Breathless Novels & Stories

I can barely breathe, panting and gasping hard, choking on my tears in my furious rigidity as I strain my limbs to keep him at bay “Please stop, look at me…. We’re not back in Illinois. Sophie, were in Manhattan, you’re in my apartment, baby. You’re safe…. Breathe, slow and steady, breathe with me; listen to me. Focus on my voice and breathe…” His soothing tone comes through the panic once more, connecting to me on some level and I lose all resolve. Fight in me dying as fatigue overtakes me and I realize I am held tight in his arms. His muscles, his strength as he holds me taut, so my body is immobile. Gasping and shoving with all my might and strangling myself with the inability to catch my

A ghost I never wanted to meet again. My breath catches. Not from exhaustion—no. This is different. This is asthma. I try to keep going. One step. Another. But every inhale burns. Every exhale stutters. Air won’t go in. Won’t go deep. My chest locks up. My knees shake. I slow. Then stumble. Then collapse. My mouth gapes open, begging for air that won’t come. My vision grays at the edges. My fingers tremble. The world doesn’t slow down.

I felt like my chest was getting tight, my breathing was becoming erratic as I felt like I could pass out suddenly when my door opened, hands pulling me up out of the car, steadying me next to it as his voice began breaking through the muffled barrier that seemed to have been up. "..lax, just relax, try to breath Liv, count with me okay. 1... 2.... 3.... 4.... 5.... Breath in, 1... 2... 3.... 4.... 5.... breath out. That's it Liv, there you go."

ᴵ ᵇʳᵉᵃᵗʰᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵐʸ ˡᵃˢᵗ ᵇʳⁱᵈᵍᵉ, ˢᵒ ʳᵉᶠʳᵉˢʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵀʰᵉ ᵇʳᵉᵉᶻᵉ ᵇˡᵒʷˢ ᵐʸ ᵉᵇᵒⁿʸ ʰᵃⁱʳ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵒⁿᵉ ˡᵃˢᵗ ˢᵗᵉᵖ, ˡ'ˡˡ...

My vision blurs with motion, and the pressure in my chest tightens like a fist. I step to the edge of the sidewalk, clutching the straps of my bag as if they’re the only thing holding me to earth. My lungs seize violently, refusing to expand. A thin, high ringing builds behind my ears, drowning out the city. I try to inhale, but the air hits a wall halfway in, and panic ricochets through my body. I stumble back, trying desperately to steady myself. The ground feels uneven under my feet. I suck in another breath, then another, but each one is thin, insufficient, like breathing through a pinhole.

Suffocating. And suddenly all the lost years rush in at once. Birthdays missed. Christmas mornings without him. School plays with an empty seat. The man who was supposed to be there … wasn’t. And now he’s here. Bleeding on a filthy floor. Apologizing. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. My lungs refuse to cooperate. Each inhale feels too small. Each exhale is shaky and insufficient. “Mel, stay calm. Think of the bean.” Kiara’s hand presses firmly onto my shoulder. Grounding. Anchoring.

Breathless. Horrified. For this is more than simply a kiss. This is not a passing moment. This covers everything. Sylas's chest rises and falls quickly as his eyes dart about mine. He says nothing and doesn't probe why I stopped. He just watches. Given that's his true nature. Given his familiarity with me. I— My mouth quakes. "I'm unable." His facial expression remains the same. He only nods, stepping aside just enough to provide room. His hands slide from my waist, yet his touch leaves traces of heat. "I know," he says in a subdued voice

"You need to calm down, Saskia." "Can you just fuck off? Leave me alone! What more do you want from me?" I scream, on the brink of hyperventilation. Wade holds me close, but his arms are like the bars of a prison. I want out. It's overwhelming, this breathlessness. It closes on me, wrathful and oppressive like my rage. My eyes flood with tears as my body violently rejects every ounce of air I draw in, upsetting every nerve and sense in a tumultuous turmoil. I wheeze as terror lashes at me when my muscles lock up and my breath eddies farther from my reach. My heart hammers against my ribs hard; I fear they will break. It hurts so damn bad.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned forward and curled up over the blankets. Almost as suddenly as my breath was stolen away from me, a single gasped filled my lungs with the air that I desperately needed. It hurt, my head pounding and my chest liftings but at least I could breathe. At first it was the smallest of breaths, my full inhale hitching. Making me inhale faster to try and get more oxygen. ‘Slow down, Caspian. Slow breaths. Deep. You’re panicking.’

My chest tightened violently. Air wouldn’t go in. I tried to inhale, but it stopped halfway, like something was blocking it. My fingers clawed at the fabric over my chest. “Hey, breathe,” Zander said. His voice wasn’t calm anymore. I opened my mouth. Nothing. Just a shaky, useless attempt at air. My lungs burned. “I…” The word came out fractured. I tried again, pulling in a breath that wouldn’t fully come. “I—” “Don’t say anything. Just breathe,” he said, closer now. I could feel his hands hovering near me, unsure whether to touch.