Hocus Pocus (rewritten)

Cha. 5. The Egos

"Jellybean?" He offers the bowl of colourful candy to you.

You're too confused to answer...
You're scared...
He looks like a cult leader, the whole animal mask getup and everything.
Is this a test? A trap?
The quirky attire of the man becomes a lot more sinister the longer you stare.
You don't know what's hiding behind that mask...
You don't trust him.

You finally round up the courage to speak. "W-What do you want with me?" you pipe out, on the verge of anxious tears.

"Excuse me?" He looms closer...

That's all it took,

It's hard to breathe...

Your chest tightens and your breaths become wheezing hiccups as tears swallow your vision.

The smile vanishes from the stranger, quickly placing down the bowl of jellybeans and saying something.

You cant hear him.

Your airways clog.
Your lungs burn.
And tears spill over; finalising your breakdown...

"*hic* agn-a-nnn!" You heave, holding your throat and starting to claw at your skin.

You start squirming, grilling your head into the back of the sofa.

Attempting to kick and yell.

"Hey hey hey hey. It's okay, It's okay!" You hear, followed by an unbearable ringing.

The room feels warm, too warm.
You need out.
Your skin burns, the damp clothes touching your skin feels like fire.

"Hnnnggg!" You hold yourself tightly with one arm.

...

...

...

You're cut off by something cold gently brushing against your face.
Flinching, you snap your gaze up towards the man again. Your teary eyes widen when you see a blue glowing substance swirling in his hands, held out closely in front of you: It looks to have some kind of glowstick chemical in it or something to make it illuminate...
It's... really pretty actually.

He guides the water to intertwine through his fingers and orbit around his hands, your eyes following. Small droplets end up floating off and slowly pebbling to your face.
His movements are calm.
Soothing and slow.

He waves his hand, the water fluently follows his touch.

You don't know exactly why you're still watching.
Curiosity? Fear? Wonder?
All of the above?

...

Whatever it is, you haven't felt it in a very long time.

The final streaks of tears run down your face as you continue to watch the little water show.
You don't notice, but your chest loosens and your blubbery hiccups stop like someone just flipped a switch in your brain to reboot.

Your eyes wonder to the man, and he's deep in concentration.
He finally notices he himself has your attention; with friendly eyes he gives you a small smile.