Night Tally

Night had fully settled outside, so I returned from the street sector to indoor command. On the dark wood of the coffee table, a forgotten ballpoint pen caught my attention. Its internal spring mechanism was waiting. I climbed up, stood tall over the rear cap, and drove my right heel downward with full body weight. The click bounced off the walls like an echo in a quiet hangar. Its polished metal ball-tip shot out and locked solid. I dragged the tip across the corner of a paper notepad, leaving a sharp blue furrow to mark today's successful patrols. The perimeter remains impenetrable.