Chapter 15 - The Falling Weight
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
The main cable clamp on top of the elevator car exploded open with a violent shower of steel sparks.
The heavy steel cables snapped loose, whipping wildly against the concrete walls of the shaft like giant iron snakes.
Without the primary suspension cables holding it up, the entire multi-ton elevator car instantly dropped into a terrifying free fall.
"AAAAAHHH!" Mr. Sterling screamed as gravity vanished beneath him.
His hands instantly flew off Emma’s neck as he scrambled frantically to grab onto the stationary steel ladder mounted to the shaft wall.
He caught the iron rungs of the wall ladder with his fingers, his body yanked violently off the falling elevator car as it dropped out from under him.
Emma, still lying flat on the roof of the car, felt the wind rush past her face as the elevator plummeted downward through the dark shaft.
She slammed her fingers into the emergency roof grating, clinging to the metal mesh for dear life.
"ETHAN! HOLD ONTO THE FLOOR BARS!" she screamed down into the falling car.
Inside the falling elevator, Ethan pressed his small body completely flat against the floor, screaming at the top of his lungs.
The car fell twenty feet in less than two seconds, gathering terrifying speed.
Then, the secondary mechanical safety brakes mounted on the bottom frame engaged automatically with a deafening, bone-shattering screech.
SCREEEEEEECH!
Heavy iron brake pads slammed into the vertical guide rails, sending massive cascades of orange sparks flying into the dark shaft.
The elevator car came to a violent, shuddering halt, locking firmly onto the guide rails right between the second and third floors of the mansion.
The violent stop threw Emma across the roof, slamming her shoulder into the steel cables, but the car held firm.
Emma lay on the roof, gasping for air as fresh oxygen flooded back into her lungs.
"Ethan! Ethan, are you okay?!" she yelled down through the roof hatch, her voice shaking violently.
"I'm... I'm okay! The floor stopped!" Ethan sobbed from inside the car, his voice trembling with terror.
Emma pulled herself up onto her knees and looked up into the dark shaft above.
Ten feet above her, Mr. Sterling was hanging precariously from the iron wall ladder.
His broken right hand couldn't hold his weight, and he was clinging to the rusted rung with only his left arm, his body dangling over the dark void.
He looked down at Emma, his face pale with absolute, suffocating horror as his strength rapidly gave out.
"Emma... help me..." Mr. Sterling pleaded, his voice breaking into a desperate whimper.
"Please... I have millions... I will give you everything... just hold the ladder!" he begged, his fingers slipping off the slick metal rung inch by inch.
Emma stood up on the roof of the elevator car, holding the iron crowbar in her hand as she looked up at him.
Her face was completely unreadable, covered in soot, dried blood, and sweat.
"You told me my brother wasn't real," Emma said, her voice dropping into a ice-cold, steady whisper.
"You told a room full of people that I was crazy, while he was crying behind your walls."
"Emma... please!" Mr. Sterling shrieked as his pinky finger slipped off the bar.
"Look at the wall, Mr. Sterling," Emma said flatly, pointing her crowbar at the heavy plaster drywall lining the shaft beside him.
"Look at what you built."
With a final, terrified scream, Mr. Sterling's remaining fingers slipped off the iron ladder.
His body plunged downward into the dark shaft, missing the elevator car by inches as he fell into the subterranean abyss below.
A faint, distant splash echoed from the deep water far beneath the foundation, followed by absolute, complete silence.
Emma stood alone on the roof of the elevator, listening to the echoing silence of the shaft.
She wiped the blood from her forehead, reached down through the roof hatch, and pulled Ethan up onto the roof beside her.
Directly in front of them, an old wooden service door set into the plaster wall of the shaft hung slightly ajar.
Pale, cool morning light was leaking through the narrow crack of the wooden door frame.
May you like
The digital timer mounted on the wall inside the door read: 00:05:00.
Five minutes left until dawn.
