Chapter 8 #2
She did not dare look behind her. The shadow moved silently.
She did not know how close it might be. She had her gaze locked on the target – the hallway up ahead, which had the most lights.
A fallen rubbish bin blocked her path. She leapt over it, then kept on running.
By now her breath was coming in ragged gasps.
For some reason, her feet didn’t hurt, even though she was wearing high heels. Why didn’t her feet hurt when her throat certainly did? What strange laws did Purgatory obey?
As if caused by that thought, suddenly her feet ached. It probably had been caused by her thinking about it, her body falling into old habits from life.
Delilah chanted to herself, ‘I’m a zombie, and I don’t feel pain. I can run faster than this!’
Her legs skidded as she turned a corner round a cubicle. As she looked behind, for the first time she saw the shadow fast at her heels, nearly touching her.
A man with salt-and-pepper hair to his shoulders leapt out of the cubicle. ‘Get behind me!’ He shone a torch directly at the shadow.
The shadow hissed, then vanished into the floor.
‘Thank you.’ Delilah gripped the corner of the cubicle and bent over, sucking in huge gasps of breath.
Her knees felt shaky. Her throat had turned into a red-hot mess of pain.
She could barely speak. ‘You saved my life. You saved my afterlife? I don’t know what would have happened to me if I’d been eaten by the shadow. ’
He switched off his torch and pocketed it.
‘You look exhausted, miss. I’ll take you to the water cooler, where you can have a drink and rest in a relatively safe spot.
It’s very well-lit there. I personally set up several office lamps facing that direction just in case.
’ He had a very kind smile despite the weariness in his cornflower-blue eyes.
His hands were leathery from manual labour, his face was tanned from the sun and he had impressive biceps (especially for a man who looked in his fifties) under his blue-and-white checked shirt.
‘I owe you even more thanks.’ Delilah followed after him. ‘I’m Delilah, nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you, under the circumstances.’
‘I’m Howard.’ His eyes darted around as they moved, wary of any more shadows or failing lightbulbs. She noticed that he always kept his eye on the door to exit this part of the office. An interesting habit.
‘My friend . . . well, we’d just met, but he seemed nice . . . He vanished into the shadow.’
‘I’m sorry I didn’t see your distress faster to help him too.’
‘Do you know what happened?’ Delilah barely dared ask her true question: Is he gone forever?
Howard’s tone turned soothing. ‘Souls can never truly die. I’m not sure where the people sucked into Limbo went, but I would guess it’s probably a shapeless and empty space. They must be afraid. At least they shouldn’t be suffering physically. It should be possible to get them back.’
‘Oh, how do we do that? Can we fight the shadows?’
‘No, don’t even try it. The instant you touch a shadow with the smallest bit of your skin, you’ll be lost. Don’t blame yourself for what happened to your friend.
There was never any way to save him once the shadow touched him.
I would assume that when the hotel is repaired Floor Limbo will be restored to normal and the people who vanished will reappear again.
Then everyone will be fine, perhaps a little shocked, but not injured, and safely back here. ’
Delilah didn’t like how many assumptions were contained in that sentence.
Right now, no one even knew how to repair the hotel!
If she’d been a little slower – or if she’d been a little faster and touched the shadow while trying to save Aaron – then she could have been lost in endless nothingness forever.
She full-body shivered all the way down to her heels.
‘What happens if the hotel never gets repaired?’ she asked.
Howard looked away. ‘Being lost in Limbo forever would be a hellish afterlife. But I know that she— that the staff would never allow that to happen.’
To Delilah’s knowledge, the staff were every bit as much in the dark and as confused as them.
For the first time, she seriously feared for Damien.
Now that her confidence that no one could truly be hurt in Purgatory had been shattered, his disappearance had become much more ominous.
She’d assumed he’d been busy helping with repairs.
What if something terrible had happened to him?
While stuck here, she had no way to know or help.
Suddenly, Delilah wanted to run back and pound on the lift door.
But that would do no good. Damien was sweet, yet she sensed a core of strength behind the softness, like when he’d protected her head as she’d fallen.
He’d been here much longer than her. She could only hope that he would be able to look after himself.
They finally reached the water cooler. As promised, it had a dozen office lamps pointed at it, and the light overhead still worked. For now.
Howard poured a paper cup of water, handed it to her, then poured a second one for himself.
