Dawnlark Plains in the blink of an eye

it burned; her breath down her tight throat, the sporadic movements of her lungs. but it was as if it flowed from her then, finally, until she felt scrapped clean of it and exhaustion finally blurred the edges of her vision. she pulled in air, pausing, slowing, until her silent anguish slowed and stopped, finally, when she closed her eyes and the tension she hadn't even been away of holding dissipated. 

sleep came fairly quickly after that, sweet and empty. she wasn't aware exactly when it happened, nor how, but some part was grateful as she succumbed finally to overwhelming exhaustion, of both the mental and physical sort.