Evening Frost Watch

Stood motionless beside the crowned scoop on my vanilla drum. Night arrived outside the rubber seal. Silence pressed heavy into the dark box. I planted my thick feet wide across the rim, lowered my head, and rested both clenched fists against the unyielding spinach brick behind me. Took a deep, freezing breath. The channeled draft from the vent blew straight across my brow, cold and steady. No loose rattling. No shifting weight. Bastion held firm under the dark. Rumbled low from my chest, closed my jaws, and locked into my evening watch.