The Elevator: The story, retold in our own words

Foundation first: how a horror story builds fear

Extract questions on this story often ask, "How does the writer create fear?" or "Bring out the element of horror." The table gives you the tools. Every example is from this story.

Quick check. The smile before Martin's fall is which tool? Answer: foreshadowing. It warns us that something is about to go wrong.

Real and imagined fear. Some of Martin's fears are about real things (the lift is old and small). Others grow in his mind (footsteps that seem to follow him on the stairs). Hold on to this idea. It explains why the lady is frightening even before she does anything.

1. The old building and the tiny elevator

Martin and his father have just moved into an old building, to an apartment on the seventeenth floor. The elevator is very small — it can hold at most three people — and poorly lit, with dirty walls. Its door slams shut and the old machine shudders and groans as it moves between floors. Even with only two people inside, it feels crowded and suffocating.

Martin is always uneasy in elevators. He is afraid this one might fall, and inside it he feels trapped — the walls seem to close in on him, although he tells himself he is not claustrophobic (afraid of closed spaces).

2. The stairs, and a father's scorn

One afternoon Martin avoids the elevator and climbs the stairs instead. The stairwell is worse: no windows, poor light, and his own footsteps echo so that it sounds as though someone else is climbing with him. He reaches the seventeenth floor gasping and trembling.

His father is not sympathetic. He has always been disappointed that Martin is thin, weak and bad at sports, and he thinks his son is timid — even a coward. He makes it clear that Martin must use the elevator like everyone else. Martin, ashamed, decides to force himself to ride it.

3. The first meeting: the fourteenth floor

One morning, as Martin rides down to go to school, the elevator stops at the fourteenth floor. The door slides open and an enormously fat woman steps in. She wears a shabby green coat that billows around her, and Martin feels the little elevator sink under her weight. Her face is piggish, with tiny, sharp blue eyes, large fleshy cheeks, almost no chin — her face seems to melt into a mass of neck. She does not speak. She simply stares at Martin all the way down, until he gets out on the ground floor.

All day Martin wonders about her. Does she live in the building, or was she visiting? It was very early in the morning for a visit. And he feels ashamed of himself: why should he be afraid of an old lady?

4. The second meeting: the third floor, going up

That afternoon Martin returns after school, feeling nervous. He presses the button, hoping the elevator will not stop on the way — but it stops at the third floor. The door slides open, and there she is. (2027 specimen Q4 extract.)

In a nervous, high voice Martin says the elevator is going up. She nods and squeezes in. He watches her plump hand move to the buttons — and she presses not fourteen, the floor where she got in that morning, but eighteen, the top floor. She stands in front of the buttons, staring at him. When the elevator reaches seventeen, she barely moves aside to let him out, and she watches him until the door closes. Martin realises with horror that now she knows which floor he lives on.

5. The father refuses to help

At dinner Martin asks his father whether he has noticed a strange lady in the elevator. His father dismisses the question, refuses to ride with Martin to see her, calls the whole thing ridiculous, and goes back to ignoring him. Martin is left alone with his fear.

6. The third meeting: the smile

The next morning the elevator door opens and the lady is already inside, waiting. She gives Martin a strange, knowing smile — the first expression she has ever shown. Martin panics, turns away and runs down the dark stairs.

7. The fall

In the darkness Martin trips, falls down the cement steps and breaks his leg. (2025 specimen Q1(xv).) His father takes him to the hospital, where his leg is put in a cast and he is given crutches. His father is angry and disappointed that his son has behaved like a fool and a coward, and does not talk to him on the way to the hospital. Martin comes to believe that the lady smiled because she knew this would happen.

8. The ending: alone on crutches

On the way back up to the apartment, Martin and his father ride the elevator together, and for once Martin feels a little safer. But at the ninth floor his father gets off to visit a neighbour. Martin begs him to stay. His father mocks him — is he afraid to be in the elevator alone? — and tells him, "Grow up, Martin." The door slams shut.

Martin is alone, on crutches, unable to move quickly. The elevator does not go straight up: it stops at the tenth floor. The door slides open. The fat lady in the green coat is waiting. She steps in quickly — Martin is far too slow on his crutches to get out — and the door closes. She reaches for the buttons and presses STOP, so the elevator halts. Then she smiles at him and says, "Hello, Martin."

