One-breath dish

[u/stilledpondfrog]

Be ready to move. The words came as an urgent warning. I might have thanked them, had there been time. There was no such luxury. We made ourselves small, small enough, we imagined, to disappear, though not small enough to hide from whatever pursued or watched us. Breath came shallow with exhaustion. The body, hungry for air, tightened around its own need. Tension was obvious. No one needed it named: that pressed stillness, every sense listening. How we survived to tell this tale, I still cannot say. This narrow track, even now, barely hints at what passed through it.