A Cloud Above My Head

In this cell, amidst the long hours of waiting, I cannot say for certain when the disaster began, but what I am sure of is that it ended when he told me, with his annoying croaking, "You will die today... you will die today." I smiled, or perhaps I cried, as I repeated—without a care—my usual phrase in such situations: "Stop croaking." But he knew from the look in my eyes, from that indifferent sm...