The Fall of the Keepers

Chapter 21 Where My Demons Hide

The day I had nearly drowned during the training exercise, Kairos had used her ability to bring darkness over the forest, in an attempt for Daaow and I to escape. Of course, this had backfired badly when I had been swept off downstream. When the light had gone out that day, fear had momentarily tackled my heart to the ground, but that was nothing compared to the distress that was feasting on my soul now. It was so black I couldn't tell the difference between when my eyes were open and when they were closed. It felt like I was being squeezed tighter and tighter on all sides. I physically couldn't breathe and my heartbeat seemed to thud like a bass drum inside my ears. Someone was screaming. It was a strangled sound like a puppy that's having the life choked out of it. What a horrible noise. I wanted to claw my own eyes out, do something, anything, to make it stop. Where was it coming from? Then I realized it was my own voice that I was hearing.

I could choke myself, that would end it.

"Inhale. Exhale."
A voice from beside whispered.

It was so quiet, I nearly missed the words.

"Inhale. Exhale."
It repeated.

How could I inhale? I was too busy screaming. I couldn't stop myself, not unless I could free up my hands, then I strangle myself into silence. Something, someone, was holding my hands tightly though, I couldn't seem to pull free from them.

"Inhale. Exhale."
The voice said again.

I paused, it was as though I had forgotten the mechanics of how to breathe. Why was I screaming? What was happening? Then an image of Esha tumbling from the balcony flashed in my mind and reality kicked back in. My screaming turned to gasping for air as my heart galloped faster and faster. I had to get it under control, I had to get to my sister.

"Inhale. Exhale."
I recognized Jasper's voice now and tried to follow his request.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat. My chest heaved and adrenaline zipped through my system like a monkey on a hang glider. The hand to my right, Vienna's hand, squeezed my fingers tighter.

"Inhale. Exhale"
Jasper said again.

The next time he spoke, I said the words with him in a shaky voice. My heartbeat began to slow, and the suffocating feeling was alleviated. I'm not sure how long it took, it could have been a few moments or several minutes, but either way, Jasper talked me down 'til I was breathing normally, my heart no longer plotting to pound its way out of my chest.

"What was that?"
I asked, never having felt such a horrible, terrifying feeling in my entire life.

"The world's biggest panic attack."
Vienna's voice answered.

"Huh?"
I responded intelligently.

"Darkness is only darkness, there are no monsters and there is no evil. It's all in our heads."
She replied.

"But people die in this, I've seen it with Kairos. Something in the darkness murders them."
I protested.

"Shane is using the shadows to create an extreme fear response in his victims. This triggers the fight or flight instinct, but because there is no way to fight something you can't see and no way to escape from what is attacking, it sends the victim into freeze response, or in other words a state of paralysis. The mind disconnects from the body, adrenaline courses through their blood and the heart beats erratically. The longer the victim stays in freeze response the odds of their going into cardiac arrest increase. All Shane has to do is hold the darkness long enough for the victims to drop dead."
Jasper's lengthy explanation took me a minute to process.

I took another deep breath in and let it out.

"So, he's literally scaring people to death?"
I clarified.