Midnight air (Four)

Midnight Air

He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, the snarl that had formed on his face was gone, now just the look of a man who had seen too much and was at his breaking point but could find no way out of it.

Mentally steeling himself for a moment he turned away from the mirror and pulled a plain black hooded sweatshirt from a hook that would normally have been reserved for a coat or jacket. he quickly slipped the sweatshirt over his body and flicked the hood backwards so it rested against his back.

The opened seconds later and he moved into the hallway, it was even darker than his room had been, all of the halls lights off and no emergency lighting appearing to be active.

He could feel the hair on the back of his neck begin to stand on end as he reached back and pulled the door closed and he heard it lock with a satisfying slamming sound which seemed to reverberate along the hallway but brought nothing from his neighbours in response.

The concierge should be at his desk on the ground floor, perhaps he could find out from them what was going on, it felt like a wasted effort to even try to return to his bed and just stare into the darkness once more.

He felt his body begin to take more careful steps as he moved along the hallway, his foot placement set to minimise the sound he made as he moved. like a predatory animal creeping through some sort of urban jungle

The path from his apartment door to the set of two elevators was uneventful as he reached them and pressed the call button with his left hand and turned slightly and let his head swivel around to survey the emptiness around him.

No sound came from the elevator and he pushed the button several more times and looked up to the indicator panel above the doors and silently cursed his stupidity as he saw nothing shown there and realised that there would not have been. if the rest of the building was without power, then why would the elevators work?

With a shake of his head he moved away from the elevators and headed towards the stairwell and pushed the door open, the stairs beyond were bathed in a minimal amount of light, some of the emergency lights that lined the wall had come on to do so.

Stepping beyond the door he stopped at the top step and looked down into the barely illuminated stairwell and saw nothing out of the ordinary. another step and he was working his way down the stairs.

He half expected to hear the dinging sound that indicated the elevator had arrived, but it did not come, his hand reaching out to grip the railing as he moved cautiously unable able to escape the feeling of the hairs on the back of his neck rising like some warning.
Whatever was bothering him did not materialise at any point as he made his way down the stairs and stopped at the door to the lobby, he considered for a moment to keep going down to the basement and retrieving his motorcycle, but if nothing else seemed to be working in this building, he doubted the gate would have had power either.

He pushed the door outwards and it opened he saw the lift lobby beyond but could hear nothing else. the reception area as dark as everywhere else he had looked so far, which should not have come as a surprise.

He heard his feet come down on the marble flooring of the lift lobby and froze for a second before once again trying to move forward with just a little more ease and care to his step.

The reception desk from empty when he reached it, a sign sitting on top of it that read. Security was on patrol and gave a phone number to call if someone needed to get a hold of them.

it was not uncommon for the guard to wander off in the middle of the night, sneaking to the building's control room and their feet up and grabbing a sneaky power nap. if that were the case then what a shock he was going to be in for when he finally woke up to this mess.

He pondered calling the number for a moment but decided against it, he was down here now and would take advantage of it being another warm night, even for this time of year and headed for the glass frontage of the building and the exit door that was used after hours for tenants to come and go.

He brought his wrist up to look at his watch, his other hand flicking open the plastic cover that concealed its face and his face was washed over in the electronic glow of the electronic display as he pushed the released button for the front door and it opened with a quick motion

He stepped through the door and braced himself against the night air and then focussed on the face of the watch and read the display that told him that it was just a few minutes past midnight.