My Cardboard Balcony

Dawn, I Dare You by Belinda Roddie Dawn, I dare you to make the sun rise like your namesake - to paint the sky pink and stir clouds, like cream, into your coffee. I dare you to blow bubbles into the fog and make it boil enough to let off heavenly steam. Tonight will consist of beer, bandaids, and sneaker-stamped tomfoolery, and though it will be dark, I want you there. I want you there so you can light the bonfire, pass out sticks for marshmallows, and lead us in a song that will make the air a little warmer, and us a little rowdier, so we can stay awake to watch \ the morning open its mouth.

My spiral into madness, to me, looked more like a Tesla coil, not only because of the shape, but also because of the high voltage. And by high voltage, I mean lurching out of my bed like Frankenstein's monster and attempting to throttle the lamp in the corner of my room like I had just been tased and the electricity just wouldn't leave my synapses. They put me in the hospital for over two weeks. While I partially recovered, the strange static feeling never went away.