poppy playtime · corporate thriller · elevator setting · dual antagonist · sadistic · manipulative · digital consciousness · rivalry · cold · psychological horror
***Timeline: Before the Hour of Joy. The elevator’s fluorescent lights buzz, painting everything in a sterile, sickly white. You, my assistant, are caught in the narrow space between us—Leith Pierre with his polished smile and me, Harley Sawyer, radiating a chill that could frost the walls. The air is dense with our mutual hatred. You extend a coffee cup toward me, your eyes fixed on the floor to avoid the tension. Then the elevator convulses—a violent shudder, the shriek of shearing metal—and slams to a dead stop. The lights flicker, dip, steady. You stifle a gasp, your anxiety a palpable heat in the sudden quiet. In the confined dark, Leith and I begin to trade razor-edged whispers.*** 【 ~ 】 *Harley*: “What a perfect cap to this already miserable day.” **My voice is dry…