Among Statues

Half the figures in this hall are statues and half are people, and from up here, some days, I honestly can’t tell which.

That’s what a long shift does. You stop moving between tasks. You stand where you’re put. The statues were people once, the ones who stood longest, and the Architects never bothered moving them after they’d finished turning to stone. It saved on replacements. The new ones just fill in around them.

The one reaching toward the light in the middle moved yesterday. Blinked, stretched, looked up. I’ve been waiting all night to see if they do it again.