Page 8 of The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet-Part One

I swallow before my lips part.

And then everything goes black.

TWO

Scarlet

The three of us stand in silence as the lift stops with a jolt, the lights cutting out on the panel and sending us into pitch darkness. I roll my lips and close my eyes as every muscle in my body goes rigid.

“It’s stopped.” I hear the guy at my side shuffle on his feet, then hear the telling sound of him punching the buttons. “It’s not working,” he says.

I attempt to find focus on the slightest bit of light, but there’s nothing, and I quickly shut my fluttering eyelids again, rapid breaths passing through my open mouth as I try to convince myself that this is okay.

I’m okay.

“Does anyone have a phone?” I frown at the sound of Lance’s voice, only just penetrating past the ringing in my ears.

“I don’t. I was between floors!” the guy at my side replies.

My phone.

My phone is in my bag. But I can’t move. I can’t open my eyes.

“I-I can’t. I’m…”

“You have a phone?” the guy closest to me snaps.

I open my eyes, a cold sweat gathering on the nape of my neck as I pull my bag off my shoulder. My hands shake as I riffle through it. “I have—I mine… Somewhere in here.” I keep looking, curling my hand around my phone moments later. I pull it out and expect light, but there’s nothing. I click the button on the side, but nothing happens.

“The battery’s dead.” My scalp prickles, dread sitting like lead in my gut.

I hear Lance take a step back, the feel of the lift bouncing making me visualise him leaning against the wall.

“Stop moving. Stop moving now,” the guy to my right retorts.

Lance tuts, his tone biting. “Someone will come by in a while. The power’s gone; it’s happened before.”

I can’t see. It’s so dark, and I can’t see a thing. My worst nightmare. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes again, picturing the sun, bright and beaming, lighting up the fields at Lowerwick.

“What if there’s a fire or something? We should do something.”

A fire?

“If it’s electrical, it could take hours. I don’t want to be stuck in here for hours.”

My chest starts to work as I imagine the darkness lastinghours.

“Or what if it doesn’t alert them? No one will know if we can’t ring down.”

I reach blindly, missing and whacking the steel walls before I begin hitting the buttons, anything to spark them to life.

“We need to get out,” I sputter, panic engulfing me. “Help!” I bang on the steel doors. “Help us, please. We’re… we’re in here!”

I look around, but no matter how hard I try, I see nothing. It’s equal parts infuriating as it is terrifying. Everyone’s gone quiet, and I know I’m slipping, but I turn and continue to bang on the doors.

“Help us! Please!” My eyes prickle at the sheer silence from the men around me. “Please.”

This is… this is terrifying.

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