Can't Sleep

THE SOUND

I hear the sound
in the darkness,
captive to flashes
interrupting the
consistent hum of
the bedroom fan.
Consciousness
rushes into vivid,
blaring focus, the
explosion pulled
back in a dizzying
blink, a mushroom
cloud, the gradual
deadly mist settling
in silence, broken
only by that sudden,
desperate choke,
that wet, knowing
gurgle. His eyes
were closed. His
body did not yet
realize it was
paralyzed.