A playful conversation

Interrupted

By an unexpected call:

Hello?

I tense with panic

As the voice on the other end

Breathlessly exudes hysteria

Searching for the keys to my car

I sternly reply:

 Hold on. I’m coming.

 

Quivering hands

Gripping the steering wheel

As relentless rain batters

Angrily against the windshield

Masking the sound of

My trembling breaths

And my raging pulse

Driving fast

             Too fast

Slow down. Slow down

Flashing lights pierce the darkness

To reveal an unending line:

Impatient cars obstructing me

From my destination

 

Forcing my way through

A cramped driveway opening

I decide to park

Abandoning the car’s shelter

To face the unforgiving rain

Biting at my exposed skin

 

A familiar face grimly approaches:

            We have to wait here.

 

Avoiding the blatant topic

We share nervous laughs

As cigarette smoke

Escapes her lips

Waiting

For the chaos to resolve

Waiting

For the impatient cars to clear

We wait.

 

An ominous sound

Splinters through the chaos:

Wailing

Screaming cries

 I discover the source is

A familiar face

Stooping over a body

Hidden

Beneath a blood-stained sheet

 

My vision fails.

As the scene is engulfed by darkness

The ground shatters below me

And I awake

 

Gasping for breath

I frantically sit up

Only to find that my mind

Is deceitful

And that sleep unleashes

The cruelty of my imagination