Glass

It was the longest day of my life. Locked in a cage that brushed the clouds, I went through the motions. The grand hive of industry. A thousand workers living together in perfect synergy.

I took the elevator to the roof. Upon emergence, wind and smog whipped at my face. I gazed at my surroundings; a bleak man-made mountain range in all directions. After the smog had passed, I took a couple of strategic deep breaths. I had officially come up here for fresh air.

"Hey!" came a voice sailing across the polluted zephyrs.

I looked up for its owner. Another person on a rooftop was waving at me. One street and countless cubic feet of air stood between us. I replied with a wave of my own. The person on the other rooftop had stopped waving and was now beckoning me over with wild gestures with their arms. What did they want from me?

"How am I supposed to get over there?" I called out, letting the whistling air carry my question.

The stranger pulled out from behind them rope ladder of almost comical length.

"Come on!" they yelled, tossing the ladder over the side of the building and just barely touching the edge of my roof.

"You want me to grab that?" I asked.

No answer. They must have known that their action served as its own reply. I had no intentions of performing any dangerous stunts across rooftops today. Yet, the whimsy of the situation was inebriating. Was it really worth it to go back into the factory? Did the work need to be finished?

I leaned down, grabbed the first rung of the ladder, and sailed across the void between our worlds.