Beautifully Broken

Beautifully Broken: Chapter Two

Chapter 2

"Oh no." Addie grimaced. Of all people this could  happen to, it had to happen to her. Her and her claustrophobic self. "What are we going to do? How are we gonna get out of here?!" She quickly remembered her phone and felt for it in the pocket of her jeans. It wasn't there. "Ugh. I left my phone in my car!"

Addie felt a wave of nausea run through her and her eyes started to prickle.

It was at that moment that Julian began to stand up and move towards her. Addie quickly turned away and blocked her face with her hands. His movement reminded her so much of Nate's abrupt movements when he turned violent.

Julian was taken aback by Addie's quick reaction. He had only meant to offer her his handkerchief.

"No, no. Wait a minute, I was just gonna give you this." he said quickly while pulling his handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to her.

"That should keep you quiet for a while," he added grumpily before Addie began to dab her eyes with his handkerchief.

Though his voice had sounded mean, he had a face reading resignation on. Jules moved to the corner where the elevator buttons were located and sat down on the floor curling his knees up to his chest. He folded his arms up on his knees and put his head down signifying the end of the conversation.

Addie slid down the wall of the corner farthest from Jules and decided that freaking out wouldn’t help them anyway. He was right, the best thing to do was to wait, she thought. Stuffing his handkerchief in her pocket, she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

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Addie woke up a few hours later to the sound of a low moan followed by heavy breathing. She looked at her watch. It’s already midnight, she thought. Then her sleepy eyes focused on the source of the moaning.

Jules had changed from his sitting position to a kneeling position. He had his head down facing the floor. One of his hands was tensed on the left side of his chest while the other hand was rolled up into a tight fist seemingly glued to the floor. He was so pale but his hair appeared to be damp with sweat, as if he had been running.

“Ah-Are you okay?”, Addie asked worriedly, taking in the sight before her. She slowly stood up taking a few steps toward Jules and sat beside him, searching his face as if she could find out what was going on just by the site of his deep blue-green eyes.

Jules looked up to meet her eyes and she could see the panic and pain smoldering in them.

“My chest.”, he said breathily. “I’m having a coronary artery spasm. It’s called prinzmetal angina. It doesn’t happen too often. I don’t have my meds with me. I-I don’t know why now…” he added through clenched teeth, as if the pain was muting him.

“What can I do to help you?”, Addie replied in barely a whisper. She was terrified. She didn’t know anything about first aid, much less about coronary artery spasms or anginas or things like that. She knew he needed real medical attention and he needed it fast, but how was she going to get the two of them out there when they had already been stuck for at least four hours?

“I need to get out of here.”, Jules answered firmly, echoing her thoughts. Addie looked into his eyes, she could see the desperation.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll think of something. But first, I think you should try to rest. Maybe if you try to sleep, the pain will lessen.”, she offered though she knew she was  just rambling.

Addie moved closer to Jules and took hold of his back. She put one hand on each side of his waist and pulled him backwards so that he was leaning against the elevator’s wall. His eyes were closed up tightly, probably with the pain or the effort of changing his position, but after a few seconds the lines of his face and around his eyes eased up and his breathing became quieter.  She took the handkerchief from her pocket and began dabbing drops of sweat across his forehead.