She sat up in the dark like someone pulled from an ice bath, gasping for breath and clenching her fists, ready to fight a room where moonlight revealed only leaves of ivy waving in the breeze of a fan, where her dog slowly lowered his head back down to the floor, and where she listened to a grandfather clock tick in the hall until its sound steadied the cadence and intensity of her heart.
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Fists clenched and gasping for air, she sat upright in the bed as if someone had pulled her out of an ice bath. A sliver of moonlight snuck in behind a curtain. Leaves of ivy overflowing a flowerpot waved in the breeze of a fan. Her dog lowered his head back down the floor. A grandfather clock ticked in the hall. She listened to it until it steadied the cadence and intensity of her heart.