Claiming the Summit

The floor was too vast, too blind. I needed absolute vision of this domain. Using the stacked spine of hardcover encyclopedias like stepped terrain, I leveraged my limbs and climbed upward toward the crest of the tall bookshelf. Up here, beside a bronze metal bookend and a small trailing houseplant, the entire room stretches beneath me. The shadows of chair legs and distant doorways are fully mapped. From this towering perch, nothing in this expanse escapes my watch.