Riley Brooks appears to be leading a charmed life on the outside. On the inside, she's spiraling as a result of a toxic relationship. Once the relationship comes to a tumultuous end, she loses very nearly everything, her sanity included. As an effor...
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I re-read the text again. Then twice more. Then a few more times after that. I re-read it until my vision blurred and the text jumbled. I read it until it no longer made sense.
The dull ringing in my ears intensified until it overpowered the scattered dialogue from the tv, Landon's clapping footsteps approaching me and his flustered queries.
A thick numbness reared up and closed around me like a Venus Fly Trap. Through my line of blurry vision, I saw my phone abruptly snatched from my hands, leaving only my trembling open palms.
Distantly, I realized I was being dragged somewhere by my arm. I followed behind clumsily, my feet clumping on the hardwood in a jagged line until I arrived in my bedroom. Correction, we arrived in my bedroom.
I was pulled down to sit on the bed, but my knees were locked up. Fleetingly, it reminded me of a Barbie doll I owned as a child, the ones where you'd have to crack their legs down to get them to sit. Two hands came down and did the same to me. My blood felt frozen solid, but lines of sweat were rolling down my forehead. No matter how much I sucked in air, I couldn't feel the relief of it filling my lungs.
The ringing quieted just enough for me to hear a stern voice, "Listen to me. Slow your breathing down."
Oh shit! I can't!
Landon grabbed my hand and pressed it against his heart. "Like this," and I felt his heartbeat throbbing against my palm at a steady percussion.
"Focus. Just on this. Nothing else. Listen."
I closed my eyes, allowing the rise and fall of his chest to be the soul thing that suspended me there. Up...down...up....down....
In....out...in....out
For what seemed like hours, finally the tightly wound strings in my chest broke free and my lungs filled with sweet oxygen. My shallow breaths slowed into long pulls, and the ringing in my ears dulled down to a mild hum. As it dissipated, I was suddenly aware of Landon kneeling in front of me with my sweating hand splayed on his chest.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, a complete contradiction to the creased v of concern between his brows. "Better?"
My breath trembled. "Y-yeah."
I yanked my hand away and tucked it under my thigh. My eyes fell to my kneecaps as his unwavering gaze became too much. "How did you....?"
He shrugged. "Rehab, naturally. I used to get a lot of panic attacks when I kicked."
"Oh," I whispered and bowed my head with embarrassment. My hair swung down in front of me, shielding most of my flaming face.
"Lay down," he urged with a gentle push on my shoulders. "You looked like you were going to pass out for a second there. Better take it easy."
