Tower of Terror

Chapter III: The Elevator

Hotel Hightower, Main Elevator - 11:47 PM

As soon as the doors of the elevator slid closed, Harrison Hightower pulled the lever to the number thirteen. The thirteenth floor is where his personal penthouse is. The elevator rattled, then Hightower felt it going up. It took a very long time for the elevator to get to the next floor, so Hightower decided to start cleaning off the psecks of wood chips and dust off the Shiriki Utundu.

Hotel Hightower, Main Lobby - 11:49 PM

Strang noticed Smelding sweating. Hightower just sticked his cigarette onto the idol's head. Why was he panicking so much? Was it because it's a fire hazard? Strang finished picking up the sharded remains of the champagne glass and wiped the floor using a cleaning rag. Smelding looked behind him and noticed Strang for the first time.

"Hey," Smelding stammered, "Your the man that Mr. Hightower kicked out!"

Strang stopped wiping up the mess.

"How did you get in?" Smelding asked.

Strang didn't know what to say.

"Why are you panicking?" Strang questioned Smelding.

"Why do you think?" Smelding said, "That idol is not just a statue, it's a god. It has powers. It must be treated with respect, and Hightower just disrespected it."

"So?" Strang asked.

"At any moment now," Smelding said, looking like he wanted to cry, "we might descend into chaos and oblivion."

Hotel Hightower, Main Elevator - 11:55 PM

Hightower checked his pocket watch. It was five minutes until the next century, and the elevator just got to the seventh floor. The elevator doors slid open and showed the lovely Moroccan style hallway of the seventh floor. The seventh floor was home to the hotel's grand library. The room has one of the hotel's magnificent three story windows, boasting views of the waterfront. The doors slid closed and the elevator rattled, and started going up.

Hotel Hightower, Dining Room - 11:59 PM - 30 Seconds Until 1900

"Everybody!" Henry Mystic shouted, "We have less than 30 seconds until the new century!"

Everybody stopped dancing, the band stopped playing. Everybody was cheering. After all, a new century meant very new beginnings! Mystic kept his eye on the pocket watch. The long arrow telling the seconds was turning clockwise to twelve.

"10 seconds!" Mystic shouted.

"9!"

"8!"

"7!"

"6!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!'

"1!!"

The loud sound of the orchestra's gong can be heard all over the hotel. People were jumping and cheering and clapping their hands and their feet. Just then, the lights turned off.

Endicott Mansion, Staten Island - 12:00 AM - January 1st, 1900

Beatrice was in her room when she noticed the T-shaped figure of Hotel Hightower was as dark as the shadows of the night. That's strange, Beatrice Rose Endicott thought, The lights are always turned on on New Year's. Beatrice was sitting at her desk reading a book when the tower caught her eye. Beatrice noticed that every building other than Hotel Hightower has their lights turned on. Is it a power outage? Beatrice wondered.