Slip : Part 4 : The Endless Floor

 “How… how is that even possible?” Sunny gasped. Her brows knitted together, confusion overtaking her face.

She hurried straight toward the room. But the moment she opened the door, she suddenly found herself outside the office again.

Sunny froze.

She slowly stepped backward and glanced behind her — the hallway was still there, leading to other rooms, just as before. When she turned back toward the front, what should have been the inside of her department was now the same hallway again, stretching endlessly to other sections.

Her hands began to tremble. Her legs weakened. She walked forward slowly until her entire body was back in the hallway. The door behind her swung shut. She turned around to look at it — the very same door that led into her own department.

“Gulp.”

Sunny swallowed hard. She slowly reached for the doorknob and opened it again.

The door creaked open—revealing, once again, the same endless corridor beyond it.

Sunny slammed it shut and bolted toward the stairs. Her breathing turned ragged — gasp, gasp — not from exhaustion, but from sheer panic. Fear clawed at her chest. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she gripped the stair railing, her knees gradually giving way beneath her.

“What the hell is happening? What is this? Am I dreaming? Did I fall asleep at my desk? If that’s it, then wake up, Sunny! Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

She stammered the words out loud, her voice cracking as she pinched her own arm hard again and again.

“Ow! Ow! Damn it— it hurts!” she cried out, wincing.

For a moment, she sat still, trembling — then it hit her: she needed to call for help!

The woman fumbled through her shoulder bag and pulled out her phone. No signal bars. None. She dialed Belle’s number anyway and pressed Call.

The phone buzzed in her hand — she lifted it to her ear—

“.............Tttt-t-t… ttt-t-t-t… trrrrrrrrrrrrkkk… wwooommmmmmmmmm… ttttttttttt!”

The sound that came through was unnatural — mechanical yet distorted, a warped static mixed with low-frequency rumbling.

Sunny jerked in shock, nearly dropping her phone. She instantly hung up.

“What the hell was that?”

It wasn’t just static — it had rhythm, an unnatural cadence. She had never heard anything like it before. And in this dead, quiet building, it made her skin crawl, goosebumps rising all over her body.

“Get a grip, Sunny. Focus,” she told herself again. “What was that sound just now?... Hmm… could it have been a busy tone? But a busy tone should sound like beep… beep… right? Or maybe no signal? Usually it’d say something like: ‘We’re sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached at the moment…’ Yeah… yeah, that’s what it should sound like… right?”

Her thoughts spiraled in circles. Her throat went dry.

She steadied herself and slowly stood up, then began walking down the corridor toward the end of the floor, where there was a water dispenser near the elevator. The machine was still running. She pressed the button and gulped down the cold water, her throat aching from thirst.

Then, slowly, she turned toward the elevator.

Should she… use it?

Should she take the elevator down? Would there even be an end to it?

The elevator panel lights looked normal. It showed the car was on the first floor.

She pressed the call button — her heart pounding violently in her chest. The floor numbers on the panel began to change:
2… 3… 4…

Ding!

The number 5 lit up.

The elevator doors slid open — slowly, with a soft metallic groan.

Sunny stared inside. Sweat dripped from her forehead, trailing down her hairline and dripping from her chin. Her eyes widened. Her breath came unevenly.

Inside the elevator… was darkness.
Pure, suffocating darkness.
Heavy and silent.

Sunny took a hesitant step closer, leaning toward it. She stretched out her hand into the void.

Cold.
An icy chill spread instantly from her fingertips, crawling up her arm, seeping through her skin until it reached her spine. Her whole body shivered.

Her hand disappeared into the blackness. Even as she waved it around, she could neither see nor feel her own hand anymore. It was like the darkness had swallowed it completely.

The sensation was indescribable.

What… what’s inside that elevator? she thought.

She took out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and pointed it into the elevator.

But the beam was devoured instantly — swallowed whole. The light vanished as if it had been erased from existence.

She couldn’t see anything inside. Not a shape. Not a wall. Not even a reflection.

Curiosity — and fear — compelled her to inch forward. Step by step. Eyes locked on the abyss before her.

Then—

“Gahhhhhhhh!!!”

Sunny screamed, jerking backward violently. She stumbled, crashing into the water dispenser behind her and fell flat onto the floor.

She scrambled up clumsily, trembling, drenched in sweat — so much that it was as if all the water she’d just drunk moments ago had poured right out of her pores.

She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve, breathing heavily, her heart pounding so hard it hurt.

Then she sat there on the cold floor, completely still, frozen in place for several seconds…

“What… is that?”

Fear and curiosity attacked her all at once. Her heart was pounding so violently it felt like it might burst through her chest.
Sunny was still sitting on the floor. Slowly, she leaned forward and crawled toward the elevator. Her eyes were filled with suspicion and dread.

She reached out again, placing her hand carefully on the elevator floor.
Her arm began to sink — deeper and deeper — until it disappeared entirely, swallowed up to the shoulder. Sunny leaned forward until her face was nearly touching the ground. Then she pressed her other arm against the elevator’s edge to push herself backward, inching away until she was sitting once more by the water dispenser.

She reached up, grabbed a paper cup from the counter beside the dispenser, and slowly crawled back toward the elevator.
Then, she tossed the cup into the darkness.

The cup vanished instantly — swallowed up by the void.

Sunny froze, holding her breath, straining to hear something — any sound at all.

“.................................................................”

Nothing.

“It’s… completely silent… no sound of it hitting the floor? What the hell is inside there?”

She backed away, wiping the sweat pouring down her face. Confusion and disbelief clouded her thoughts. She could only sit there, paralyzed.

— To be continued... —

Slip #1,  Slip #2 , Slip #3,  Slip #5,  Slip #6,  Slip #7, Slip #8,  Slip #9,  Slip #10