BORN TO TRANSFER

No Promised Floor

The Vignette Gazette Writer’s Prompt #175

Photo by Owen Cannon on Unsplash

Nobody remembers the floor of their own birth.

According to the records, the number of the birth year is the stopping floor.

When an Elevator stops, a person is unloaded.

People explained the crying of newborns as a reaction to pressure change.

For a long time, I believed it.

Later, I began to suspect another reason.

Perhaps the cry is a small protest from someone being expelled.

I was unloaded on a certain floor as well.

There was a city.

And there were countless Elevators.

Every Elevator goes only upward.

For some reason, people call this movement progress.

No Elevator displays a destination.

There were classifications.

For romance.

For promotion.

For failure.

For escape.

Some had no names.

Nobody had ever seen who created them.

Nobody understood which Elevator they were riding.

People entered.

People transferred.

People regretted.

People became satisfied.

One day, I noticed every Elevator was rising at the same speed.

After this discovery, every face became identical to me.

Only passengers in transit.

One day, my Elevator stopped.

I thought it was a malfunction.

It was not.

My turn had arrived.

The door opened.

There was nothing beyond it.

Not even space.

At that moment, a memory turned inside out.

Forgotten faces.

Discarded words.

Doors I never opened.

Elevators I never entered.

Even lives that never existed passed through me.

I understood one thing.

I had been searching for a destination.

The Elevator never promised one.

I looked back.

The Elevator had disappeared.

Or perhaps it never existed.

I had no method to verify either idea.

I stepped forward.

The silence did not begin.

It had been continuing for a long time.

[embed]The Vignette Gazette Edition #175 Your writing prompt for Friday, May 29, 2026 — Elevator & Memorymedium.com

[embed]Rules and Tips–Please Read Before Submitting Your First Vignette Updated June 3, 2026medium.com

Note: ・Originally written in Japanese. ・Self-translated with well-worn dictionaries and AI assistance.

MJS