The creeping fog blooms - rich pink - a distraction.

It takes over the space in my head that was, before, quiet.

One further step in this human body causes me to shake because I don’t know if it will grow or if I can shake it off like I have times before.

It sends an electric warning through my limbs.

“You are prey;

danger is near.”

As I try so hard to walk and act straight,

the word “ignore” is repeated

in the parts of my brain

not yet infected.

And suddenly, I am alone

and that is suddenly somewhat very

concerning.

It will not go away, and in its presence it spawns and multiplies as some psychological virus that is said to be easier defeated than it actually is.

I will burn and I will drown all in the same moment

and we will all crumble

as I try and figure out why exactly this anxiety

is even here at all.