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E for Elevators had always terrified her: #atozchallenge

As a co-host, I begin with A to Z Challenge  reminders:
1. Turn off your word verification. It helps no one. You may moderate comments for a while if you’re unsure.
2. In your comment id, link only to your AZ blog, NOT your profile which may have 5 other blogs.
3. Leave a link to you when you comment.
4. Comment when you visit blogs. Start visiting with the blog below you on the linky list.
5. Make it easy for people to follow your blog and follow you on social media.
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Today’s prompts (the picture prompt to the left and the story starter below at the beginning of the story in bold) both come from Li Vogt, a great blog friend, and amazing fiction writer. I picked these because elevators fascinate me, and I wanted a chance to set a story in one. So here it is:
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Elevators had always terrified her. 
After you die, you get into an elevator. Her grandfather’s words chased her each time she went on her rounds somewhere too high to take the stairs.
If you’re good, it takes you up, all the way up to heaven where all is good and happy. Grandpa’s words followed her much like the silent troop of a dozen black-clad men who prowled around her now, guns drawn, and went on to clear the fortieth floor. As she got ready to walk towards room 4011, her partner gestured and pointed. The boys needed to break down the door, and wanted her and the partner out of their way.
Job done, the men dispersed, escorting their handcuffed trophies. Relieved men, smiling, slapping each other over a job well done. She let them go ahead, all of them, including her partner, and then faced her nemesis.
If you’re bad, it takes you down, into the deep dark pits of hell where everything burns and no one is happy. Grandpa’s words, whispered on what would turn out to be his deathbed, plagued her as she sauntered into the elevator, pressed the button for the lobby.
What happens, Grandpa, if I’m neither too good nor bad? She remembered her question, and the lift jolted to a halt on cue, suspended between floors. The light dipped and flashed.
She fought to control the wobble in her voice as she pressed the intercom button and called for help. 

That’s why you and I are here, sweetheart, stuck in the middle, whispered Grandpa in her ears as she settled down to wait.
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A to Z Stories of Life and Death

If you liked this story you might like some of the stories I wrote for my A to Z last year.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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