'You can count on me while counting those stairs'
'You can count on me when the fire inside you flares'

'Even if I'm burning, blazing, alight?'
'Keep counting and you won't lose your fight'
So higher up the tower she goes,
Skyward, above,
that's where she'll be exposed

Beware a rise she'll ill deserve,
For every step holds no good curve:
In the cracks,
just behind that wall,
the embers are glowing, starting to call.

And now she's there,
she looks around...
To find, there is no one to be found
The fire is now flailing, licking up her throat,
Where is it?
That voice telling her not to bolt?

It is long gone,
Carried away by smoke
While she is burning, counting for hope.