Chapter 3 - The Free Fall
SCREEECH!
A deafening metallic groan echoed through the entire mansion.
Deep within the shaft, the heavy steel support cables began to snap, one by one, whipping against the concrete walls.
An alarm blared, drowning out the ambient noise. The emergency brake mechanism had completely failed.
The elevator cab lurched.
It slipped downward—first a few inches, then a foot.
"NO!" Daniel screamed.
The cab began to drop, gaining momentum.
Daniel clamped one hand onto the jagged edge of the broken glass frame to anchor himself, risking his fingers being severed, while thrusting his other arm deeper through the hole to grab the baby.
"DON'T LET GO!" he screamed into the glass.
Submerged entirely beneath the black water, Valeria couldn't answer. But with the last fading sparks of her consciousness, her lock-jawed grip held her son toward the ceiling.
The elevator accelerated into a free fall.
At the absolute last fraction of a second, Daniel’s bloody fingers managed to snag the edge of the receiving blanket wrapped around his son.
He pulled with everything he had.
But as the heavy elevator plummeted toward the flooded basement pit below, the slick, wet fabric began to slip through his grip.
Below him, the elevator plummeted into total darkness, snapping the remaining cables like guitar strings.
As the lift dropped into the abyss, the last sound to echo through the hollow mansion was the baby’s piercing cry...
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...followed by Daniel's agonized scream:
"DON'T LET GO!"
