Slip : Part 9 : The Descent

The two of them tried opening every door they could find — but no matter which one they entered, they always ended up back at the same place: the fifth-floor corridor.

They went up. They went down. They marked the stairwell with pens, scratches, anything they could find. But every time they passed through again, sometimes the marks disappeared; sometimes they faded; and sometimes — they found Pu’s bones lying there again.

Aem collapsed into one of the office chairs, exhausted. Sunny dropped to the floor, sprawled out.

“I’m gonna take a nap. I can’t go on anymore,” Aem said.

The two sat in utter silence, the air so still it made their ears ring. Soon a soft snore came from Aem — still sitting in the chair, feet propped on the desk, arms crossed, a book draped over his face. Sunny, lying under the table, listened to the sound of his breathing — oddly comforting — until she drifted into sleep as well.

She didn’t know how long she slept.

At some point, a hand gently shook her shoulder.

“Sunny. Sunny…” Aem’s voice.

She blinked awake, groggy.

“What is it? Did you find something?” she asked, looking around.
“I think I just realized something,” Aem said. “You’ve been running up and down those stairs this whole time, right?”
“…Yeah. Why?” Sunny replied, noticing the excited spark in his eyes.

“Every time we go up or down, time shifts uncontrollably, right? But you never kept going one way without turning back, did you?”

Sunny frowned slightly, trying to follow his train of thought.

“What if,” Aem said, “we just kept going in one direction — without ever reversing? Maybe it’ll take us to a point before this building even existed… or into the future, after it’s gone. Maybe then we could break out of this loop.”

He gestured as he spoke, explaining with both hands. Sunny listened carefully — and though it sounded far-fetched, it also made sense.

“Even if we ended up before the building was constructed, or after it was destroyed… if we can reach that same moment when the lights flicker — that might be the window, the glitch, the key to escaping. Don’t you think, Sunny?”

Sunny’s eyes widened. Yes — that fit everything. That could be it.

She nodded, a flicker of hope lighting her face for the first time in ages.

The two of them washed their faces, tidied up as best they could. In Aem’s bag, there were still a few scraps of New Year’s snacks and two cans of beer. They filled their bottles at the water dispenser, ready to move.

They decided to take only one staircase, and only go down. It would save their strength.

And so, they began.

They descended step after step after step, with no way to tell how long it had been — hours, days, maybe more. It felt endless, but they had a goal now. They would keep going until time itself carried them somewhere else.

They stopped to rest countless times. The snacks and beer were long gone. Only the water remained — and strangely, the dispenser always refilled itself. No matter how much they drank, every time they reached it again, the water level was the same as before.

Their bodies had grown thin, frail. They leaned on each other, staggering down the stairs.

“Are we gonna end up like Pu?” Sunny whispered weakly, barely loud enough to hear.

Aem said nothing. He just held her steady, helping her step by step, marking another line in his notebook every time they circled through.

He had filled page after page — hundreds, maybe thousands of tallies. It didn’t matter anymore.

At one of the landings, both of them sank down, leaning against the wall in exhaustion.

“If these stairs actually have a bottom,” Aem muttered, “we must be in hell by now. We’ve been going down forever.”
“I should’ve been on a beach with my boyfriend by now,” Sunny said quietly. “Can’t believe I’m stuck in a place no one can even reach.”

Neither spoke after that. They just sat there, pressed against the cold wall, breathing shallowly.

Finally, Aem broke the silence.

“Should we fill up on water again and give it one more try? Or just sit here and wait to die?”

Sunny paused for a long moment before answering.

“…Let’s try again. There’s nothing else left to do anyway.”

She stood — or tried to. Her legs buckled, and she stumbled.

Aem lunged to catch her — but he was too weak too.

Both of them lost balance and tumbled down the stairs.

It happened so fast they barely had time to react.

Arm grabbed Sunny, pulling her close, shielding her as their bodies rolled violently down the endless flight. He tried to brace himself with one Aem — but the momentum was unstoppable. The stairs just kept coming, downward and downward, as if gravity itself had gone mad.

The fall grew faster, heavier — each rotation harder than the last.

Aem’s forehead smashed against an edge — crack! — blood spattered the wall. But before the next step could hit him again, he jerked his head up in time, holding Sunny tightly to his chest to protect her.

His other arm was raised to guard his own skull from the unforgiving stone edges.

And still, they rolled — down, and down, and down — with no end in sight.

— To be continued... —

Slip #1,  Slip #2 , Slip #3,  Slip #4,  Slip #5,  Slip #6,  Slip #7, Slip #8,  Slip #10