open to: anyone ! location: agency hq amid lockdown
panic manifested peculiarly in someone like abraham -- perhaps like anyone with work ethic in the forefront of that thing between your ears that likes to refer you to panic mode before anything else. but it’s just self preservation, abraham! no, it was pathetic. useless. all of this showed on his face like an animal spotting headlights from a few weary miles off, staring at that twinkling, moving light like an incoming lost star. isolation was the answer, attempts at calm, cold hands, body betraying him. watching the agency crumble underneath its scaly skin was a fate worse than death for someone who had married it. merry christmas.
all of this thoughtful rambling just to forget he was having a conversation with someone, abandoning the exchange of words like a harmless but incarcerated animal. eyes shut twice with intention, hard like he could blink away his own inconsideration. his face furrowed at the person standing before him-- was he meant to be comforting them? shit. “i’m sorry, shit, sorry. sorry. what was that?”