The Forty-Fourth Floor

Chapter 1: Insane

People say insanity means doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.

They are wrong.

I know because I have opened the same door more times than I can count. I stopped expecting anything different a long time ago.

It began with a fifty-dollar bet.

At the time, fifty dollars felt like a small fortune. My rent was overdue, my car had less than a quarter tank of fuel, and the manager at the grocery store had reduced my weekly hours again. I had twelve dollars in my bank account and three days until payday.

That was when Eric pointed toward the abandoned Bellweather Hotel.

We were standing outside a gas station shortly after midnight. Beyond the parking lot, the hotel rose above the surrounding buildings like a dead tree. Most of its windows were broken. The few that remained reflected the moon in dull, uneven pieces.

“I’ll give you fifty dollars if you go to the top,” Eric said.

I laughed. “That’s it?”

“That’s it. Reach the forty-fifth floor and shine your flashlight through a window. We’ll watch from here.”