"terrible news." i thought to myself as the word of sawako kato's passing reached my mobile under the heat of an untamed sun set across my shoulders. death was frequently a visitor to my mind. bulletins of senseless wars, untimely demises of young lives by hate-poisoned minds, or losses of familiar names that touched an impression upon my life in some way. but yet closer still to home was the worsening matter of a family member who had been diagnosed with a degenerative disease that was certain to take their life by the count of years, not decades still.
would it be any wonder then, that i had thought my own time had come when fear and panic took hold of my body and mind one day later in the summer?
anxiety has been a steady companion in my life, ever-present as a social inhibitor and worse