She wakes up at 3:17 every morning.

The hallway lights flicker on, the cockroaches crawl back to their spots.
Floors creak, glass shatters, and the scares are unleashed when she starts to trot.
In the distance, she listens for something there, or maybe not.
Creating a flickering mess, she’ll leave everything to rot
Continuing to explore, she stumbles on a heater, noting it's red-hot.
Why? She doesn’t know. How? She doesn’t know. Where? She doesn’t know.

Beneath the floors, a creeping plot.
There is a dragging sound, perhaps a rusted knot.
Dangerous beings hiding below, their faces all distraught.
She breathes heavily and groans as the shadows take her spot.
Something takes her, screams, fighting a battle she already fought.
Why? She doesn’t know. How? She doesn’t know. Where? She doesn’t know.

Maybe it was the medicines, the traumas, or the sudden drop
From the roof down to the floors, no way she could have been caught.
If only it were the help that she sought.
She searched for a meaning, but always forgot.
A lifetime in silence and twisted thought, it looks like time has stopped.
No joy, no light, and certainly no second shot.
It was she who gave herself to that final spot.
Why? She didn’t know. How? She didn’t know. Where? She didn’t know.

She woke up at 3:17 every morning.

The Unknown Tower
Quiet & deserted.
A way to the top
The elevator hums, rising.

I step out.
I open the door, enigmatic.
I close the door,
Turn the kn⁰b…

Instantaneously
The cold metal snaps in my hand!
I am locked out.

A voice
Deep Inside !
"Have a glance."

Down,
Down, down,
Down,
Down, down…

I peer over the edge—
Acrophobia strikes!

A war ignites between me
& my unknown ‘Someone.’

I hear the voice again
It is not mine.
Or is it?

I scramble, trying to fix the kn⁰b,
But that 'Someone'—
Powerful, cunning—
A puppet master, a gaslighter,
A shadow pulling the strings.

I can’t think anymore!
Thoughts crumble like shredded paper!
Or did ‘Someone’ crush them for me?

"Do a high dive to nowhere!
Do a high dive to nowhere!
Do a high dive to nowhere!"

The voice pounds like a drum.

Drive,
Drive, drive, drive, drive,
Drive, drive,
Drive…

"My bébé, drive."

Once again,
The table is yours.
The table is yours.

Step forward.
Hesitation wanders, the fear of loss.
Look down.
No acrophobia!

The tower does not end.
The fall never stops.

I turn
& there is no door.

Goodbye.
Will you die to find yourself?

I saw him there, beneath the eaves
Standing with the dark
And although he made no move, nor sound
His presence there was stark

He was much like a wilting pane
His body cloaked in guile
I saw the turning of his face
The weeping in his smile

Entrenched there ‘low the jutting eaves
Ebbing with the wane
He then began towards the door
Jigging as he came

More a seize than jig, I’d say
Though it barely sought a word
A shuddering, a stuttering
But not a sound I heard

That fluxing smile stayed his face
As when he reached the door
And pondered for one awful breath
To motion with his claw

Gone inside and left my sight
I felt I too must go
If just to prove this vision false
To my senses dulled and slow

Inside I heard a shattering,
A shuddering, a blow
A muttering, a jittering
A shriek, but soft and low

I passed the door and by the hearth
Its embers bright and warm
And heard a sound pass in the ground
Like iron bees in swarm

Standing in the living room
He shuddered to and fro
As if the lights were flickering
And I too rapt to know

Upon the floor around the room
The bodies of some few
I shuddered as I took them in
He shuddered with me too

I could feel the cool damp air from outside
A gentle weight on the skin, a particular smell
The smell of a night stretched on too long

I tiptoed across the carpeted floor boards
The house was old and I knew it well
Every little area it would groan and creek

I was moving slowly but urged myself faster
This wasn't like other nights, half asleep
Wandering to the bathroom at the end of the hall

No, the house is empty, or should I dare say was
I felt a presence so strong, yet undefinable
As if something was nearly upon me, only breaths away

I avoided deftly the creaky areas of the floor beneath
I felt the give of the wood beneath me as I reached the stairs
This would prove far more difficult to be silent for

Standing at the top I contemplated running down
As fast as my legs could possibly carry me
Somehow though I knew it wasn't the right choice  

As I made my first step down there was silence
I breathed in a sharp silent breath of composure
Continuing to the second step, I winced as I heard a creek

But I stopped and lightly tested the step again
The sound hadn't been caused by me
Quickly my vision darted upwards towards my room

At the far end of the hallway where I had just left
I saw something, a blur like a thick vapor
The shadow black wall behind obscured it

I had no time to peer into the darkness
I sped up, step by step by step
31 steps in total all without a sound

Save for the floor I landed on in my haste
The old house groaned beneath my weight
My neck chilled as I gave in and ran


to be continued...

Like a bond song, rising from the depths
catching the theme, casting its charm,
holding the frame, teasing us
giving us just enough of what we’re waiting for
and keeping us all in the moment,
gun shot by shot, brass blast by blast,
until the action breaks across the screen,
drawing every gasp, taking every heart,
holding every gaze, clutching every throat,
- until the strings break in
and bring release and joy and disbelief
as the hero survives yet again
to bring the world its peace