Day One

The heating and cooling system

sounds like an aircraft engine

rushing air from a turbine

the asbestos brick walls are cement-gray

fluorescent tube lights are 20 feet high

steel doors and one narrow insulated glass window

steamed and perpetually fogged

an institutional aesthetic 

The desk has long cigarette burns 

where someone fell asleep or was lost in an experiment

The cursor blips on the screen of past hidden 

unbidden, unwanted