Do Not Enter, Part 4
Rose huffed a sigh, drew a deep breath and let it out slow. She stepped toward the door, listened, stepped, listened. She pushed the door open and it swung aside and creaked at the end of its arc.
She listened again. Nothing moved. Unless the old man hid in the shaft itself, the building was empty.
She stepped inside, wary of the hole, and moved beyond it, toward the front of the building.
She exhaled a sigh of relief. Her purse was where she left it. She rummaged through, inventoried contents, rifled through her wallet. Cash, credit cards, ATM card … all there. Satisfied, she dug for her keys, trotted to the back door, locked it, and moved back into the front room. She dropped the keys back into her bag, wrung her hands, bit her lip, and stared at the shaft.
She bent back over the purse and scanned. She couldn’t see her phone. She emptied the purse of larger items, until only a smattering of detritus remained at the bottom.
No phone.
A panicked thought stabbed at her mind, chilled her.
Had she dropped the phone in the stairway when she fled in terror?
She looked around. The black hole in the floor beckoned her, mocked her.
She didn’t want to look there. She had no problem admitting the hole scared the hell out of her. She didn’t like the idea of approaching it.
She didn’t have any choice, though. She needed her phone.
She took a hesitant, light step toward the shaft. Another.
She realized in a sudden flash of understanding she couldn’t sneak up on a hole. She coughed and her cheeks flushed despite the dead quiet solitude. She cleared her throat, summoned her dignity and marshaled her courage.
She strode to the edge of the staircase with all the confidence she could muster. It wasn’t much.
She blinked at the ceiling a moment, two, drew a long breath. She shut her eyes, looked down, then opened them. Her heart slammed against the roof of her mouth and destroyed the scream diving for her mouth.
She stood at the metal door, her phone and her flashlight at her feet.
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