Mystery story setup chapter

Deep in the middle of the night the city surrounding the tower rested so quietly that the only thing making any sounds were the hands of the giant clock on top of the building, the soft clicking of the seconds passing by, and the peace of having the entire building to herself soothed Jane so much that she could fall asleep standing on her feet; she loved the place, even though the clock constantly distracted her from her work and made her doze.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...tick…

Despite how sleepy the ticking made her, she had to finish before going home -leaving work for the next day had left a mess for weeks some time ago- So it could not be helped, she worked her way up the tower, gathering accounting reports and customers registries left for her by the owners of each store, while also playfully matching her footsteps with the sound of the clock.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...tick…

The Golden Tower of Siltzony people called it, both due to the four feet tall yellow flowerpots that adorned every level and the enormous amount of money circulating everyday inside the building; over the years new stores had made their way into the tower, pushing slowly aside the original offices used for the city administration, police, public gatherings and occasional religious group; today none of that remained, only the trade related rooms plagued each gallery-styled floor.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...

The melody of the clock felt slightly louder as she climbed up into the eighth floor, twenty-one the tower had, each arranged in circular corridors, leaving a stylistic gap in the middle from which people could take a peek at the floors above or below and with staircases both north and south leading up and down respectively. Jane kept going, focusing on the ticking of the clock in resonance with the tip tap of her shoes and the floor’s ceramic.

Tick…tick...CRRRRRRREEESH…

The sound came from below, like some big piece of furniture being dragged across the floor, a chill went throughout her body as she stopped, holding her breath for a second, and then two, and then ten, and then nothing, nothing but the ticking of the clock. Jane approached the railing at the middle of the room and looked over the gap in the center, but without success, it was almost impossible to see something in the lower levels at this hour, even with the torches illuminating each corridor -We are close to the woods, must’ve been an anim…

CRRRRRRRRRRREESH…

The sound felt louder, closer, and her heartbeat faster, she took a second to calm herself, to breath and think. Fourteenth, eighteenth and twentieth, if I hear it again…

Then she heard it for the third time, it sounded closer than the last, but she was running upstairs before she even realized it. Ninth and tenth went by in seconds, not until halfway through eleventh she became aware that the sound was getting more frequent.

CREEEEESHHH…CREEEEESHHH…

It doesn’t make any sense, it can’t be that fast…

The source of the noise was something big, no doubt about it, but what was it? No animal would make that kind of sound, not even a big one like a bear -not that the woods near the town had any bears in it, but that just added to her confusion- and it seemed impossible to her that anybody, even a group of people, could carry up the tower at that speed something that sounded like a bed or a closet. She reached the thirteenth floor.

CREEEEESH…CREEEEESH…

Even though she could still hear it, she had put some distance between them, that would give her time to prepare. She slowed down to catch her breath, never stopping; walking across the thirteenth she opened her waist pouch looking for the keys, one hundred and eighty-seven stores were inside the clock tower of Siltzony and manage them all had been a nightmare for a time, but fortunately now each level shared the same lock for all its stores, she just needed to find the one for the fourteenth.

She reached the stairs for the next floor, keys in hand, when it dawned on her.

It doesn’t make any sounds when it’s moving across the corridor…it’s just on the stairs.

She had put all her focus on reaching the upper floors and had not noticed that detail before; whoever it was did not matter though, it was forbidden to enter the tower at night, everybody knew that, so whether it was bears, birds, a bunch of thieves or some maintenance guy with a huge box carrying tools, Jane had permission to kick them out anyway, she reached fourteenth.

The door of the gun shop opened up nicely, courtesy of the master key of the fourteenth floor, downstairs the sound kept on going at a steady rhythm, Jane was not counting the sounds but she assumed that they were around the tenth floor; she lighted some candles, grabbed the first two revolvers she could find and scrambled some drawers looking for bullets, in her hurry she cut herself with some scissors or a small knife, she paid no mind to it and kept going until she found some ammo, loaded then the guns, picked up some extra bullets, put them in her pouch and went rushing at full speed out of the store and into the stairs leading to the floor below as she licked the small cut on her thumb.

Only halfway throughout thirteenth Jane slowed down, almost to a full stop, she needed to hear properly and try to pinpoint in which floor the root of the sound lurked at the moment.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEESH…

Definitely the louder one thus far- She conclude, but it did not sound close enough to be on the floor below, the sound came from the staircase that went from eleventh to twelfth, or so she thought -I can make that work- Jane decided confidently, she would meet whatever or whoever came up those stairs, guns in hand, at the twelfth floor; she ran towards the next staircase smiling at her own quick thinking when she came face to face with him coming up.