I climbed the fire escape for what felt like hours. The higher I got the further away the top seemed to grow. I realized I was climbing in circles, so I stopped and looked down.

"I'm up here!" a voice called out.

I looked back up to see the face of a man looking down at me.

I waved my hand and said, "It's me."

The man screamed and climbed faster.

I arrived at the top to find a huge blackened, saucer-shaped area where the roof used to be.

"Did you see it?" he asked.

I shook my head and said, "No."

"It exploded right in front of me," he said. "I ran as fast as I could to get here."

"Did you see what it was?"

"I don't know," he said. He looked at me and pointed down. "There's something there."

He looked down, and I looked too. There was something there, all right–the blue glow of a fire in the distance. The man scrambled over the edge of the roof to get a better look. I followed him, holding on to the metal rungs with one hand and swinging my free arm. When we had reached a point directly under the fire, he stopped and looked up at me.

"It's almost out," he said in a relieved voice.

I nodded, but only because I wasn't sure what else to do.

He resumed climbing down. We both reached a low-lying window and decided to enter the building. I tried to push my torso through first, but I couldn't make it all the way in that way. So, instead of trying again, I grabbed on with my arms and pulled myself inside. He followed and we found ourselves in a small room with a bed, some chairs, and a dresser. I set down my valise and the bag of tools on the floor. Then followed the man through several other apartments until we reached one in which there was no one at home. He made for an inner door, but I barred his way.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked sternly.

"Going in there to see if there's anything worth taking," he rejoined, trying to push past me. He shoved me back so violently that I went over against the wall and sat down on the floor.

"There's nothing here," I said as soon as I could get my breath. "Everything is covered with sheets."

He made a dive for the bed and pulled off the cover. "Look here," he cried, triumphantly seizing a tin box that contained a heavy roll of bank-note paper. "I told you there was something worth taking."

"Let go of that!" I shouted, making a snatch at him.

He retreated to the further end of the room, and for a moment we faced each other in an angry stalemate. He grabbed a chair and rushed for the door, but I seized him by the collar as he reached it.

"If you attempt to leave," I said, "I will call."

There was no response. He clung to the knob and glared at me with a vicious growl. We struggled for a few seconds when my foot slipped and I fell to the floor. In an instant, he sprang upon me and bore down furiously with his knees. I seized him by the wrists and endeavored to hold him, but he jerked suddenly away, leaving me on my back.

I saw him running toward the door again, and called out to him as loudly as possible, "You rascal! you better not leave this room! Don’t you do it!"

He struggled fiercely with the knob. For an instant it seemed as if he would be unable to free himself, but then it gave way. He turned suddenly down the corridor and fled tumultuously up the stairs.

I rose from the floor and brushed down my clothes as well as I could. I then went in search of Mrs. Broughton, whom I found in bed and apparently fast asleep.

I tapped at the door and entered without receiving any answer.

"Well," she said, starting up. "You’ve been chasing that fellow again."

"Yes, he tried to get away."

"Are you hurt?" she asked anxiously.

"No," I replied.

"Do come in and sit down for a moment. Your face is all bloody."

I followed her into another room and she closed the door behind me, leaving us together. She placed a chair for me by the fireplace and herself sat on another close by.

"Can you tell me why that fellow ran away?" she asked presently, in a low voice as if she feared disturbing her husband still sleeping in the other room.

"He did not run away," I replied bitterly. "He was frightened."

"Frightened? What of?" She leaned towards me eagerly.

"Why, you don’t know?" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Know? I told him not to come here, but he came in spite of that," she replied. Then after a moment continued, “Why, what did you tell him?"

"I told him that I–" I paused in confusion.

"You told him of that place!" she exclaimed, with a rapid change of color.

"That place? Where The One is? How do you know anything about it?"

She shook her head impatiently. "Don’t ask me silly questions," she said, laughing. "You seem to know a good deal about it yourself."

"Yes," I said, with a nervous laugh. "I have seen things there."

"You–you mean you were in it?" she exclaimed with an incredulous look.

"Only for a moment," I answered, but the words were hardly out of my mouth when she rose quickly and faced me.

"Only for a moment?" she repeated. "Are you sure of that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, in confusion, eyeing her with a perplexed look.

"Did you see anything?"

"No."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing,” I said definitively.

She stared at me for what felt like hours.

"But you said–" I stopped suddenly and looked away from her.

There was another pause in our conversation. I could hear the dull sound of the falling rain.

"I only saw a little," I said, after a while, turning my face and shrugging my shoulders.

"But you were there?" she asked, incredulously.

"It was very dark," I muttered.

"When did you come out again?" she asked presently in a low voice.

"Only a few minutes or an hour or so ago."

She looked at me doubtfully, “Why do you think you have left that place?”

“Because–because I’m back here in the big city,” I answered.

She looked at me incredulously as the rain grew heavier outside.

At last, she spoke again, but so low that I scarcely heard her. "Let us go then," she said, "And take a walk now."

"But it's raining," I objected.

"That is nothing."

She stepped back and looked at me inquiringly before she turned away.

"It doesn't matter to take a walk in the rainstorm?" I demanded, following her with my eyes after she had gone a few steps.

She paused and shook her head slightly in a token of distaste, without looking around.

With an inward, impulsive gesture I seized her hand. "Look here," I exclaimed.

She raised her eyes and met mine for an instant. They were full of suspicion and doubt.

"Let us go," she repeated, a little more distinctly.

I understood it to be a command and I released her hand instantly, with something like despair in my heart. I had no words to reply to her. She passed me and went wearily down the corridor. I watched her for a moment before following.

We walked down the stairs to the lobby and it was obviously storming heavily now. The lightning illuminated the night and we could hear the thunder crashing, shaking, and echoing through the old building. She placed her hand on the door to walk out into the storm, then turned to me.

“What makes you think you left that place?”

My breath caught in my throat, and I could not speak.

“Hush!” she muttered, and turned and left. The moment the rain touched her, she melted away and flowed down the sidewalk, into the street, and down the sewer.