The story ends there.

Reading between the lines

The retelling gives the events. These notes give the reasons.

• Seventeen floors up. The higher the floor, the longer the ride in the shaking lift. The writer gives Martin no way to avoid it: the stairs are worse.
• "Not claustrophobic." Martin tells himself he is not afraid of closed spaces, but his body says he is. Many frightened people deny their fear because they are ashamed. This shame, not just the lift, is the real problem.
• The echo on the stairs. Martin's footsteps sound like another person's. The stairs are supposed to be an escape from the lift, but they are no safer. Even his own sounds frighten him, which shows how tightly fear has taken hold of him.
• A father's scorn. The father wants a strong, sporty son and is disappointed in the thin, timid boy he has. Because of this, Martin finds it hard to ask for help. When he does ask, at dinner, he is met with mockery.
• Why Martin feels ashamed of fearing an old lady. In his father's eyes, only a coward is afraid of an old woman. Martin has taken his father's opinion as his own.
• The fat lady's description. The "piggish" face, the tiny eyes and the sinking elevator make her unpleasant and heavy. She is described like a creature, not a person, and we feel uneasy before she does anything.
• Why she presses eighteen. Floor eighteen is above Martin's home. She has no clear reason to go there. This is the first sign that her actions do not follow normal rules, which makes her mysterious and threatening.
• "Now she knows." From this point the danger is personal. A stranger who knows which floor you live on is a stranger who can find you.
• The father at dinner. Martin's last chance of help is closed. The father's refusal to ride the elevator once, just to look, shows how little he cares to understand.
• The smile. She has been blank until now. A smile on a face that has shown nothing is far more alarming than a frown. It also tells us that something is going to happen.
• The fall. Martin runs because he cannot bear another moment with her. His panic does the damage, not the lady. This is why the examiners ask "What led to Martin's fall?" and want the details: the lady was waiting, he ran down the dark stairs, and he broke his leg.
• "Grow up, Martin." At the one moment Martin truly needs his father, the father mocks him and leaves. The father is the one who leaves Martin alone in the lift.
• Crutches. Earlier, Martin could at least run. Now he cannot, and when the lady steps in he is far too slow to get out.
• "Hello, Martin." She has never spoken. The first words are his name. She knew it all along, which means the earlier meetings were not chance.

Worked examples

Example 1 (full extract question, 16 marks). Read the extract (paraphrased from the story) and answer the questions.

One afternoon Martin climbs the stairs instead of taking the elevator. The stairwell has no windows and very little light. His footsteps echo so that someone else seems to be climbing behind him. He reaches the seventeenth floor gasping and trembling. His father makes it clear that Martin must use the elevator like everyone else. Martin, ashamed, decides to force himself to ride it.

(i) Why does Martin climb the stairs? What does the stairwell turn out to be like? [3] Model answer. Martin climbs the stairs because he is afraid of the old elevator, which is tiny, dim and shaky. But the stairwell is no better. It has no windows, the light is poor, and his own echoing footsteps make him feel that someone is following him.

Why this scores: the reason (1 mark) and two details of the stairwell (2 marks). The examiners reward details, so do not write only "it was frightening".

(ii) What does the way Martin reaches the seventeenth floor tell us about his state of mind? [3] Model answer. He reaches the floor gasping and trembling. This shows that he is not just tired. He is badly frightened, and the climb has been a strain on his nerves. It also shows he is the kind of boy who sees danger even in an empty stairwell.

Why this scores: the evidence (1 mark), the feeling it shows (1 mark) and a comment on his character (1 mark).

(iii) What is the father's attitude to Martin's behaviour? [3] Model answer. The father is unsympathetic. He thinks Martin is thin, weak and bad at sports, and sees his fear as cowardice. He does not ask what frightened his son. He simply insists that Martin must use the elevator like everyone else.

Why this scores: the father's view of Martin (1 mark), the lack of sympathy (1 mark) and the instruction (1 mark). The 2025 marking scheme accepts "insensitive", "emotionally distant" or "lacking in compassion".

(iv) Why does Martin decide to force himself to use the elevator? [3] Model answer. He is ashamed. His father has made him feel that fear is something to be embarrassed about, and he wants to prove that he is not a coward. So he chooses to face the elevator, even though he still dreads it.

