Ready to Fall

     The wind tousled his hair, gently nudging him from side to side. His hair occasionally blew in front of his eyes but he barely noticed, seeing only the inside of his eyelids. The afternoon sun was warm on his back. He had been standing in place for several minutes and no one had yet noticed him, or if some had they made no comment. He knew what he would see if he opened his eyes: the city laid out before him, streets weaving jaggedly around each other, towers of glass reflecting the light much like the one he stood atop now. The metal beneath his feet felt as solid as any footpath he had walked but he knew that a step forward or back would land only on air. He did not step forward. He did not step back.
     He knew that he stood there for a reason but with the rest of his life so far below it was easy to forget, to stand still and simply exist. The wind was not as strong as he had expected it to be, this high up. Keeping his footing had been decidedly easy. The smell of smoke drifted up to him, exhaust and cigarettes and woodfire, acrid and pungent and undeniably earthy but below all of them lay something fresher, the barest hint of something that can only be felt where no one has yet settled.
     A car backfired somewhere far below and he opened his eyes slowly, as if waking from a dream. The sun was low enough to set the city alight with hues of orange and red. He breathed deeply, letting the tension drain from his shoulders. It shouldn't be long now. The people far below carried on their everyday lives, the workaholics just now heading home while those keen for a drink arrived. The handover of the city had begun, from work to play.
     The eighth storey of the building across from him exploded with a kra-KOOM, hurling glass and metal outward over the city. Grey dust and smoke mixed with an orange gas that leaked from the ruined level. The entire building groaned and began to tilt as similar explosions rocked the glass towers around it until finally he felt the building that he stood on rumble, its fifth and sixth floors blown to bits. He smiled grimly. He had been told that he would know his cue when it came.
     Closing his eyes once more, feeling the dying sun warm his back, he took a step forward into the air.

Inspired by the song Ready to Fall - Rise Against.