Between floors seven and eight of a downtown high-rise is an apartment not on any blueprint. The elevator stops there only if you press 7 and 8 simultaneously while humming. Tenants who discover it find a cozy space with mismatched furniture, a kettle always hot, and a notice board full of favors owed and offered. Time moves strangely; a ten-minute tea break can last an hour or a second. The apartment is maintained by an entity named Mrs. Kline, who appears as a polite woman in sensible shoes. She enforces one rule: every visitor must trade a favor.
Need a babysitter? Leave a plant to water. Want advice? Offer to fix someone's sink. The board fills with exchanges. Office workers use the apartment to nap, to plot career changes, to cry. Mrs. Kline keeps the peace. When building management discovers extra electricity use, they investigate, find nothing. The apartment hides between moments. One day, a visitor tries to live there permanently. Mrs. Kline gently refuses, reminding them the space exists to balance, not to escape. The visitor leaves a keychain and takes courage to face their life. The apartment remains, humming between floors, a liminal lounge for those willing to hum and barter. Someone pins a note: "Lost confidence. Will trade banana bread." It is claimed within minutes, proof that between floors, humanity still believes in fair trades.
Eventually, Mrs. Kline trains a successor, a teenager who found the apartment while humming a pop song. The teen adds beanbags and a charging station, keeping the kettle tradition. The notice board grows digital and cork at once. Favors cross years; someone redeems a promised ride home from a note dated a decade prior. The apartment remains off the blueprint, but everyone in the building knows the hum.
Sometimes, on late nights, the elevator stops there without being summoned. Mrs. Kline and the teen brew extra tea, assuming the building itself needs a favor. They write "Thank you for holding us up" on the board and pin a cookie next to it. The walls seem to sigh contentedly.