The basement that is not on the plan
The building plan shows no basement, and under the stairs a door stands open above forty steps down.
- YouThis building has a basement and the plan has none
- ThemWhat plan
- YouThe technical one, I got it from the management office
- Solid foundation. No basement
- ThemThen what is that door
- YouA door under the stairs. Standing open
- pause 1.5 s
- ThemAnd what is behind it
- YouSteps going down
- ThemDo not go
- YouI went down yesterday
- ThemAnd
- YouI counted forty steps
- pause 1.2 s
- ThemNo basement is that deep
- YouThat is two and a half floors down
- ThemDid you reach the bottom
- YouNo. I turned back
- pause 1.8 s
- ThemGood
- YouTonight the door is open again
- The woman downstairs says there is no door
- ThemWell, the plan agrees with her
- YouShe lives on the first floor
- And she says this building has no first floor
- pause 2.0 s
- ThemWhat
- YouYou heard me
- ThemWhich floor are you on
- YouThe fourth
- pause 1.5 s
- ThemAnd how high does the lift go
- YouThe third
- pause 1.2 s
- ThemSo there is one floor too many
- YouOr one missing
- pause 1.8 s
- I am on the steps again
- ThemDo not count
- YouForty two already
How it works
The story is built on numbers that refuse to agree: forty steps, a lift that stops at the third floor, a neighbour on the first. The count carries on after the last line.
Every story here is fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.