The hallway tilts
Before you even cross it
As if the building itself
Is deciding whether
To swallow you whole
The lights buzz
Not softly now
But like insects trapped
Inside a dying star
Every flicker feels personal
As if the electricity
Has learned your name
Your thoughts fracture
Into sharp
Metallic shards
Spinning in circles
You can’t step out of
They scrape the inside
Of your skull
Like something trying
To carve its way free
You sit in the waiting room
But the room feels alive
Breathing slow
Watching you back
The chairs stare
With hollow patience
As if they’ve held
A thousand unravelings
And know yours
Will not be the last
A voice calls your name
But it sounds distant
Warped
As though spoken
Through a cracked mirror
Still
You rise
Your legs remember
What your mind has forgotten
How to move
Even when everything else
Is slipping
Inside the office
The air is thick
Heavy with the ghosts
Of other nights like this
But there is a steadiness too
A quiet gravity
That pulls you back
From the edges
You can’t name aloud
Maybe
Going crazy
Isn’t the fall they warn about
Maybe it’s the moment
The mask finally fractures
And the truth beneath
Stops hiding
And the crisis center
This dim
Humming sanctuary
Is the place that holds you
While the darkness
Rearranges itself
Into something
You can survive