Excerpt: Nitid

There was a screeching sound emanating from somewhere near her workstation, traveling its way directly into her brain, jarring her every nerve with its subtle insistence. It started and stopped in fitful bursts as her fingers trailed over the screen. Every time it started up again, it grated her nerves, made her fingers curl and grasp at the air.

When it went quiet again, her mind would wander from her task, and she would begin to daydream.

And then it would start again.

No one could hear it but her.

This was madness.