Tony

His eyes shoot open at 4am, right on schedule.
He quick-closes them, hoping-but no, consciousness spreads like tension up the back of his neck. What will it be? it asks. Work? Money? Health?
It can’t decide, spirals out to family, friends, trying to hook something to tug at for an hour. Body’s tense but perfectly still, waiting for the center to give, for the edges to dull as they always do, minutes before the alarm.