‘Thank you.’ A drink made her head feel clearer. ‘I thought the shadows were only at the edges of Floor Limbo, so everyone was staying in the middle.’
‘That was true until recently. But, besides your friend, I’ve heard of another person going missing from the cubicles when a lightbulb went out.’ He patted the torch hanging from his belt. ‘That’s when I started carrying this around.’
‘I’m glad you did.’ Delilah winked. ‘If not for you, no amount of limboing backwards would have let me duck under that wave.’
‘Frankly, I’m surprised the shadows have spread this far this fast. I knew a rare one might creep around where the light doesn’t reach, but I didn’t expect two of them around the middle of the floor in short succession.
Then there’s the lights going out. The hotel seems to be experiencing more than one breakdown at once. ’
‘Yes, just the lift cables snapping shouldn’t cause whatever the Purgatory is going on here. We desperately need to find a way off this floor.’
‘I wonder if it’s an issue with the engine room? This place has been in a bad way for a while. The maintenance crew has been remiss in their duty.’ He stroked his clean-shaven chin.
‘I couldn’t agree more.’ She found it interesting that he’d mentioned an engine room. He seemed to know a lot. She’d never heard of such a place existing in the hotel before – but with a hotel that ran on magic, who knew?
‘Want some snacks? We might be dead, but a little food makes everyone feel more clear-headed.’ He held out the tray of nuts next to the cooler. ‘I was going to try an all-almond diet, but that’s just nuts.’
She giggled at the bad pun.
‘That’s the spirit: turn that frown upside down.’ He smiled. ‘It’s too soon to give up hope.’ He glanced down at the water cooler. ‘What a shame we don’t have any boiling water. It will be mist.’
That pun got a snort out of her. Setting down her cup, she took a handful of almonds.
Even if she didn’t strictly need food, it made her feel a bit more human.
‘You seem in a good mood. Aren’t you scared?
It seems like the hotel is getting more dangerous over time, not better.
Eventually, even the well-lit spots in the middle of the cubicles might not be safe. ’
He shrugged. ‘I’ve been here so long that it feels like home. Before that, I lived an exciting life. I’ve been a sailor who survived two shipwrecks, a firefighter and an international aid worker. Now I’m dead. Nothing scares me at this point.’
She tilted her head, not sure if she believed him or if he was telling tall tales.
‘I’m just a former accountant with a gambling habit.
I’m in way over my head here. If another mysterious monster comes stumbling out of Limbo to drag me away, I don’t think it will be too impressed by my magic tricks.
’ Her hands shook. She dropped a nut. Groaning, she picked it up and threw it in the nearest waste-paper basket.
‘Just look at me – so stressed my reflexes are gone.’
‘Everything will be all right,’ Howard said soothingly. ‘She won’t let it get too bad.’
‘She?’ Delilah stared.
He looked away. ‘Never mind that.’
‘If you know anything, can’t you please tell me?
’ She twisted a lock of hair round her finger.
‘I’m scared. I just watched someone who tried to help me get dragged off before my eyes.
I couldn’t do a thing to save him. The lift attendant has vanished.
I don’t know if he’s unable to reach me or in danger.
He’s a good friend of mine, someone who I care about deeply. Have you ever had someone like that?’
His eyes distant, he said, ‘Aye, I have.’
‘Then please help me.’
He blew out a breath. ‘There are rumours about a powerful being who designed the hotel. Someone clever, and creative, and beautiful. I’m certain she’ll know how to fix the problem.’
‘How can you be so sure from mere rumours? Do you know this person?’
He glanced down and did not answer.
‘I can’t just wait around for a miracle.
’ Delilah had come to realise that people in Purgatory didn’t get miracles.
They had to make their own luck. ‘Damien could be in danger. He’s helped me a lot since I came to this hotel, and I want to help him in return.
I’m going to find this mysterious designer.
Will you help me?’ She held out her hand.
‘This hotel is important to the person dear to me as well. And I’m stuck on Floor Limbo dodging shadows too. I like how you think. I’d rather do something than wait for the shadows to expand and consume us all. We have the same goal. Okay, let’s team up.’ Howard reached out and shook her hand.
Like any honourable gambler, Delilah always repaid her debts, so she was determined to find where Damien had vanished off to and save him.