I was in Taiwan one year when I was younger, and had travelled to a busy night market (these are popular gatherings that usually operate in the evening). Nearby I spotted a sign for a netcafe in a 5-6 story tall building. Thinking I’d fire off some quick emails, I walked in the dark, small entrance of the building. The building was older and hasn’t been well maintained, but it’s not out of the ordinary in Taiwan. The entrance just had a dark hallway that led to a small elevator.
I pressed the elevator call button and entered. The elevator was uncharacteristically new compared to the building, but I didn’t think much of it. Like some Chinese buildings, there wasn’t a fourth floor (it’s considered bad luck since “four” sounds like “death”), so it just read 1-2-3-5-6, which was usual. I looked for the floor the netcafe was at– 6th floor, and pressed the button. It lurched into action quietly and began the ascend. When it stopped, I figured it was my floor so I instinctively began to step out. Right before stepping out, however, the sight outside the elevator stopped me. It was pitch dark, only lit by the light in the elevator, it looked like it hasn’t been occupied for decades, with some random pieces of furniture covered with white cloth or similar. It was a small building, so each floor were single occupancy, so I could see pretty much the entire floor from the elevator. Thinking I must have gotten the wrong floor, I checked the light (that indicates which floor you’re on). Strangely, there was nothing, none of the indicators were on, but the floor button to the netcafe was still lit so I know I haven’t gotten there yet. All this happened within a couple of seconds.
That’s when I noticed a figure moving in the distance of the floor– it was not very visible but I could make out what looks like a person dressed in some kind of gown, moving slowly towards the elevator. I was thoroughly creeped out, so I started pressing the close door button. As soon as I pressed it, the elevator light flickered off. I am this close to pissing my pants, and it’s actually kind of freaking me out thinking back to it. The lights flickered back on under a second and the door closed, the elevator jolted back to life. A few moments later it opened again to the netcafe.
I am beyond relieved at this point. I walked out immediately and sat down at a computer. After gathering my wits a bit, I walked over to the cashier’s desk and told them what I saw. The girl working there listened and her face turned a bit ashen, so I asked her if she heard of similar.
She told me that she’s never experienced it, but some coworkers and occasional customers have brought it up – basically, the building has 6 floors, and the fourth floor had a history. Apparently the floor used to be a hair salon of sorts, until one of the employees killed herself there for some reason. She slit her wrists over the hair wash station and died. The store continued operations despite stories of weird appearances– when customers got their hair rinsed the water would look a little red, like the customer was bleeding, little things like that, and a couple people reported seeing someone’s figure walking away in the mirror. Naturally, the business closed down a few months later.
The building owner tried to re-rent the place out, but never had any luck. Most businesses are quite superstitious, and no one wanted to rent the fourth floor after someone had died in it, even at a very cheap price. Finally, after dropping the price to nearly nothing, a stationary supplies store wanted to rent. During the renovations of the floor, however, several accidents would happen. Tools would end up in strange places, a mirror from the previous business shattered when no one was near it, and finally a worker had his hand jammed between the elevator doors when it closed on him unexpectedly. The workers refused to continue working and finally, the business left and the building owner finally gave up and shut down the floor. He then had the elevator company come in to replace the panel so that the elevator could not go to the fourth floor.
Let me repeat that- the elevator was programmed to never go to the fourth floor. It doesn’t even have a button. But for some reason, sometimes when people take the elevator, it would go to the fourth floor and the doors would open, and some, like myself, would see a figure walking around in the dark.
Indonesian:
Aku pernah di Taiwan selama setahun ketika masih muda, dan pergi ke pasar malam yang sibuk (ini adalah tempat kumpul-kumpul populer yang buka di malam hari). Dekatnya, aku melihat sebuah tanda keberadaan Kafe Internet yang terletak di sebuah bangunan terdiri dari 5-6 bagian. Karena terpikir ingin mengirimkan email cepat-cepat, aku berjalan di kegelapan, pintu masuk kecil dari gedungnya. Bangunannya tampak tua dan tidak terpelihara, tapi itu hal yang biasa di Taiwan. Pintu masuknya memiliki ruang gelap yang mengarah pada elevator kecil.
