Bite my tongue

After reading the same paper in front of me, my head starts to feel heavy and my eyelids begin to droop. I know I’m about to fall asleep if I don’t do something about it. But, since there is no way to avoid the inevitable, I look at the clock and figure that a 15-minute nap will be a good idea.

I close my eyes, lay my head between hands, and conk out.

The next thing I remember is a flash of white light and a sharp pain, so extreme it feels like I just bit my tongue off. That’s because I actually bit a part of my tongue off.

For some reason, I must’ve been napping with my mouth open and my tongue between my teeth. When I moved (or shook myself awake), my head slipped from the perch of my hands, and with my mouth being open and my tongue placed between both sets of beautifully-straight teeth, I chomped down. Hard. So hard even the baby Jesus wept.

After that, the only thing I remember is the swearing, muffled by my hands, and the tears that blur my vision.

The part of the tongue that I bit off is currently MIA.