41

ASHLEY

I could feel it on my breath. I could feel it on my skin. I could taste it on my lips and it made it so difficult to swallow the saliva that had pooled in my mouth because it felt like a thousand needles were suddenly stuck in my throat and it made it such an impossible thing to gulp. I could see it whenever I shut my eyes and it tugged at the strings that held my sanity in place, wanting to rip it away from me.

The horror.

The dread.

The blood.

I could feel everything. It was as though the switch that controlled my emotions flickered to its highest. Heck, it felt like it was completely detached from the wall that housed it, stomped on repeatedly, and broken into pieces, leaving me with no control over how I felt. The air in the room felt hotter and tighter, closing in on me as I struggled to get a hold of my breath that was slowly leaving me.

I was sitting on the cold tiled floor in the room, my knees bunched up to my chest. My chest was constricted in pain and my breath came