The Click

Just a stiff neck, that's all it was.

Woke up wrong, I figured.

But the ache, it kept on digging.

So I typed it in, late at night,

the glowing rectangle a siren song.

'Neck pain, radiating left arm.'

The results piled up,

each click a deeper hole.

'Rare neurological conditions,'

'autoimmune markers,'

'impending doom.'

My throat went tight.

The screen's blue light

burned on my eyes,

a digital fever.

Now my neck hurts more,

and my arm feels strange,

and my breath is thin,

because I asked.