Ground
Thomas said, "Lucille, stop, please. I've always loved you first, always." and grabbed her wrist when she went to stab him a second time. It was the look of mad determination on her face, but maybe he could still get through to her. She snarled wordlessly, straining to sink the knife into his heart when with a loud cracking of stone and wood the house shuddered. The unexpected impact knocked them to the floor.
He gasped, "The house..."
Some semblance of sanity returned to Lucille, "It's sinking !"
"The digger must have undercut the foundation, we need to get out." Instinctively, he pulled her up and dragged her from the room. Black moths and flies were flapping everywhere obscuring their sight. A presumably already loose beam of heavy oak fell crashing into the elevator and wrenching the chain from the ceiling. They threw themselves beneath the flailing chain, Edith had ducked a few feet away from them. Desperately, he scrambled to grab Edith's hand then pulled both women onto the grand staircase.
The house was now visibly sinking as they rushed down the stairs. No warning came before the roof started buckling in a shower of brick, wood and metal. One of the bricks slammed into his forehead, pain lanced through his skull and blood dripped into his eyes as he stumbled. It was only Lucille and Edith's hands that kept him from crashing down into the foyer, both moved to help guide him down. The pressure of the sinking was so great that the clay was now bubbling up the mine shaft. It flowed like blood from a punctured artery sweeping and gushing across the white tile. It stained their boots and the women's nightdresses as they rushed to the door.
He shoved a fallen beam away from the door and forced it open to see that the landing was now two feet higher. Being eight feet tall there was only six feet left and it was shrinking even faster because of the clay. As Edith was closest he lifted her through the doorway where McMichael appeared to take Edith to safer ground.
One of Lucille's hands touched the wound in his chest, he turned to look at her. Steadily the clay kept rising, it was now up to mid-thigh with no sign of stopping or even slowing.
There were tears in Lucille's eyes and a hysterical mantra of, "I did that to you, I stabbed you, I stabbed you !" left her lips.
It was her last chance to get out, so he swept her up, kissed her then whispered, "Let the winds blow calmly...dream of me." turned and rolled her through the two foot gap.
With one last almighty groan the house collapsed in on itself, burying him amid viscous clay and crushing brick. An anguished, "No, Thomas ! Thomas !" was the last thing he heard. His last thought was that Lucille and Edith were safe, both his loves were safe.