@mc5punk 10 March 2025 more from that month

Short story: The Shadow of the Tenth Floor: A novel of mystery and suspense

Chapter 1: The Echoes of the Past  The Luminares building stood like a wounded giant in the heart of the city. Their windows reflected the nervous flickering of the police lights, as the crowd, hungry for drama, squeezed behind the yellow cordon. Valeria Márquez parked her car in front of the place she had sworn never to step on again. The aroma of recent rain mixed with the smoke from the cigarettes of the curious.  - What are you doing here, Detective? - asked Officer Rivas, adjusting his cap-. This case is... personal.  Valeria ignored the comment. She knew that Adrian, her ex-husband, was lying under that white sheet. He knew it from the moment he heard the address on the radio.  As he climbed to the tenth floor, the icy wind from the open window reminded him of the last argument with Adrian. * "I prefer emptiness to being tied to you,"* he had shouted at her. Now, fate was playing a macabre joke on him.  --- Chapter 2: The Perfect Lie  Apartment 10B kept traces of his past life: the wall clock that was always running late, the crack in the plaster where Adrian threw a bottle of whiskey. Adrian's mother Clara emerged from among the sobbing relatives in the hallway.  - Satisfied? Clara roared, in a black dress that smelled of camphor. Even dead he haunts you.  Valeria watched the security cameras. The footage showed Adrian jumping at 23:00, but the clock at the scene read 22:58. * A two-minute gap*, he wrote down in his notebook.  - Why was he here? - Valeria asked, pointing to Clara's apartment. You haven't spoken to each other since he stole her inheritance.  Clara clenched her fists, but before answering, a scream coming from the basement cut the air.  --- Chapter 3: The Secret of the Basement  The basement of the Luminaire was a maze of rusty pipes and abandoned boxes. There, among piles of newspapers from 1998, the forensic technician pointed to a dark spot on the floor.  "Blood," he said, shining a UV lamp on it. Type AB, like Adrian's.  Valeria touched the damp wall. A flash in the dust made her crouch down: a pearl earring, identical to the one Clara wore the last Christmas they shared.  The autopsy, carried out that morning, had revealed the impossible: rigor mortis indicated that Adrian died two hours before the supposed jump. Valeria unfolded the reports on the hood of her car, while the night devoured the street.  "Someone killed him down here—" he muttered. Then he took it up to the tenth floor and threw it for everyone to see the show.  --- Chapter 4: Clara's Masks  Clara was found on the terrace, wrapped in a silk shawl that waved like a flag of surrender. In his hand, a Browning revolver forgotten by Adrian years ago.  - Do you think I didn't suffer? Clara whispered, with a crooked smile. He left me penniless after the divorce. When I found out he was hiding money here..." he pointed to the building with the barrel of the gun. I just wanted to scare him.  Valeria moved forward, calculating each step. The abyss behind Clara seemed to invite them both.  "You hit him in the basement," Valeria reconstructed. You put his body up in the elevator, adjusted the cameras and then... you pushed him. How much did your creditors owe you, Clara? A million? Two?  The shot rang out like thunder. The bullet grazed Valeria's shoulder, but she lunged at Clara, dragging her away from the edge.  "You don't deserve to escape," Valeria roared, cuffing her. You will live to remember how you betrayed your own blood.  --- Chapter 5: The Walls that Look  At 5:00 AM, while the crowd was dissolving and the headlines were writing themselves, Valeria returned to the tenth floor. The wind was coming in through the broken window, taking with it the echo of laughter and slamming doors. In a corner, she found an unsent letter addressed to her: *"Val, the building holds something horrible. If you're reading this, it's because Clara silenced me."* Adrian's handwriting trembled like that of a frightened child.  He opened the closet that was always closed. Inside, stacks of documents revealed real estate scams orchestrated by Clara. The Luminares was not a home: it was a tomb of secrets.  --- Epilogue: The Justice of the Void  A year later, the Luminaire was demolished. Valeria watched from the street as the crane devoured the tenth floor. Among the rubble, an object shone: the overdue clock of his old apartment.  - Do you think love survives the fall? - Adrian had asked him once, drunk on cheap wine.  —Only those who learn to look between the cracks survive—" he replied to the wind, as the last stones turned to dust.  The anger had dissipated, but the question remained floating: How many truths die before taking the last leap? Source of the images. Image created with Starryai.