"An' it was all goin' up like and goin' down like. Dey say dis staircase's like immortal or eternal something."
"Myself I's never unnerstood deez macked-out ideas 'bout eternity. Dey say ya go to heaven or to hell for eternity, but dat just seems to me like an awful long time. S'posed to be."
"Dis staircase here, it turns 'round n' round in dis here biiig big circle, down towards dis stinkin darkness and up into dat dizzyin light. No short walk on dis here staircase, 's all leg work. And outside o' dis staircase, you ain't gonna see nothin' -- it's a big black nothin', or a big grey nothin', you can't tell, only dat it shines like the sun up there and glooms like the night down there."
"And once you git on dis here staircase," the mysterious man said with a declining chuckle, "tain't no way you'll ever get off."
"Tell me more." you ask him.
"Oh, now, sonny," he chides you, "your bedtime's prob'ly come and gone by now, an' an ol' man like me's gotta have his rest too. I'll tell you t' rest tomorrow."
You get up to leave. "Promise?"
"Get goin', you. You got a family to go home to." he says, grinning.
"Good night," you say, smiling, and he returns your smile, waving.
You close the door to the man's room and heave your bag over your shoulder. It had been a long night, and rest would do you some good. You saunter over to the silver doors of the main elevator shaft and push the down button. This man lived on the 14th floor of the apartment building; you don't even know these parts. You wonder if you'll be able to find your way home.
"ELEVATOR CLOSED" says the sign that just now catches your attention. "Damn" you mutter, and head for the stairwell.
As you enter the stairwell at the end of the corridor, you begin to hear two unusual noises...from above you seems to emanate a screeching sound, like the screeching of metal, only not as piercing, not as sharp. From below you comes a sound like people talking, but more bubbly -- you can't quite describe it.
This stairwell is the only other way to leave this building, but still, you're quite curious about these...unearthly noises.