Through the Hatch
It takes some effort but you manage to shove open the hatch. Sweat has beaded along your forehead and a stiff breeze blows against it, cooling your skin uncomfortably. You shiver.
You step over the lip and carefully onto the tiled roof. The tiles are slick with moss and lichen and you almost lose your footing, but manage to regain yourself. Once you’re confident of your footing, you begin to move forward.
Gargoyles perch at the corner of the eaves. You hadn’t noticed them from the ground. As you move around the roof from gargoyle to gargoyle, their peculiar styling hits you. These aren’t statues, they’re petrified bodies. One gargoyle has a humanoid face hidden under a series of plaster adornments, as if the mold of a person had been cast and then decorated after to transform its appearance. Other gargoyles, however, aren’t nearly as decorated.
You step closer to one gargoyle that has no horns or spikes or wings. Its human face looks like yours. You whip your head back to look again at the others. Yes, even the ones heavily adorned look like you. It’s in their panicked eyes.
You try to scramble away from the gargoyles, suddenly afraid they may come to life and maul you. Your foot slips on the roof and you stumble down. The fall is oddly pleasant…until you hit the ground at an awkward angle.