Some ways I thought to express tension:

• The tension in the room was sufficating.

• I sat in silence, woefully aware of the thickness in the surrounding air.

• All of a sudden, I could not breath with surprising effectiveness, the room felt much more enclosed, and I found even myself experiencing the rushing panic of claustrophobia.

• Breathing was always something I took for granted. And yet I found myself struggling to breath when the air was as clear as a cool autum breeze, to inhale when the nearest toxin was thousands of miles of away.

• I’ve never walked a tight rope before, but I could have given one who does a run for his money with the tension in the room.

-Pianos, guitars, violins. All stringed instruments. All wonderful instruments, and all completely unrelated to the current situation, other than the tension they all share.

• (And of course the gold standard, suggested by my brother): You can cut the tension with a knife in here.