The Thin Man of the High-rise

The building breathes. The building watches. The building feeds.Evan Mercer has spent three years grinding away at Hartwell & Associates, working late nights in Meridian Tower’s forty-second floor, desperate for the recognition that never comes. But when he stays past midnight and hears his name whispered by something that shouldn’t exist, he discovers the terrible truth: his office building is alive—and hungry.The Thin Man is impossibly tall, hollow-eyed, and impeccably dressed. He offers career advancement to those willing to sacrifice everything. David Patterson, Marcus Webb, Patricia Chen—all climbed rapidly through the Executive Development Program. Now they’re gaunt, obsessed, and barely human. Success is consuming them from the inside out.When Evan refuses the Thin Man’s bargain, he becomes marked. His career crumbles. His isolation grows. The building itself turns against him, its geometry warping into impossible configurations designed to break his will. But Evan discovers something the Thin Man never anticipated: the power of refusing to play the game at all.Part cosmic horror, part corporate satire, “The Thin Man of the High-Rise” explores the literal consumption of ambition in a world that worships success above humanity. Chris Richardson crafts a terrifying vision of modern work culture where the ladder you climb might be feeding on your soul.