“He'd lived in the house for thirty years before he found the basement.”

He didn't even know he was being timed, other than the usual rate of mortality given to one whose diet can be ordered on an app and delivered within ten minutes. But, there, in the darkness, red lighted numbers descended towards zero. He dared not follow that descent, but what choice did he have? Danger loomed behind every choice. Though, only one promised any answers.

For as long as he could remember, the self awareness of time would cause him to choke. Whether that be looking onward or backward. The zig-zag puzzle of focus and context would leave him paralyzed.

The sound of a ticking clock clouded his mind, slowly getting louder the more he tried to ignore it.

He whirled to his left, toward where he believed the sound was coming from. There, in the darkness: a soft light, red as blood, pulsing like a dying star. He leapt, with newfound hope, to close the gap between himself and the light. "I must be crazy," he thought. "I'd swear the pulse matches my own -- oh. No." Not a dying star. A dying heartbeat.