Hold Your Breath Novel Novels & Stories

It was only after I sucked in a large amount of air did I realise that I had mostly been holding my breath for a long time. For a moment, silence crushed me. Then Zachary took the phone from my limp hand and tossed it onto the desk with controlled violence. I was unexpectedly surprised when his arm wrapped around my waist, steadying me against him. “Breathe,” he ordered, his voice low and firm, though his own fury bled beneath it. “You’re letting him in your head. That's what he wants. Don’t.” My breaths came fast, shallow, ragged. “Zachary… he has the video. He's awful. He's going to… He’ll—”

Breaking free of the police officers' hold, he threw himself toward the gurney where my corpse lay and tried to stuff the mouthpiece on the cylinder through my tightly shut lips. "Take a breath… Please, just take a breath… April Fools' Day is over… I won't play a prank on you ever again… Please just open your eyes, even if it's to curse at me…" Nevertheless, my corpse lay there quietly, stiff and cold. Rigor mortis had caused my lips to pull up slightly, making it look like I was smiling, like I was mocking him. My spirit floated above him as I gazed down at everything happening. I watched as he hugged my body and bawled like a baby, watched as his tears splashed against my swollen face.

Hold your breath. Holden climbed up the rungs silently, his massive muscles flexing under his jacket. He placed his palms flat against the heavy wooden hatch and pushed upward with a low grunt. The wood resisted for a second, then popped open with a soft, dusty click. Holden climbed through the opening first, disappearing into the upper room. He looked around the darkness for a brief moment before leaning back down and extending his large hand to me. Come on up, he said quietly. It is empty.

He goes completely still. His arms stay at his sides. I can feel him breathing. I can feel him deciding. But his hands don't close around me. And I stand there holding on anyway. —

Violet’s P.O.V. That voice—that dark voice, promising pain and blood, melted the very ice that kept me prisoner, filling me with such visceral relief that my shoulders slumped. I gasped, not realizing I’d been holding my breath this entire time. My chest burned with each inhale, but my greedy lungs had been deprived long enough. Holden didn’t notice, though. He didn’t notice how I stumbled away from him, desperate to put some distance between us, or how my hands shook.

Holding a small box in his hands. And I stopped breathing.

Separated by such a thin line, taut and begging to be broken. I held my breath…

The girl covered her mouth in shock and horror. My parents rushed over to me. They helped wash away the gasoline on me and wrapped a blanket around me. "You wretched girl!" one parent screamed and slapped Priscilla hard. Other students had snapped too. The boy who’d been holding the lighter swung around and dumped an entire bucket of gasoline onto Priscilla. "Why were you stalling? Were you trying to sabotage the reissuing of the admission tickets?" someone cried. "Yeah! She kept targeting Cassidy, distracting everyone so none of us noticed the time!"

Rhino understood the matter and said, "Ok I'm closing my eyes. Then you won't have any problem." So Rhino closed his eyes and sat down. Calista slowly raised her head and looked at Rhino. She saw that Rhino was sitting with his eyes closed. Calista hesitated and looked around. Then she closed her eyes and took a long breath and prepared herself. She closed her eyes and turned her face towards Rhino. Calista's hands and feet were very sweaty because of fear. Calista was coming closer to Rhino. The scent of a sweet belly flower coming from Calista's body was getting darker in Rhino's nose. Rhino's heartbeat was going fast. As if his chest will burst out. Rhino suddenly felt a touch of lips on

He returned a moment later with her favourite pillow from her room, the lumpy one she'd had since freshman year that she refused to replace, and the worn copy of Wuthering Heights from her nightstand. "In case you can't sleep," he explained, setting the book beside her. Ericka's eyes glistened. "You know me so well." "Three years of paying attention." He sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing the blanket over her. "I noticed everything, Ericka. Even when I was pretending not to." She caught his hand before he could pull away. "Stay with me?" Dominic kicked off his shoes and stretched out beside her, careful to maintain a respectful distance. But Ericka immediately closed the gap, curling into