Awakening in the Gloom

A gasp tore from Elias’s throat. His eyes, crusted with sleep, snapped open.

The cot groaned a protest beneath his bony frame as he pushed himself upright.

A chill, damp and biting, seeped through the thin walls of his shack.

Outside, the pre-dawn gloom still clung to the world, a heavy blanket

of charcoal and slate.