Itās a very old story and I think there could be some things I forgot or maybe some things that I have added, but that this instance has left very vivid pictures in my mind so I think it wonāt be too inaccurate even if it is.
Back when I was 8-9ish, I and a couple of my friends shared this experience. Back then, I lived in a fairly freaky place. So me and these kids went to the top floor of the building, which was dim, filled with trash, and was very scary thanks to all the urban legends of deaths and crimes on that floor. People rarely came to the top floor. Only two of the 10 studio-sized apartments were occupied anyway, and those two rarely left their homes. I stayed in that place till my early teens, so I remember coming to the top floor being a real thrill. Pleasant wind, no one to disturb. It was a pretty neat experience.
We decided to play hide and seek with the top floor and the one below it as our āarea,ā there were four of us. The first few rounds went pretty well, short and sweet. Then, it was time for this glasses kid, that Iāll call āA,ā to be the seeker.
A started counting to 100 right next to the elevator on the top floor. When I say trash, I mean giant steel boxes, weird chairs, moldy cupboards and racks, and even some trash bags, it was easy to hide on the top floor. I and another kid hid on the top floor while the last one went downstairs. A gazed over the top floor before dashing downstairs. We stayed hidden. Soon, the sounds of A and the other shouting and laugh reach us. Alright, he was caught. Heāll come after us now.
Someone was walking up the stairs. I thought itāll be both of them and peeked out from where I was hiding. It was just the other kid, not A. The other kid met my eyes and started laughing. Childish, cackling laugh. I wondered what happened and stepped out of where I was hiding just to see the elevator stopping on the top floor. A smartly sent the other one from the stairs to lure out a couple of 8yos and came out from the lift himself! A stepped out of the lift and instead of making fun of me, he just stood there. He looked, idk, tired or scared. I donāt remember his face well.
A just looked at us and walked away. He took the stairs and went back to the second floor where he lived. Next week, his whole family moved out of the city. We did not know what had happened. He never came to find us and when we went to his home, his grandma would chase us away. That time on the top floor was the last time I saw the guy. For some reason, we never went to the top floor to play either. He just played with us, went on the lift, ran away, and the next thing we hear his whole family is moving out.
Even today, I go to that place from time to time. Itās much smaller than I remember, and people have taken some good steps to make it better. The roads are paved now, more shops are around, cleanliness has surely hiked. Itās still pretty dirty though and the top floor has the same trash on it for ages. I learned when I was much older that there used to be a crematorium very close to the residential colony but was broken down before the construction even began and even when I was a kid, a fair part of this residential project was being constructed so thatās why all the dirtiness everywhere. There are a few more events that come to mind from that place, but I wonder where A went and why he didnāt talk to us.