The Fourth Floor
I used to work in a Self-storage facility, one of the first things they drill into you is to always carry a map, so you don't get lost. I found it a little silly at first because how can you get lost in a two story building, but I found quickly that those buildings curled on themselves like a snail shell.
I was walking around on my first week and I swear it felt like I was walking in circles, there was this weird smell I would walk past every now and then. Like sawdust and old food. I eventually found an elevator and was able to make my way to the office after like 30 minutes, but it felt like I was being played with. Like it only let me out when it wanted, apparently my store was a smaller one in the area with only 300 spaces (some of them were outside), I was often alone doing my rounds in early morning and late evening. Honestly it was nice to work alone, I have always enjoyed talking to myself and started to talk to the building as I walked around with my cart and cleaned up the place. And it was peaceful.
The odd things started happening after I helped out at another store; this one was huge with almost 600 units and 4 different floors all inside. My maps felt useless as the building had these weird dead-end hallways with nooks and crannies that looped on themself, it didn't help that the elevator had those dumb double doors that opened in two directions, my morning rounds took nearly an hour and a half. The notes left for me by the manager of this store said that if I felt uncomfortable to avoid doing a nightly round, at the time I thought they were talking about how this store was in the boonies and sometimes the homeless would climb the walls and sleep in the outside units, which I saw an unfortunate amount of times. But I was only 19 at the time and thought of myself as tough so at around 6pm I started my nightly rounds.
The first floor was easy, I had mostly figured out the layout, and I could use the office door as a landmark, the second floor was also pretty smooth just the normal amount of trash left by customers who didn't read our no food signs. The third floor was weird. Some lights had gone out and were replaced by the red emergency lights as well as a strong smell of rat poison that hadn't been there earlier but still no major issues were easy enough to replace and the dead light bulbs were really fun to break. The last floor is when things became wild, while riding the elevator to the fourth floor I felt a huge jolt and shake. I got out and the whole floor was dark, no emergency lights, and this terrible sound like twisting rusted metal. I pretty much turned 180 and pressed the elevator button but it was not working. I chalked it up to a blackout and decided to make my way to the emergency stairs but it felt like every turn I made was wrong.
Something ran a chill up my spine as I heard raspy breathing, I called out but heard nothing back just breathing. I tried to just brush it off but as I started to walk, I heard steps that weren't my own. I started to run, the maze seemed to consume me, I started to feel my chest tighten in both anxiety and asthma clogged my air ways. I pulled around a corner and rummaged through my pockets to find my inhaler taking rescue breaths as I tried to regain my calm. My inhaler was almost empty but I still tried to use it, the small puffs helping my throat and chest breathe easier. I looked around the corner slowly and didn't see anything, so I just stayed for a moment before continuing to try to find my way out. It took probably 10 minutes before I found the exit, I had never been so relieved to feel the hot summer air on my face.
I locked the door behind me, cart be damned, and called my mom. I broke down, I talked with her until I climbed down the four flights of stairs and made it to the office. I never helped out at that store again and eventually left that job. But sometimes I still dream about it.