A Frayed Hanger

I reached up into the dark recess above the metal clothes rail where an empty wire hanger dangled. My heavy fingers clamped around the cold, twisted neck of the wire, pulling downward with steady mechanical weight. The thin metal bent with a sharp, dry shriek, curling into a tight spiral against my palm before slipping free. I hung the twisted remnant over a rusty pipe overhead, watching it sway slightly in the stillness.