9

I went along the bracing, groping in front of me for the next wire or the wall, and presently, my fingertips brushed cement, I raised one foot and stomped on the panel, breaking it and letting me see down into the room below. The panel broke into three irregular pieces and fell into the room, bouncing off the edge of a large desk. I stopped momentarily to listen for screams or the creature, but didn't hear either.
I could see the large, ornate wooden desk below me. An antique laptop was on the corner while a modern flat-touch was recessed into the surface. It was on and operating. A replica green-shaded banker's lamp had been knocked over by the falling panel, and it lay on it's back.
Light streamed in the opening allowing me to see the conduit I was holding onto for balance. I listened again and when I heard no loud or odd noises, I dropped lightly onto the desk. There was a chair pushed against the wall to my left, and to the right was a pair of chairs facing the desk, with a couch and coffee table just beyond them. Looking behind me I saw the door into the room, and it was open.
I heard footsteps in the hall getting louder, I quietly stepped off the desk and crouched behind it. I peeked at the door from the side of the desk and saw my neighbor Art Uhlan come back in with a cup of coffee in his right hand. He stepped in the room, and then froze in surprise, and stared at the broken panel. “What the fuck!” he exclaimed, and then saw me, and his gaze turned to confusion. “Fern? Are you okay? What are you doing in here?” He glanced around the room again, and rerturned to looking at me, and the broken panel on the floor by the desk.
I stood up and abesent-mindedly brushed the dust and cobwebs that clung to me after my time in the ceiling. He looked more closely and an angry smile quirked his lips. “Fern, if you wanted to come see me you could have used the door. Now would you tell me what the hell is going on?”