The Spinning Vent

A low hum pulsed through the floorboards. I stopped... entirely still. Head tilted, listening. Near the dark base of the television console, a small cooling fan behind a wire grille was spinning, fast and continuous. A warning label was pasted right over the edge. Ignored. In an instant, I darted straight toward it. I reached out a gloved hand and gently pressed a discarded plastic coffee stirrer through the metal slats. Snap. The whirling blades struck the stick, clicking into a frantic, rhythmic buzz that rattled up my arm. Then... I pulled it back. The blades whirred up to full speed again, clean and relentless.