The clock, she races –
all the haste of a tortoise
watching the fall of the sun.

Stars, like white noise
in the heavens, laughter.
Yet all I hear
is the steady hum
of the heater
fizzing, cracking…

my heart racing.

Speed of light,
speed of sound…

dizzying silence,
as the seconds go by.
I grip the emptiness
with bated breath
captured
in the pit
of my throat.

Mortified

of the next moment
and what imagined horrors
it may bring.