The worker sat on the baseboards of a floor, looking out of the incomplete wall to the sparse city horizon. Other various buildings were being constructed around him, leaving small gaps of nature to be seen. The sunlight began to burn orange, signaling his time left of natural light. He stood up and began setting up camp for the night. He was one of many workers building this tower, each assigned to complete different parts of the levels. Only a few were ahead of him building the sturdy frame, leaving him to fill out the flooring and walls. Many more would be following behind but everyone was working in solitude. Each person had more tasks than the worker above, leaving an exponential gap of completion before the next person would arrive. His work took a couple days to complete, which he would then ascend to the next level on the third day. Provisions were sent up a seemingly endless shaft next to the only ladder, opposite of the bottomless well for excrement. He hadn’t spoken to anyone since starting a few weeks ago.

The night arrived just as he finished assembling his sleeping arrangement of a light blanket, pillow, and thin cushion to lay on. With his only light gone and the night sky mostly covered, there was nothing to do but sleep. His departure would be tomorrow afternoon once the final parts of the last wall finished. He fell asleep humming the tune he heard every few days as it echoed from the ladder shaft above. 

Daylight broke through the remaining opening in the wall, waking him from a dreamless sleep. He stretched then sat up, stretching again for his neck and back, and finally stood. Packed belongings, he finished his small breakfast and tossed waste down the dark, musky shaft.

Finishing the last wall left him almost entirely in the dark, with only a faint light from the ladder shaft above – his guidance for eight more weeks. Prepped for the climb, he gently hummed the tune to himself.

Six more floors finished and the days became shorter. He estimated about seven hours to work before total night would leave him completely blind in the darkness. His progress slowed, turning his three day schedule into five, but luckily the schedule had planned for six days during the Fall. His high efficiency made him a top candidate for his position on the workforce. The first set of workers had to be the best, as to complete their tasks without error to provide plenty of time for the others below them. He felt proud knowing he was fifth.

Another few floors completed but the days were somehow getting shorter than planned. It seemed there was only sunlight for maybe four hours, including the twilight of dawn and dusk which wasn’t bright enough to properly work. He lay in the dark, hoping but unable to sleep. The short days left him to dwell in thought in the heavy night. He hadn’t heard anything above or below for several days, leaving him to hum more often – the tune that signified another person living in this tall tower. Seemingly alone, he felt his body become under great pressure as if it was being pulled down into the floor under the worn cushion. He began gasping for air with strangled breath. His body wouldn’t move under the immense weight forcing him down. He could feel a terror looming in the dark room, caressing his sweaty skin. His breath stopped.

A teary-eyed blink and the pressure dissipated. He lay in the dark room, breath at a calm and sweat gone. A sigh and hesitation, he sat up and looked around, though blind, he felt nothing in the darkness. The terror still lingered in his body. He got up and packed. He left the last part of the wall unfinished and climbed the ladder with a quivering hum.

Each step on the metal ladder let out a dull moan under his boots, which echoed briefly before being silenced by the night. There was no light above and he was unsure of the time until the sun would rise and purge the haunting night. So many previous climbs over the weeks left a permanent mark in his mind of the number of steps before the next floor. Forty-eight. He counted each one under his breath interrupting the pleasant tune holding his sanity. Reaching the last step he extended his leg to the side, feeling for the metal frame of the new floor. Nothing. He extended the other leg. Again. He recounted the steps in his head. Forty-four. He reached above with his hand in hope to find a metal frame. Nothing. Four more steps – it’ll be there. Nothing around his legs or above his head. He froze clenching the ladder close to his body. Completely blind, he was stuck on the ladder. No, he would return down, wait until day.

Downward he counted forty-eight. There was nothing. He felt that terror again. The pressure pulling him down from the ladder. His body became heavier and his boots began to slip. He twitched in shock and began to climb. Climb. No sound beside the echoes of dampened metal under his boots. The adrenaline of fear pushed him upward into infinite darkness. His body began to ache. Muscles became active in his primitive brain and began to give out. He couldn’t climb anymore. His body locked up leaving only one hand on the ladder. His grip held for a brief moment before releasing him to fall.

The landing left him unconscious.

He awoke later with terrible pain through his entire body. There was a haze of light in the level. There was a metal frame with grating and no walls; what he imagined what would be when the third person finished. How far could he have climbed, passing the person ahead of him without notice? He looked around the  level but the dim light covered any detail past the immediate frame of the tower. He had no idea how far he climbed the tower. In pain he decided to wait. Wait for the next person to arrive, which should be the Fourth. Expertise hand-picked after vigorous tests were the people in his group. Fourth should arrive soon.

The hazy light never left. He slept, ate, waited for more provisions that never came. Once he realized this he began to ration food, and continued to wait. He tried to shout but his vocals had atrophied. There was no voice and no more hum to keep sanity. He counted, minutes, hours. Sleep became more frequent as food dwindled down. No more time. An endless haze of light mocking. He began to climb.

Eighty floors of empty framework. Various belongings were found along with some rations but no one else was found. The floors had varied status of completion, with a few being almost completed. One was a fully furnished family sized home, never used but he could feel a haunting presence of a family once lived. He had a proper bed to sleep but the rest never lasted as the comfort was interrupted by nightmares of the dead. Other empty floors revealed nothing but the haze beyond the metal frame. He would peek over the edge to see below but not even the levels were seen.

Endless ascension with unlimited thought and no answer.

He stopped mid climb with hesitation. His hands began to tremble. His emotions had abandoned long ago except for the need to ascend but now that had started to fade away. He looked below and saw nothing. The trembling stopped and his hands let go. He fell into nothingness with his heart pumping in natural ecstasy.

The fall cradled his body, calming his mind into a deep subconscious state of meditation. His thought expanded into a reality of memories which welcomed him warmly. Reliving those treasured moments indefinitely, he found a peace that had abandoned him the day he entered the Tower.

He began to notice the static memories, repetition he could not change. Fleeting to various memories, beginning again and end, there was no life. Anger exploded from his body as he introduced violence to the dull, robotic placeholders that moved on schedule in the mocking world. The skies began to bleed and flood the land. His feet would not swim, leaving him rooted to the ground as the ocean of violence ascended and invaded his lungs. Choking, his eyes opened, breaking the meditation of the fall. His body would not move but he could feel his bones rattling against one another. His breath was shallow and raspy. The fall of eternity left his body old and frail. Years of life in memory now gone left him in a confused daze. A moment to breathe and he remembered.

His body exploded on the Tower’s floor.

The Tower