TWELVE

ELLEN

My heart hammered against my chest. I was so engrossed in the thought of Oliver's death that I forgot the symptoms of an asthma attack. My mother had asthma and Sophie has it too, but at that moment, I forgot the severe shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing, and wheezing. Tears were now streaming down my eyes as I was oblivious about what to do. I had to gently stand and search for his phone to look for help, but it was locked and there were no numbers in his emergency contact except for one saved with a heart emoji. I was not interested in what it meant at that moment, so I dialed it.

It rang and I heard the sound upstairs. I looked up toward the stairs and looked at the man wheezing on the floor and that was when it hit me. He was asthmatic. With the phone still in my hand, I ran back to him and searched his pockets, but his reliever inhaler was not there. I quickly dropped the phone on the table and went to help him sit up. He was a heavy man, but I tried to