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Viggo carefully walked toward the center of the room, straining his eyes in the dim light to see into the deep shadows that surrounded him. On one level he appreciated the barren beauty, the stark aesthetic of the broken steel and cracked cement. The ceiling stretched unseen many stories above his head, and he could easily imagine how the sun would strain across the expanse as it forced its way through dirt-caked clerestory windows.
But there was also a heaviness here, something beyond melancholy, drifting toward oppressive. His steps did more than echo in the cavernous space. They reverberated, increased in volume until all he could hear were their steady percussion and the ever-increasing beat of his heart. The stairs he passed seemed to morph into an open maw, the treads bared like a predators teeth. Even the little light that kept the pitch from enveloping him felt wrong, as Viggo could not tell where it came from. It seemed to unnaturally appear out of the black, random and unfocused.
He could feel the first whispers of adrenaline begin to lick up his spine and spread through his veins. He turned, half expecting the way out to be gone. But the open doorway was still a vivid outline against the gloom. Viggo laughed at himself, cleared his throat, and started to continue on his way.
"I've been waiting a long time."
Viggo stopped dead in his tracks. The voice - Sean's voice he told himself, it's only Sean - was too near, impossibly close behind him where seconds ago had been only empty space. He couldn't move, wanting to find the will to look back but somehow unable to do so. There had been no footsteps, and yet that unmistakable voice had spoken so close he should have been able to feel the tickle of breath against his ear. He tried to swallow, found his mouth impossibly dry.
"Sean?"
"Would you like a hand, Viggo?"
Somehow even closer, even louder - or was that his imagination - and Viggo pivoted as he took a large step away from ... nothing. The air around him was still empty, devoid of anything but dust motes caught in the freakish light. Then laughter, at first right in front of him then suddenly jumping to a distant corner of the room, slowly getting closer as Sean's figure emerged from the bleakness.
"What the fuck?!" Viggo winced at the edge in his voice, the volume and pitch louder and more strained than he would have liked.
"Consider this fucking payback for that Halloween prank you pulled on me last year." Sean now stood in front of Viggo, very solid, very real, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"You almost gave me a heart attack."
"I saw."
Slowly Viggo managed to get his breathing under control. He looked above him for some kind of speaker or amplifier, knelt down to check the ground. After a few minutes he turned back to Sean who looked even more smug and amused.
"Ok I give. How'd you do it?"
Sean stepped closer, gave Viggo a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. "Something about the acoustics and the architecture I think. If you stand in the right spot you can hear someone talking from clear across the room."
"A whispering gallery."
"Aye, something like that."
"How'd you find this place?"
"A man's gotta have his secrets."
"Does a man want to go home alone?"
"Should I remind you how long it took me to get that mess out of my car?"
"I offered to help."
"After a day and a half of taking the piss."
A smile finally edged its way on Viggo's face. He leaned forward to give Sean a proper kiss.
"If you show me how it works I'll help you scare the pants off Lorna's newest boyfriend."
Sean's laugh chased all remaining apprehension and foreboding sensations from the empty room.
"Make it Molly's and you're on."