A little better today

The dull dread had drained from his limbs while he slept. It must be in the sheets somewhere: he sprang up to go about washing them. Crisp, fresh linen for a crisp, fresh day. They dried double-quick in the sun, and as he watched the low wind fill them he thought of great sailing ships on a calm blue sea. He wondered where all that fear and misery had come from, but it didn't do to dwell on it, with a whole wonderful life to be getting on with.

Beneath his feet, unnoticed, the earth began to crack in two.