Escalation

He Thought He Was Going Up In The World

By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred Published 2 years ago • 2 min read

An AI Creation By The Author

The Mall

He had been into this place a million times,

That's an exaggeration, but it felt like it, and he never counted, in fact, he never counted anything apart from money, that was the only thing that mattered to him.

He knew he should take the steps, but that would require some effort from him, and he never did anything he could get away with avoiding. He would use any underhand trick to make others do the thing, and the escalator was just a machine wasn't it?

He stepped onto the escalator and started moving up.

While ascending, he was checking his phone, sending a text to sack some of his employees, then a message to his bailiffs to evict some families, who couldn't afford his new rent structure.

He looked and he was only halfway up.

The escalator was moving but he didn't seem to be.

He looked down and the escalator was empty, he looked up, the same.

The mall he was in was empty, and he wasn't moving but the escalator was moving.

He took some steps but his position on the escalator stayed the same.

He tried to move up and down but his position did not change,

He tried to make a call, but his phone was suddenly dead.

The phone had been close to 70% when he stepped on the escalator.

Then the screen lit up and a message appeared.

"Your life has been one of cheating and hurting others. Taking advantage of people, underpaying employees, overcharging rents, and when they thought it could not get any worse, you gave them something worse.
This is your eternal home, your everlasting hell.
This is what your deeds have earned you.
This is your forever"

Then the phone died again.

"You can't do this" he screamed

But there was no one to hear his screams.

He must be dreaming.

He was not.

Time has stopped for him.

He would go mad, or had he already gone mad?

He screamed and screamed into the silent void of The Mall.