A Night-time Adventure

One of my favorite things to do is wander around someplace at night that I'm not supposed to be. Last night on my way down from the bell tower in the cathedral, I found a spiral staircase that someone had left unlocked by accident.

It was pitch dark - I had to feel my way down with my hand in front of me. I could smell the stone all around me, pressing in. Once I rounded the first turn and was completely surrounded by the stairs, I felt a flush of excitement - how far down did the stair go? would it be dark all the way? what if someone closed the door behind me and I was locked in? After a while I saw a grey glow up ahead, and came to a tiny narrow window looking out over some battlements. I kept going down the stairs into darkness.

Up ahead, the stone began murmuring echoes of a voice, a kind of magnified Voice of God. I Know You Are There Erin God might have said. You Are Not Supposed To Be In There. There was a kind of revivalist twang in his voice, a call and response rhythm. Can I get a Halleluiah? - Halleluiah! God sounded Baptist for sure. I got closer and the stairs opened out onto a balcony behind a massive stone pillar. I was up in the ceiling of the cathedral, overlooking (three stories below) a special evening service with a hell-and-brimstone preacher. I was right up next to the stained glass windows that no one ever gets to see, with the saints looking reprovingly at me. I peeked over the edge (cautiously - the security guards patrolling the cathedral are mean). I'm not usually afraid of heights, but the drop to the stone floor below inspired a heart-pounding dizziness, and I shrank back behind the pillar again.

The balcony ran all around the walls, disappearing into countless staircases like the one I'd come down. If the cathedral was under attack by swarms of invaders in swirly red cloaks, they could battle the resident priests a hundred feet above the ground. The air would be full of clinking swords. Meanwhile, I'd race down the back passages that only I knew about, a novice in a white gown, and take the secret tunnel that emerges in quiet twilight somewhere on the grounds, far from the cathedral walls. Halleluiah.