Wednesday morning, August 30, 2000
I was up in the night, working, and returned to sleep, pulling the sheet fitfully over my chest. It was then that I felt the shape fluttering at my breast, but I could not see it. It was invisible, a sort of spirit shaped like a bird, a little like a duck, but with a pointed beak. It was trying to get into my heart, but, by holding it, I prevented it from entering. It fluttered and tried to squirm loose, and I had to wring its neck, strangle it, in order to gain control.
I awoke feeling disoriented and confused for the next few hours.
Later, it occurred to me that perhaps it had been attempting to leave my heart, not enter it.