Don't Breathe |✔

5

It was a normal day, Jack sat beside me as he drove us home from the University, the sun shone down on the asphalt, the birds sung softly  in the trees, and all was right in the world.

Until I saw it.

"Woah, look at that!" I pointed to a tall iron fence in the distance. The rusted metal swirled in intricate patterns and came together in the center to form what, from here, looked like an arched gate with the words St. Thomas Cemetery across the top.

"A graveyard," Jack stated, "cool, I guess..."

"Oh, come on! Graveyards are so awesome, they're like..." I paused, thinking of how I could articulate my thoughts, "a big ice cube tray of... dead body...ice cubes." I explained.

"Dead body ice tray, huh?" Jack chuckled.

"Yeah, exactly! Dead body ice cubes! It's the perfect way to describe a graveyard, don't you think?"

"Uhm, sure." Jack laughed, shaking his head slowly. He glanced forwards at the upcoming cemetery, the headstones now visible under the golden rays of sun.

It looks like a fairly small cemetery, so we would drive past in ten seconds or less.

"Oh, Oh! We're about to pass it, hold your breath!" I shouted, gulping up a deep breath.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't, the dead body ice cubes will thaw and then they'll come and steal your breath from you. Didn't you know?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay, whatever you say..."

As the edge of the cemetery grew closer, I filled my lungs up to the brim, trapping the air in just as we reached the fence. Beside me, I heard Jack breath in as well, but he let his out and continued breathing regularly.

One.

I frowned. Spoil sport, I thought.

Two.

Suddenly, the car jerked to the left, into the opposing lane of traffic.

Three.

What the...I grabbed the wheel and straightened us out.

Four.

Still holding my breath, I glanced at Jack. He was rolling his eyes, ...but they were rolling farther back into his head than I had ever seen eyes go.

Five.

I gasped. His head lolled back and his chest collapsed. He wasn't breathing anymore. I unbuckled my seat belt and slid over in the seat, squishing into the driver's spot as much as I could with Jack flopping over onto my lap.

I redirected the car and sped off to the nearest hospital.

I sat in a hard plastic chair, staring blankly into the dirty tiles of the waiting room floor, waiting for information about Jack. Waiting...waiting...wanting...hoping...praying... I heaved a great sigh.

The stupid game I made up couldn't have been real, could it? Dead people couldn't actually come back and steal the breath from peoples' bodies, I'm sure of it.

"Ella Dover?" I jumped to my feet, as a nurse with outrageously patterned scrubs walked into the room.

"Yes? That's me!"

She smiled warmly, "Jack is awake, you can see him now, he's been asking for you. Follow me."

I was led into a large room with thin curtains spread around, dividing it, making smaller rooms everywhere. Jack was sitting on a gurney in a stall close to the far corner of the room. He smiled when he saw me and stood up, opening his arms for me.

I fell into them and sobbed on his shoulder, "I thought you died! I thought, I-I I thought, I-the,  the dead came and stole your breath! You...I thou--"

"Hush," Jack stroked my hair, "look I'm fine now. The doctor has a bit to say and then she said we could leave, okay? Then we can go home and it will all be alright."

I sniffed, squeezing him tightly, before reluctantly pulling back and turning to the nurse who still stood by the curtain. She looked a little weirdly at me, but she shook her head and smiled.

"So, Jack, based on the information that Miss Ella gave us when she brought you in, we believe that you had a seizure which caused your lapse of unconsciousness. It's hard to tell what exactly caused it, but  it was most likely lack of sleep."

So I was right. I'm not going crazy or anything. Dead people can't steal things, they're dead.

"Although, it was a complex partial-onset seizure, so if you do have anymore seizures, you'll need to report back to the hospital, as soon as possible. We don't think you have Epilepsy, but, really, it's too soon to tell, so don't do anything too strenuous for a while, okay?"

I cut in before Jack could reply, "Don't worry, he won't. I'll make sure of that." Jack laughed and so did the nurse.

"Thank you Miss Dover, I'm sure you will. Now, you're free to leave as you like." The nurse nodded, satisfied with her speech, and then left, pulling the curtain shut behind her.

I turned back and faced Jack again, "Let's go home. What do you say?"

"Sure, let's go."