Rooftop Angel

This piece was originally posted to Twitter on July 18, 2022.

She’s smoking on the roof again, leaning back against the railing with her head tilted up to stare into the rotting orange sky. There’s no point in looking down or out, no point in letting her gaze wash over the city so far below. She’s seen it all before.

The way down’s lit up by her halo’s spotlight, shining painfully bright against the night’s uneasy shadows. Each inch of the fall thrown into sharp relief, from the ease with which she could tip back over the too-low railing to the places she’d have to flare her wings to escape the skyscraper’s setbacks, gathering speed all the while, plummeting down faster and faster and faster—