Good Night, Sleep Tight

Good Night, Sleep Tight - Part II

All encompassing defeat awaits the day,
     I choose to plunge and embrace this nightmare.²

^{I watch myself, as through the lens of a camera, glide smoothly through the front door. My eyes absorb the empty living room. Paintings of deer used to adorn the walls. A wooden clock above the fireplace mantle used to keep the hours. A television used to fill the room with blue light and the sounds of talk-show applause, laugh-tracks and prime-time programming. Floor and table lamps used to illuminate the room. I see the walls painted the color of eeriness and the floors lined with dread. The sofas no longer fortify the walls, and the end tables no longer offer a resting place for issues of Reader's Digest and TV Guide. The room whispers of desolation. Darkness pushes the last remnants of light out of the room through the space between the baseboards and the dark wood floor; a crack of light strains against the power of the darkness. The mysteriousness of the door pulls me forward. My breathing does not abate; my heart rate remains normal; my knees do not knock. I cannot stop my advance, even though I do not want to open that door.}

²Project 86. "Stalemate." Project 86. BEC Recordings, 1998.