Delirium

It's a race to see who gets me first. Rather, what gets me first.

Some days, it gets so bad, I dread the dark, the fall of night. I have to pull myself away from the familiar, comfortable environs of the office, or the shopping mall, and gird myself up to step out and face the unknown.

Only, not so unknown.

I know that feeling of the walls closing in, my breath burning in my lungs, the air wrapping itself moistly around my face, setting the blood thundering in my ears and making my vision blur.

I know the feel of the bloodsuckers. Them, I know so well.

I feel their vile sting even when they are not really there. They materialize from nowhere, as though a part of the night itself, to torment me and steal my peace.

Yes, it's a race to see which one of them get me first - the relentless onset of summer, or the manic mosquitoes.

Delirium, here I come...