it started like yesterday.

the sun rose on queue

while the smell of

coffee drifted through

the house as usual.

the phone rang and

something shifted while

the world kept moving,

and time ticked forward

(because it's loyal like that),

but the space between

ticks clawed at the cloth

of reality, slowing down

just enough to feel it.

words felt delayed

and movement . . . it’s

as though the air

thickened requiring

greater effort to exist.

i answered the phone

which created a hairline crack

in the ordinary;

running through everything

i touched. just a crack.

not broken, not a collapse,

but a shift that altered

the reality of my world forever.