Breathless ✓

Thirty ✔

"Mamma? Papa?"" I frantically reach for them in the suffocating darkness, my heart pounding with a mix of fear and confusion.

A gentle touch caresses my cheek, and Mamma's soothing voice envelops me. "My little Tori, you are going to be fine, my love. Remember, Mamma loves you."

The obscurity obscures their forms, and I strain to see them. "What's happening? Where are we?" The air feels heavy with uncertainty.

"Be a good girl and remember to stay brave," Mamma whispers, her lips pressing a loving kiss to my cheek. "You will grow up to be a brave, brave girl."

With a profound sense of foreboding, I nod, my mind swimming with questions. "Where are you going? Where is papà?" Panic creeps into my voice as I try to make sense of the mysterious situation.

"Once I turn, go to that door and knock. Give them your backpack." Mamma's face becomes illuminated in a flicker of light, revealing her beauty, but the shadows persist in concealing the answers to my desperate questions.

Desperation takes hold as Mamma begins to fade away. I reach out, but my fingers graze nothing but emptiness. "Mamma! Where are you going?" My pleas go unanswered, and the ground beneath me dissolves into a bottomless abyss.

I'm falling.

The echoes of my screams reverberate through the darkness. The world around me is a chaotic blend of shadows and disorientation.

Abruptly, I find myself on the ground, lying in the comforting warmth of the sun. Confusion grips me as I take in the peaceful surroundings. But the tranquility is shattered when a hand caresses my face, jolting me back to reality.

Christian.

He stands before me, a silent figure against the backdrop of the sun-drenched landscape. Without a word, he turns away, his form receding into the distance. Panic rises within me, and I scramble to my feet, the ground beneath me feeling both solid and unstable.

"Christian!" I yell after him, my voice echoing in the vast emptiness. I sprint towards him, but he becomes an elusive silhouette, slipping away from my desperate pursuit.

Darkness encroaches, swallowing everything in its inky embrace. Christian's figure dissolves, leaving me alone in the void.

It's so dark. Christian is gone.

Christian.

I gasp, my eyes flying open in the dim room. I'm panting, my chest heaving with each desperate breath. Tears blur my vision, and it takes a moment for the surroundings to register. Someone's gripping my face – it's Rico, I realize.

"Fuck, Victoria. Breathe," he urges, his voice a forceful command cutting through my panic.

But breathing seems impossible. The air refuses to fill my lungs, and I claw at my chest in a desperate attempt to force oxygen into my body.

"Amara, call Christian, damn it!" Rico's urgency is palpable.

"No," I gasp, my voice barely audible amidst the erratic rhythm of my breathing.

"Okay, we won't call him right now, but first, you have to breathe. You have to, Victoria," Rico instructs firmly, his hands on my shoulders. "Breathe... in and out, slowly."

His words become a lifeline, guiding me through the turmoil. I attempt to follow his instructions, the inhales shaky and uneven. Rico's presence is grounding, a reminder that I'm not alone in this moment of overwhelming panic.

"Good, that's it," he encourages. "In and out. Slow and steady."

I focus on his voice, the cadence of his words providing a rhythm for my ragged breaths. Gradually, the tightness in my chest begins to relent, and I regain a semblance of control over my breathing.