Chapter 75: The Tower
Emily looked, up, up, up at the tower before her. She had tilted her head as far back as it would go, but she still could not see the top of it. It disappeared somewhere beyond the clouds and still kept going.
Good, she thought, looking down at her bare feet. If I go up there, the water definitely will not be able to follow. Emily had been on the beach when the water had started to rise. At first, she had moved further inland, hoping that it would not touch her there. But it had flowed in steadily, covering the sand and grass, and slowly making its way up the palm trees.
When it had still been at grass-covering level, Emily had rolled up her jeans in an effort to keep them dry, but clearly, that had been an exercise in futility. The water was now up to her waist and she was soaked.
But she had the tower now, a way out, a chance for her to get somewhere dry, and so she took it. The tower had no door, just an opening carved from the stone, and through it, Emily could see a set of stairs. They led up, that was all she knew, and that was enough, so she walked in and took the first step.
Higher and higher she moved, not feeling the strain at all, her focus on her goal of getting away from the water. So long as she kept moving, she was safe.
That was what she told herself, and she clung to that belief. Even when she could still feel the wetness lapping at her feet, she clung to it. Even when she looked back and saw that all the stairs that she had taken before had been swallowed up by the water, Emily kept moving.
So what if she could not go down anymore, she was going up, and that was all that counted.
She kept walking, at some point, she must have made it high above the clouds, just as the tower extended above the clouds, but the water still kept coming.
The end of the line came in the form of an opening, another stone-carved door. Emily walked right through it, and out into the light.