Today's OneWord: Strain

I stopped reading after feeling strain behind my eyes, and as I sank into the mattress, the ceiling appeared to open up above me like the cracked white lips of an angel. I expected its gaping maw to expose stars and constellations above my head, even though I knew all too well that the sky outside was choked with browns and grays and everything dull and uninviting to the visual aesthetic. When I took off my glasses, everything still seemed just as clear, the fissures in the wall tricking me into thinking they were widening, rather than merely blurring.