Sirens wailed in the distance, emergency crews shouting over each other as they cordoned off collapsed buildings. Searchlights swept across the rubble. Reporters were already setting up, their voices too bright, too eager.

But up here, on the rooftop of a half-finished office building, it was quiet.

The ledge was cold against their legs. Below, the streets churned with flashing red and blue lights. Above, the sky was a bruised purple, dawn still hours away.

He took a long drag, held it, then let the smoke curl from his mouth like a slow exhale of everything he wasn't saying.