“Countdown to the Launch of a Nightmare” By Tejal Doshi

Photo Courtesy of ixPap

In the shattering

fragments of time

between waking

and sleeping,

hail hammers its fists

against the window.

Still, inside—it is still.

The house holds

its breath, then

shudders on my shoulders.

My knuckles whiten

against the night

and my fists are empty

and I am real.

I stare at the dreams

glowing on my walls—

shadows pirouetting,

confessions at court.

My brain is so wild,

so volatile,

so dull,

perhaps out hiding

in the long grass,

crackling crystals of dew,

waiting to pounce.

Tejal Doshi is a high school sophomore from India whose work is published in Blue Marble Review, Sandpiper Magazine, The WEIGHT Journal, Cathartic Youth Lit, and elsewhere. Besides writing, she has an interest in math and commerce. She also makes brilliant jokes that absurdly nobody laughs at.