Do you remember? You were excited about the prospect of visiting that delightful gothic cathedral, with its towers and windows ascending to that vibrant blue sky…

Why were you attracted to that small door leading to a stairwell? The sky was becoming cloudy, the light was diminishing rapidly; but you wanted to go upstairs, try to find a window to appreciate the piazza from up high. Why did you go upstairs?

The darkness was dense, with an almost palpable quality, remember? Finally, after much effort, you finally found your window. Alas! It was worthless - the piazza was dark and completely taken by the torrential rain that started to fall. You started your descent until you reached a bifurcation in the stairwell; you couldn’t remember it, you couldn’t decide which way to go. It was then that you noticed another window. How surprising it was the sight it offered when you opened it! You were at a higher point than before! No, it can’t be! It had to be a simple illusion.

You took one of the paths (which one?) and kept going downstairs when suddenly lightning revealed yet another window…

Impossible!

When you looked out, you noticed you were at an even higher point.

How long did you stay there, contemplating the rain, in the company of the grotesque gargoyles that decorated the external wall of the tower? Despite going against all logic, you then decided to go up - the stairs were working the wrong way. Madness! The next window revealed an even higher ascension! God, how far would the tip of the tower be? The low and oppressive clouds confused you, and you got soaking wet trying to see the tip of the tower. Worse, the increasing darkness started to interfere with your ability to see the ground…

You called, screamed, implored… Nobody or anything answered your anguish, your voice dying in the darkness as soon as it left your mouth.

For how long did you run, desperate, up and down those stairs, seeming to get more and more distant from the piazza down below every time you looked out a window?

How long did it take for you to reach the utmost despair, deciding to commit suicide by throwing yourself out of a window?

Closed eyes, the vertigo of the fall, reaching the final peace. However, in the final instant of consciousness that precedes death, instead of feeling the hard stone floor, something radically different happened.

Remember how tall and sharp the needle-like tower of the cathedral was? There you are now, impaled in the highest point of the cathedral…

And in the final despair before death, suddenly the clouds open and let you see a tiny slice of a vibrant blue sky.