Suicide Girls In The AfterLife Read Online Free

Hotel. If you need anything, just dial zero on your room phones and Louis over there will see that you get it. Okay, then? Good. Bye-bye.”
   Katina and I watch Ms. Stardust sashay across the lobby and out into the night, both of us chewing our gum much louder than we have to, as if the normal act of chewing gum will rub off on this extremely strange situation.
   Once she’s gone, we look at each other and shrug.
   “Guess I’ll go find my room,” I say.
   “Yeah, me too.”
   Together we make our way over to the elevators, Katina snapping her gum every few seconds. I push the up button and the door immediately opens. Inside, a young pale guy stands there, just watching us.
   I say, “Are you like, the elevator guy?”
   “The elevator guy? No, I’m Ago.”
   “Pardon me?” By now Katina and I have entered the elevator and the shiny silver door has slid shut.
   “That’s my name,” the guy says. “Ago.”
   “Ah.”
   “That’s a pretty stupid name, you ask me,” Katina says.
   Ago gives her a wounded look, so I quickly say, “Don’t mind her. She’s pissed because they’re saying she’s a suicide.”
   “Pretty much everyone is a suicide,” Ago says.
   “Not me!” Katina snaps her gum angrily and pushes the button for the sixth floor. “Hey,” she says. “There’s a button here that says 4 ½.”
   “That’s my floor,” Ago says. “You don’t want to go there.”
   “Why not?” Katina asks.
   “Because it doesn’t really exist.”
   Katina and I both look at Ago as if he’s slipped a groove. Finally, I say, “I don’t know. Now you have me curious.”
   “Me too,” says Katina. “I’m getting off on your floor.”
   Ago sighs. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”
   The elevator stops at every floor but no other passengers get on. From what we can see, the hotel looks like a pretty shabby one.
   We arrive and leave the fourth floor without incident and then the elevator lurches violently, causing all three of us to lose our balance. Katina and I fall down, but Ago is holding onto the rail, obviously expecting it.
   “You could have warned us,” I say, getting to my feet.
   “No, shit,” Katina agrees, standing up. “I swallowed my gum.”
   Ago ignores us and begins trying to pry open the elevator doors with his fingers. He grunts and groans with the effort, occasionally swearing under his breath. “Can one of you give me a hand?”
   “Sure.” I go over and start to yank on the doors. A minute later, it budges and we can clearly see that we’re stuck between floors. Forcing the doors wide enough for a person to be able to squeeze through takes another few seconds and then I stand back to admire our handy work. “Looks like we’ll have to climb up.”
   “Always do,” Ago says and begins to do exactly that.
   Outside the elevator, there is nothing to be seen. Just darkness.
   “Is the power out on your floor?” I ask.
   “There’s never any power on 4 ½,” Ago says, hauling himself up and clambering into the darkness. Then he disappears out of sight, as if the darkness has swallowed him whole.
   “Ago?” I call. “Where did you go, Ago?”
   As if from very far away, his voice drifts down to us. “Just be on your way. This is no place for you.”
   Of course this does nothing but make me want to check out floor 4 ½ all the more. “Give me a boost,” I say to Katina.
   For a second she looks like she may protest, then she shrugs and makes a step out of her laced hands.
   Using my elbows for leverage, I pull myself up and exit the elevator into nothing but thick blackness. I turn around to see the inside of the elevator, though it is no longer directly behind me. It’s a long ways off, a skinny rectangle of light that seems to be receding even as I watch. “What the hell…”
   “You made a mistake,” Ago