Earthbound : A gripping crime thriller full of twists and supernatural suspense by Fynn Perry (popular romance novels TXT) 📗

his hand out, to try and hold back the door for the guard, but John’s momentary icy grasp of it made him retract it. John saw the orange glow of the spirit engulf the employee just as the doors snapped close. He shuddered as he remembered the damage the surfer spirits had done to his shoulder. That small injury would be nothing compared to what this thing could do to him. He took comfort in the fact that he’d escaped and the elevator had started its descent.

But the ordeal wasn’t over—an orange line of light seeped through the thin gap between the closed doors. It grew in intensity until glowing fingers and then the hand of the spirit emerged between the closed doors, three-quarters of the way up, and moved upward as the cab descended before disappearing through the ceiling of the cab. It’s on the cab roof. Any second it could jump down through the ceiling.

The numbers of the passing floors flicked up on the display: ...34...33...32... John felt his heart pounding faster and faster. The uncomfortable mortal feeling of fight or flight was upon him. If he was to jump out of the cab, he had to do it now. The floor display was already showing 28… 27... 26.

He took a step back and ran towards the elevator doors. As he approached them, he saw his own glow reflected, then a second orange glow starting to appear. John guessed the spirit was dropping through the ceiling but he didn’t look back. He pushed hard off the cab floor with his right foot, just in front of the doors, like a long-jump athlete hitting the take-off board as close to the far edge as possible. He passed through several floors in a second, his eyes momentarily registering the cross-sectional composition: carpet, cement, concrete, rebar, ductwork, ceiling tiles, and again carpet, cement, concrete, rebar, ducts, and ceiling tiles. He would have to choose which one of the floor surfaces to connect with to stop his fall. The longer he waited, the greater the fall, and the more the interaction would hurt. He might not be able to get up and walk. He allowed himself to pass through one more floor and then braced himself to interact with the next one, which was even now shooting upward towards him. The sole of his right foot made contact first with the surface, which spun him over and sent him flying forward, headfirst. Stretching out his hands, he braced himself again, anticipating the moment when the rest of his body would connect with the floor surface. His hands and chest hit first. Keeping his head clear, he slid along for a few yards before coming to a halt.

A cloud of white dust surrounded him. As the particles slowly settled through him, he looked around and saw he was on an office floor that had yet to be partitioned and decorated. He had unobstructed views of the whole floor and out onto the neighboring buildings. There was no place for him to hide if he needed to.

Getting himself upright, he attempted to get his bearings. From his earlier walk around the building, he knew the main entrance was located at the opposite side. The bank of elevators running from the main entrance lobby to every floor, including his, would be his way out.

He raced to the other end of the floor, his glow lighting up his surroundings. Ahead of him was a concrete wall and fire doors partitioning off a section of the floor. He passed through the doors and found himself in a marble-clad elevator lobby. He was in the right place. The quickest way down would be by elevator, but what if the pursuing spirit had thought the same and was waiting to ambush him? He took a chance and pressed the call button. All the elevators, in accordance with standard practice during times of low-usage, were parked at the first floor. One started making its journey upward toward him. He felt an increase in panic just before the doors opened but thankfully it was empty. Sighing with relief, he got on and pressed the button for the first floor. As he descended and approached his destination, he felt his stress levels rise again.

The elevator cab slowed down to a smooth stop, and the doors snapped open. A figure stood in front of the elevator.

It wasn’t the spirit. It was a security guard, and he wasn’t possessed. John figured the use of an office elevator at 1:00 a.m. had gotten the man interested enough to check it out. John left the man with his confused expression and ran past him, through the lobby and out toward the street.

Something made him look back toward the lobby. As he did so, he saw the spirit coming out of the elevator lobby and starting to run at him. He had to take cover quickly.

The sidewalk was deserted, but the street had a near-constant flow of traffic, two lanes in each direction. John ran out into it, straight through cars and yellow cabs that he could see were unoccupied by spirits. He didn’t want to collide with one. He ran straight through a bus, which he hoped gave him sufficient temporary cover to leap, unnoticed by the spirit, into the back of a white panel van in the next lane.

His hands made contact with the van’s floor, and he hauled himself into the load area just seconds before the van overtook the bus. He rested there for a while, lying chest down, hopeful that he had outsmarted the spirit. It was dark inside the van but his orange glow illuminated enough of it for him to see that it was empty apart from a pile of ropes in one corner, and stacked against the partition separating him from the driver, seven or eight odd-shaped items wrapped in thick, transparent plastic and sealed with duct tape. Some had worked loose from the stack and were rocking with