Whump... Whump... Whump...

Silence all around. Except for that sound- Whump... Whump... Whump... Steady, rhythmic, almost perverse in its perseverance.

I had been warned. Many moons ago. "The extent of damage is irreparable. We'll have to initiate the ultimate solution." I chose to dismiss. I'll deal with the consequences when they come around. I knew it was inevitable. So why spend precious hours worrying about something that I would have to face up to eventually?

But you never dismiss a warning from an expert.

He said it would come. Like a roaring horde of barbarians from the beyond. Caught unaware, I would be overrun and swamped.

It was the glint in his eye. Was it a lie? Insanity? One too many novels from last night? I wouldn't know. I chose to dismiss.

So it wasn't all true. There was no roaring horde of barbarians, no crippling blitzkrieg and it's been 750 nights now. I guess things aren't done that way anymore.

It starts with silence.... A hot humid summer night. Lying still in bed. Staring up at the empty ceiling. Silence... And then out of the darkness... Whump... Did I imagine it ? Is this the beginning of the end he had prophesied so many lives ago? I steele myself in anticipation. Silence... It never comes.

But it never went. And then there was another, and then another. Till now Whump... Whump... Whump... Steady, rhythmic almost perverse in its perseverance. It's like a whales heart pounding away- blood spurting thru constricted veins. My jaw, my head being squeezed by a vice- a dull ache rising like bad water during a biblical flood. The pain is paralytic, yet the only thing that soothes it is pain itself.

But the dismissal has turned to defiance. I refuse to seek help. Hell, I hung on unmindful the last 2 years. A little pain will not defeat my cause of nothingness. Because, when nothingness is the cause, it's nothing you live and die for.

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It wasn't the pain that finally did me in. It was a thick, hot, juicy steak. Brown on the outside, baby pink on the inside. The aroma, the texture, the firm tenderness... I couldn't ask for more. But my tooth had finally ground off the last it's enamel (cliché- Bitten off more than it could chew). Nothing could stand against the fiery union of nerve and spice. I had to let the Steak go...


The horror.... The horror....


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"Umm.... Hi... I'd like to make a dentist's appointment...."