Taper

Monday: four pills, swallowed without thinking.“ Tuesday: four, still routine, still background noise.“ Wednesday: three — the doctor's gentle optimism.“ Thursday: three, and a headache I didn't expect.“ Friday: two, and the headache has a name now.“ Saturday: two, white-knuckled, counting hours.“Sunday: one.“Monday: none.“And somewhere under the missing weight of them,“my own pain, waiting exactly where I left it.“