Aku menekan tombol pembuka pintu elevator dan masuk. Elevatornya tampak lebih usang jika dibandingkan dengan keadaan gedung, tapi aku tidak mempermasalahkan. Seperti bangunan orang cina pada umumnya, tidak ada lantai empat (sebab dianggap membawa sial karena “empat” diucapkan mirip “mati”), maka hanya ada lantai 1-2-3-5-6. Aku mencari tombol lantai tempat Kafe Internet yang berada di lantai 6, dan menekan tombolnya. Lift bergerak tiba-tiba tetapi tenang dan mulai naik. Saat berhenti, aku melihat tombol lify yang menyala adalah lantai yang aku tuju jadi secara reflek aku mulai melangkah keluar. Namun demikian, tepat sebelum melangkah, aku terdiam karena pemandangan di luarnya. Suasana sangat gelap, hanya diterangi sedikit sinar dari elevator sendiri, kelihatannya seperti tidak dihuni sejak lama, hnay berisi perabotan yang ditutupi kain putih atau sejenisnya. Bangunannya kecil, sehingga setiap lantai hanya diisi satu penghuni, sehingga aku bisa melihat keseluruhan ruangan dari elevator. Karena merasa aku salah lantai, aku melihat lampu indikator (yang menyatakan lantai yang kita tuju). Anehnya, tak ada yang menyala, seluruh lampu indikator padam, tetapi lampu tanda lantai Kafe Internet menyala jadi aku tahu kalau belum sampai di lantai 6. Seluruh kejadian ini terjadi dalam hitungan detik.
Aku melihat sesuatu bergerak di kejauhan– tidak terlalu jelas terlihat tapi aku bisa memastikan bahwa itu adalah seseorang berpakaian seperti gaun, berjalan lambat menuju elevator.Aku benar-benar ketakutan, lantas bergegas menekan tombol penutup pintu. Begitu aku menekan tombol, lampu elevator berkedip-kedip dan mati. Kurang sedikit aku pipis di celana, dan aku sangat ketakutan jika mengingat kejadian itu. Lampu berkedip-kedip lagi di detik berikutnya dan pintu tertutup, elevator kembali hidup. Beberapa saat kemudian terbuka ke arah Kafe Internet.
Aku belum merasa lega. Aku segera keluar dari elevator duduk di depan komputer. Setelah bisa berpikir jernih lagi, aku berjalan ke arah kasir dan menceritakan apa yang barusan aku lihat. Gadis yang bekerja disana mendengarkan dan wajahnya menjadi pucat, lantas aku bertanya apakah dia pernah mendengar cerita yang sama.
Dia bilang tidak pernah mengalaminya, tetapi teman-teman kerjanya dan beberapa pengunjung pernah mengalaminya–pada dasarnya bangunan ini punya enam lantai, dan lantai ke-4 mempunyai cerita tersendiri. Tampaknya lantai itu pernah menjadi semacam salon, sampai salah satu pegawainya bunuh diri karena alasan tertentu. Dia mengiris pergelangan tangannya di tempat cuci rambut dan mati. Salon itu masih berjalan walapun banyak cerita-cerita penampakan aneh terdengar– ketika pelanggan-pelanggan sedang dicuci rambutnya, air pencuci terlihat sedikit merah, seperti pelanggan sedang berdarah, dan hal-hal lain mirip itu, dan beberapa orang melaporkan pernah melihat bentuk mirip manusia sedang berjalan di cermin. Lama-kelamaan, salonnya tutup beberapa bulan kemudian.
Pemilik gedung mencoba untuk menyewakan ke orang lain, tapi tidak pernah beruntung. Banyak pengusaha sangat mempercayai takhyul, dan tak seorang pun menyewa lantai 4 karena pernah ada orang mati di dalamnya, meskipun dengan harga paling murah sekalipun. Akhirnya, setelah menurunkan harga sampai semurah-murahnya, penyuplai peralatan kantor ingin menyewa. Selama renovasi ruangan terjadi beberapa kejadian menarik. Alat-alat pindah di tempat yang aneh, cermin dari penyewa sebelumnya pecah saat tak ada orang di dekatnya, dan pada akhirnya ada tangan seorang pekerja yang tertahan antara pintu elevator ketika pintu mendadak menutup. Pekerja menolak meneruskan pekerjaan dan akhirnya penyewa itu pergi dan pemilik gedung menyerah dan menutup lantai itu. Dia lantas menyuruh perusahaan elevator untuk mengatur tombol agar tidak ada orang yang pergi ke lantai 4.
Aku ulangi, elevator sudah diprogram agar tidak menuju ke lantai 4, bahkan tombolnya tidak ada. Tapi karena sesuatu hal, terkadang pintu elevator terbuka di lantai 4 dan beberapa diantaranya mengalami kejadian seperti yang aku alami, melihat seseorang berjalan di kegelapan.
*Story by smpx
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