The rain came down in an endless sheet and it felt like the world was ending. All I could do was sit back at my desk and watch out the window as one-by-one all the lights in the neighbouring skyscrapers and apartment towers were extinguished.
It's worse in the older building and more rundown areas - an unfortunate fact I use to convince myself that I'll be safe when all the evidence says my turn will come later. The rains could get in through any loose vent, any crooked window frame, any cracked roof tile and then it'll be lights out here as well.
I'll become just another darkened window at night and a statistic in the morning. I should probably come to terms with this but it doesn't feel real any more. No matter how empty the office is, the seats are always filled by someone else eventually which is enough for my mind to remain in placid denial.
I'm fairly high up in the apartment block but I'd taken as many precautions as I'm allowed to in rental accommodation. There are plastic sheets taped to the ceiling and vents, all the windows have plumbers tape around the edges and there's a sheet of tarp between the screen and front door.
Maybe I'll outlast the rains and outlive the city but they've found plenty of bodies in buildings far safer than my little apartment. Maybe the rain will stop coming or move on to somewhere else. Maybe I'll wake up one day and find that they've found a way to end it for good.
Sadly, the likeliest outcome is death during sleep - a quiet drowning from some un-taped corner.
A gentle epilogue.
A light gone out.
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