The lurid cobwebs

The cobwebs dissolved into nothingness. Relief washed over me, yet panic lingered, refusing exile. Slowly, the cogs in my mind resumed their grinding, and I realised: these cobwebs were no more than my exhausted brain struggling to wake up.

Fifteen exams behind me, one more ahead. Two weeks of three-hour sleep nights had hollowed me out, body and mind alike. As dawn stretched across the sky, panic loosened its grip, the ordeal was nearly done. I peeled myself from bed, shuffling to the bathroom, the light switch banishing the last of night’s grip.