Upon the first tremble, Alexander spread his legs and crouched to keep from falling over. He could hear shouts of alarm outside. Then the floor lurched in a sharp downward slope, Alexander falling over anyway. It splintered and cracked and bent and sagged as the earth and concrete and plywood and tile splintered and crumbled away at the center into a gaping hole.

Alexander felt himself start to slide towards this hole as it widened. Instinctively, he reached out to grab the nearest stable object, the window frame, except it was lined with jagged glass from the broken window. He jerked his hand away, the palm sliced open, and flailed frantically for something else as he began to slide feet first into the hole, the broken shelves and all their contents already tumbling down the abyss. 

There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to save him. His hand left a streak of blood that quickly ended when the hand healed. Alexander tumbled into the hole... and grabbed onto some piping at the edge of the hole like a stubborn root.

He dangled there as the pipe began to sag, unable to support his weight, and Alexander stared with wide, frightened eyes at the woman so stoically watching his demise. He realized that she wasn't crazy at all, or perhaps she was so insane that she could manifest any crazy desire as truth. Either way, he had severely underestimated her and what she was all about.

He glanced down at the hole, no bottom in sight, and it occurred to him that perhaps he was already dead. Perhaps he hadn't survived that car crash after all and this was his twisted introduction to Hell. 

"This can't be happening," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, hoping that maybe this was all just a horrible nightmare instead. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be--"

The pipe suddenly bent in a horrifying downward angle, Alexander unable to keep his grip. He felt the instant rush of falling, his stomach and heart rising up to his throat in the terror that he was tumbling to his death. He cried out, too frightened to truly scream, then gasped for breath as the light above him shrank to a pinpoint before darkness swallowed it. All he could feel was the rush of air around him as he fell, all he saw was darkness. It terrified him that he wouldn't even be able to see the bottom of this hole rush up to meet him, that he wouldn't even be able to anticipate the exact moment of his death, if he was even still alive. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tensed, waiting for the impact....