When I woke, there was an absence of noise, and for a few seconds I didn’t know where I was. Then I saw Manu standing at the unfinished edge of the room, the sky a deep pre-morning blue beyond him. The smoke from his cigarette spiralled into the open space.
I sat up slowly. Every part of my body felt stiff and cold. I couldn’t believe I’d spent the night more or less outside.
Manu flicked his cigarette butt out into the air, and I remembered we were at least ten floors up. Not yet, I thought. It hasn’t hit the ground yet.
Manu turned. He was probably only a few years younger than me, maybe twenty or so, but his bandana made him look younger – like one of the teenage boys who hung out on the steps of the community centre in my old neighbourhood back home.
Now. Now it’s hit the groun
