with. I internally debated whether to make the journey to the 24 hour convenience store near my hotel or to rough it and try to get over my high with sleep. Part of me reasoned that it was right down the street, I didn't even need to drive. The other part of me whined that it was 3 in the morning and nearly 30 degrees outside. I argued with myself for a couple more minutes until the hunger decided my fate. I pulled on my coat and grabbed my room key off the dresser. Not wanting to deal with ten flights of stairs, the elevator presented the only other solution so I made my way down the carpeted hallway. Past the doors of sleeping occupants and an abandoned room service cart. Eventually, I made it to the end of the hall and pressed the down button on the steel panel. I heard the unit rumbling down from a few floors above. I was on the eighth of a ten story hotel so it didn't surprise me how the doors opened shortly after the decent had started. The doors opened.
The cabin was not empty. There was a couple holding hands leaning against the back wall. The man was a little shorter than the woman and had a chinstrap beard with beady green eyes. I didn't like the looks of him. The woman was tall and Asian. She had parted black hair and showed no movement or expression. She just stared at me with glassy emotionless eyes. I went to press my button for the lobby and then noticed that there were no other buttons pushed yet. This was strange because it meant the couple had not yet selected their desired floor and therefore were just standing in the elevator a few floors up. I shrugged it off and pushed down on the "L". I tried not to look at the strange couple but I could feel the stare of the Asian woman in the back if my head. The elevator started moving downwards. The entire trip down, I could feel the eyes of the woman on my neck and I could hear the chinstrap beard man talking to himself quietly. Time moved slowly.
I wanted to get away from this freaky couple. Eventually after an awkward minute of silence besides the soliloquized mutters, the metal doors slid open. I walked out... the couple didn't . As the doors closed, I got a final view of them. The man kissing the woman and the woman staring at me with her cold glassy stare.
By the time I reached the cash register, the hunger had gotten unbearable. I don't feel the need to list all the items I bought but I can assure you in that it was more than the casual shopper would have gotten. With my two plastic bags in hand I headed back towards my hotel. I hoped the couple would not be in the elevator still. If they were, I would take the stairs. But as I got closer to the hotel, all those thoughts disappeared when I saw the flashing red and blue lights. Ambulance and police, around my building. I rushed over to my door and tried to get in but I was stopped by a police officer. He told me that an employee had discovered the murdered body of an Asian woman in my building. I told him I had just ridden in the elevator with her and her boyfriend. He looked at me grimly.
"She was found in the elevator," he said, "her body was hanging from a curved nail in the elevator wall. No visible marks on her front or sides but an impressive array of knife wounds up and down her back. Forensics can already confirm she's been dead for at least 24 hours," he finished. We just looked at each other for about 20 seconds my mouth hung open in shock. The police officer added, "Now I think you should probably come give me a description of this boyfriend you mentioned."