It has walls, a roof, a pathway to get from the bottom to the top, all the things one needs to fulfill the role of tower.
Sometimes it has windows, sometimes not.
Sometimes it is surrounded by beautiful gardens, or barren desert, or merely empty air as it floats aimlessly in space.
Nonetheless, there remains - a tower.
And in that tower, is a Someone. They've always been in the tower, as far as they remember. Going about their business, day by day, no need or reason for change.
Every once in a while, however, out of sheer curiosity, they take a peek out of their high-set window to look at the others.
And there they stand; rows upon rows upon seemingly endless rows of towers, no two exactly the same.
They too, have been here all along - well, at least as far as Someone remembers.
They take another moment just to appreciate the sheer variety.
Small ones, large ones; some made of sand, or metal, or even jello.
Towers of glass, of smoke, of swirling thought; most with people simply going about their days, unaware of the world around them.
More than a few are clearly abandoned, or completely demolished, with people sitting amidst the rubble in confusion.
One tower had a thin, pleasant man waving to you in greeting. 'Hello!' Someone greets in return, waving back for the both of you. Not that anyone would hear them, as far away as they are. 'I suppose it is the thought that counts,' Someone considered.
And then they start to notice the shape that some towers are in.
Some towers had slowly crumbling walls, or great holes in them.
A good number of them had people futilely trying to escape the wreckage, their desperate cries echoing amongst unscalable ruins.
At this, someone became very concerned. 'Oh no! What happened?' They asked themselves. 'Who or what could do that kind of damage? Are those people okay?
Those poor people, couldn't somebody help them? Who would, or could save them all?'
Someone sighed unhappily.
'I wish I could help,' Someone thought to themselves, sadly returning to their sweeping - 'I have much too much to do, even if I could leave this place.'
At that, they stopped.
Now that's a thought they'd never had before.
...'but could I? Leave, that is.' They held on to the strange, new thought, turning it over and over in their head.
They'd never seen a door outside before - but that doesn't mean there isn't a way out.
But where would they go, if they did leave?
What lay beyond their tower? And all the others? Do they end?
'Who would sweep up if I was gone?!'
As the sun went down, they pondered all the terrible, wonderful, unsure possibilities that could lay outside, their work forgotten. Was it worth it?
But by the time they went to sleep, they were resolute.
'Tomorrow,' they decided. 'I'll start looking tomorrow.'
And search they did.
They looked under every piece of furniture - nothing. Behind every cabinet. They examined every brick they could see, pushing and prodding at each steadfastly solid piece. They even looked in the ceiling - nothing.
They looked in the kitchen, in the attic, the Other Room, (because they absolutely refused to call it a basement if they were still several stories up in the air) but still, no sign of an exit or door, or even crack in the walls.
Someone was despondent.
'I'll never be able to leave. I'm trapped here forever. No one can hear me or even see me to help - so why even bother looking anymore?' They stopped their pacing in the middle of the room to sigh.
And then they did something they never had occasion to do before. For the first time in their lifetime, Someone got angry.
'NO.'
'Those people out there need help, and I'm not going to let this. stupid. TOWER be the reason I can't help those people!!'
'This must be a test!' Somebody exclaimed, 'I'm being tested to see if I really can help them!'
'Well then watch me! I'll help them out one at a time,
starting.
with
MYSELF!
Someone stamped their foot furiously on the floor.
*ka-
THUNK.*
tink-tink-tink-tink-tink...
The sound drifted away into silence.
Someone lifted their foot again, afraid to do - whatever the heck THAT was - again.
What was that...under the rug?
They slowly lifted back the enormous rug beneath them to find a trap door, right where they were standing! The stamping must have rattled the hinges!
Someone wasted no time, and grabbed the ring-shaped handle with both hands. It took a lot of effort, but slowly, the dusty, rusted hinges creaked open loudly.
Underneath, was a simple stone staircase. A very dusty, cobweb bedecked staircase.
Someone gasped in horror. 'I need to sweep this right now!!'
'No, wait, no. Let's look to see what's down there first.'They admonished themselves.
'Sweeping can be for later.'
(But just in case, they went back and quickly grabbed their trusty broom before continuing.)
The open door above them gave plenty of light, but soon even that light gave way to near-darkness. But wait...where is that dim light coming from?
They continued on, the light getting brighter again, as the condition of the tower deteriorated around them.
'I suppose it's fitting; no one's been down here to clean or repair in - I wonder how long?'
And then the stairs stopped. At the bottom lay a small, metal bolt, obviously knocked down from the trap door so high above.
Someone picked it up and turned it over in their hands, sunlight glinting off of...
...Sunlight?
Someone looked up.
It was beautiful.
If they thought that the towers were varied, they had nothing on the sheer multitude of unique people that milled around outside, sunlight wreathing their forms as they went about their day.
Someone looked at the door to their tower, or rather, at the complete lack of one. Only an archway stood there. Were they...free? Had the only thing trapping them all along been their own hopelessness?
And to think, the only thing between themselves and freedom, was the tiny, metal bolt still in their hand.
They placed it in a pocket for safekeeping.
"Hey!! You made it!" Someone looked towards the voice, finding a young girl with a fantastical silver arm and leg. "We were worried about you, but, thank the Skies, you're okay."
She eyed Someone up and down, the dust and cobwebs covering them making them look more like a gigantic dust bunny than a person. "Are you okay?" She smiled, reaching out a perfect, silver hand.
"Do you need help?"
Someone considered the question. they didn't need any help, but they knew of Someone Else who did.
Someone smiled, reached out, and took her hand.
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