Claws out, they taunt from the kitchen-table office, growl on the nightstand, tower over the bed… tap-tap-tapping their way closer as I squirm beneath the covers, fighting panic.

Only in the triumphant light of day do they lose their fangs: the overdue spreadsheet, the pending invoice, an overflowing laundry hamper…

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Miami Beach, Florida.