Hold The Elevator {Saw/Detective Mark Hoffman}

Chapter 11

Mark's POV: I waited outside the apartment lobby for Alessia to get home. It's rare that I'm off work before she is, so I figured I'd meet her at the door. But time kept passing and she wasn't back yet. This entire day has just been off. Everything has been giving me a strange feeling. Almost as if something isn't right. I feel like someone is watching me. And if I'm being honest I know exactly why I'm so paranoid. There's a reason I've cut back on my drinking recently. Alessia thinks it's because we got together and I'm happy, which is definitely part of it. But it's mostly because I tend to have loose lips when I'm drunk. She knows first hand. And I can't tell her what I did. I'm already paranoid. If I get too much alcohol in me I'll spill.

She can't know.

No one can.

After an hour of waiting, I went back inside because it started raining. No mail in my mailbox. Once again, my gut was off. I heard some commotion behind the stairwell door. Against my better judgement, I approached while keeping my hand on my concealed pistol. As I tossed the door open, I was met by that damn German Shepard from upstairs, along with his owner yelling at him to stop barking. Unlike other days, she ignored me and kept walking.

As she shoved through the main door, in came Alessia, offended by her rudeness. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing her.

"Hey!" Her eyes twinkled with surprise seeing me back early.

"Light work load today." I smirked, pecking her on the lips.

"Lucky you." She replied, "I had a last minute walk in. Blonde bimbo who just NEEDED to have her massage after work because god was her secretarial god exhausting."

•

Alessia's POV: Mark chuckled.

"Well I'm glad you find my misery funny." I said as we walked to the elevator.

"More the way you said it." He replied, pressing the button. I rolled my eyes. As the doors opened, a crowd of people came out, shoving past us and nearly knocking me over. Thankfully Mark held onto me. Only one man stayed inside. An older, business looking man.

"Going up?" He asked.

"Mmm hmm." Mark politely replied, pressing our floor button. I just stared at the floor as the elevator continued to rise. But I could feel the tension rising. Mark sensed something I didn't. I glanced at him and saw his eyes looking around.

"Alessia." He whispered. I peeked up at him, "Watch your side." Without warning or reason, Mark shoved me to the side of the elevator. If I wouldn't have put my arms out, I probably would've hit my head on the side wall.

Before I could even process what just happened, the other man hit the emergency stop button and stabbed Mark in the neck with what looked like a syringe. I let out a choked scream at the sight. Mark squirmed and tried to fight back, but slowly fell and passed out. I was frozen against the wall as the man straightened up and walked over to me. My back couldn't press anymore against the wall as he got closer. I was shaking, crying, and overall terrified. More terrified than I've ever been in my entire life. This man just poisoned Mark, and probably wants to do the same to me.

"Please don't hurt us." I whimpered.

The man was silent. I tried to scream as he gently placed a gloved hand over my mouth to muffle any sound I made. My screams were more squeaks at that point, but he didn't want any noise escaping.

"Shhhhh, it's ok." He gruffly said, "Just relax your muscles, don't tense up, and you'll be fine. It'll be over soon." My eyes widened as I saw the syringe approach my neck. I frantically shook my head, begging to be let go. "You're just gonna go to sleep. Just let it happen, you're not who I want." Before I could protest again, he stuck the needle in, making me squeak from the jab. I quickly felt myself slipping out of consciousness, and the man gently laid me down next to Mark as I passed out...