Excerpt: Instances

The wallpaper in the room seem to laugh at her misery, its rough edges mercilessly treading down the flat yellow walls, seemingly imitating the tears that rolled down the sides of her own face in mocking bemusement. The wallpaper had one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns that committed every artistic sin; a dull yet lurid green in some places complimented the sickly sulphur tint in others. It was dull enough to confuse the human eye though pronounced enough to consistently irritate and provoke stuffy with its repellent, almost revolting color; a smoldering, unclean gray strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.

Five minutes.