Why this scores: the feeling (shame, 1 mark), the cause (his father's scorn, 1 mark) and the decision (1 mark).

(v) "The father has done more harm to Martin than the elevator." Do you agree? Give reasons. [4] Model answer. I agree. The elevator is only a small, dirty machine. It cannot hurt Martin unless it falls. His father's scorn, however, makes him feel worthless, stops him from asking for help and drives him to run down the dark stairs. A frightened boy who is believed can face his fears; a boy who is mocked has to face them alone. For this reason the father's behaviour is the greater harm.

Why this scores: a clear opinion (1 mark), the harm done by the elevator compared with the father (1 mark), two effects of the father's scorn (1 mark) and a conclusion (1 mark).

Example 2 (meaning of the line, 3 marks). "He felt ashamed of himself." Why? How does this show his father's influence?

Model answer. Martin feels ashamed because a boy of his age should not be afraid of an old lady. His father has always treated him as weak and timid, and Martin now judges himself by his father's harsh standards. He tells himself he is a coward even before anything has happened.

Why this scores: the reason (1 mark), the father's opinion (1 mark) and the effect on Martin's self-image (1 mark). This line is part of the 2027 specimen Q4(iii).

Example 3 (an MCQ with a twist, 1 mark). What did Martin dislike about the elevator in his apartment building? (a) The unpleasant smell (b) Its dirty floor (c) Its small size (d) The poor ventilation.

Solution. (c). This was ICSE 2026 Q1(vii). The story stresses how tiny the elevator is: it can hold three people at most, and inside it Martin feels trapped. Check each option against the text and choose the one the story supports.

Why this scores: a close reading of the story. The examiners' report asks students to pay close attention to small details and to recall them exactly.

Example 4 (character, 100–150 words). Write a short character sketch of Martin.

Model answer. Martin is a thin, timid twelve-year-old who has moved to a new building. He is nervous and anxious: he dreads the lift and hopes it will not stop. He is sensitive and imaginative, for he hears footsteps following him and believes the lady smiled because she knew he would fall. He is ashamed and insecure, because his father thinks him a coward and he cannot forgive himself for fearing an old lady. Yet he is also brave in a quiet way: he forces himself to ride the elevator again. At the end he is helpless, on crutches and alone. Martin is a sympathetic character because he is a child who has been given no help.

Why this scores: five qualities, each tied to an event, in about 110 words, and a closing line showing why we care about him.

Doubts cleared

Q. Why does the lady press eighteen? The story does not say. That is the point: her actions make no sense, and we begin to wonder whether she is an ordinary woman. In the exam, say it adds mystery.

Q. Did the lady cause Martin's fall? Not directly. She smiled, and Martin panicked and ran down the dark stairs. Write exactly this chain: smile, panic, flight, fall.

Q. Why did the father not ride with Martin to see the lady? He thinks the question is ridiculous and does not believe his son. This shows his lack of empathy, which is what the marking scheme looks for.

Q. Does the lady always get in at the same floor? No. She gets in at the fourteenth floor in the morning, at the third floor after school and at the tenth floor at the end. She seems to turn up wherever Martin is.

Q. What is "claustrophobic"? Afraid of small, closed places. Martin denies it, but his feeling of being trapped and walls closing in shows that he is.

Mistakes to avoid

• Mixing up the two stair scenes. First Martin climbs the stairs because he fears the lift (Section 2). Later he runs down the stairs in terror and falls (Section 7).
• Answering "What does this reveal about his father?" with the father-son relationship in general. The 2025 examiners noted that the word "this" points back to the father's opinion of Martin. Say what the opinion is (weak, cowardly), then what it reveals (insensitive, emotionally distant).
• Missing a detail the board asks for, such as that the stairs were dark and that he broke his leg.
• Writing that the lady attacked Martin. Nothing violent happens; the fear is created by silence, staring and her knowing his name.

Check yourself

1. What is the lady's first expression in the story?
2. Why does Martin run down the stairs?
3. At which floor does Martin's father get out?

Answers: 1. A strange, knowing smile (before this she only stares). 2. He is terrified because the lady is waiting in the lift and smiles at him. 3. The ninth floor.