The viewing platform is empty, as it usually is. No one wants to see the waves that keep us afloat destroy another piece of land. No one wants to see the rain we used to love pour down and hide everything from sight.
I can feel the wind in my hair, the spray of rain hitting my face when I close my eyes and lean against the window.
“Didn’t really expect to see you here,” a voice says cuttingly, and I open my eyes with a sigh. “Shouldn’t you be with all the other rescuers on the deck?”
“Hello, Leah,” I say, not turning to greet her to her face. “Even rescuers have some time off.”
She snorts and leans against the railing. “Who would have even guessed?”
“What do you want?” I ask, tiredly.
“You sound like Tara let you down,” she says. “What did the old bat say?”
Leah is…strange. She hates Tara’s guts, but I know that she was on the boat that day. She only survived because Tara and Aiko were there. In that way, we’re both connected by a single string of fate that let us live. But she is angry, always.
Sometimes I wonder what the connection is between anger and fear on this Tower.
Maybe it’s a shorter path than I thought.
“Hey, Leah?” I ask her, finally making up my mind. “Why aren’t you on the rescue squad?”
Her eyebrows rise and she laughs, short and cruel. “Whom would I be saving? All I’d be doing is damning them to this half-life, Mina. I can’t have that on my conscience.”
I want to argue, but I can’t find the words. A small, hidden part of me is terrified that she is right. What are we living for, now?
“Oi, Mina.” Her voice has become tight and taken on a sharper tone. “Are you also seeing this?”
I follow her line of sight and squint. A dark mass looms in front of us, and my heart drops down to my stomach.
“Go find Tara,” Leah says, and I’m already moving.
Sreepriya Ramesh 
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