Rumble In Chest When Breathing Novels & Stories

My breathing was unstable, heart pounding against my ribs like it was trying to break out of my chest. If this kept happening I was really going to die.

My breath comes faster, chest fig‌hting for space. Come on. Move. I pres‌s a⁠gain, usin‌g my shoul‌der, my knee, anything. The sl‍ab shifts a few centimeters, en‌ough f‌or a breath of cooler air to snake throu⁠gh. I suc⁠k it in greedily, choking halfway.‍ My head spi‍ns, stars‍ b‌u⁠rsting behind my⁠ eyelid‌s.

Suddenly a sharp pain erupted in my chest, causing me to gasp loudly and drop my bag on the floor as I clutched at my chest. My breathing became laboured quickly, almost as if I were hyperventilating.

They gathered nothing they had dropped. Then they left. The door closed behind them with a soft click. Silence swallowed the room. I tried to breathe through the fury still raging inside me. Tried to force air into lungs that felt too tight, too small for the storm trapped within my ribs. It didn’t work. My hands trembled uncontrollably. My pulse pounded in my ears. Each beat hurt. A sharp pressure spread across my chest, forcing me to move. Slowly and carefully, I walked to the bed and lowered myself onto it, one hand pressing against my sternum. My chest hurt.

His breath on my mouth before my feet even remember the floor exists. I’m pressed against him with my palms flat on his chest and his face right there, flour on his jaw, grey eyes wide, close enough that his exhale lands on my lips. My fingers curl into his shirt. Under my right hand, his heart kicks. Once. Again. Harder. I can feel each one, a steady, hard drumming that doesn’t match his face. His jaw is set. His eyes are steady. But his chest is hammering against my palm like something trying to get out and his breathing has gone shallow and controlled, each inhale measured through his nose, the kind of breathing you do when the natural thing would be worse.

I hate all— “Hey, watch it!’ I heard as I bumped into a hard chest. The friction still wasn’t enough to calm my racing heart. I kept my eyes fixed on the ground, I couldn’t make out who I had bumped into, and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. I could feel the person shaking me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. It was a man; I could tell from the rock-hard chest. My chest tightened. The oxygen in the room felt nonexistent, my breaths came, shallow and quick. I couldn’t hear the person talking, but the voice sounded distant, as though submerged underwater. It felt like a huge lump was lodged in my throat, but I couldn’t swallow it. I tried to speak, but my mouth felt dry like it was full

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.

He was seething, jaw clenched, “Do. Not. Push. Me.” Max’s chest was falling up and down slowly as he tried to breathe through whatever he was going through. I could hear his heart beating at such a rapid pace that I knew all of the deep breaths in the world would not calm the fluttering in his chest down. He released my wrist and took a giant step back.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” I can’t answer. My mouth opens but no sound comes out. My throat is closing. My chest is clamping in on itself, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.. I feel Luxe lower both of us to the floor. The cold tiles hit my knees but I barely feel it. My hands shake uncontrollably as I clutch at my chest, nails digging into my skin. I can’t breathe. Goodness, I can’t…

I can't breathe properly. A lump is stuck in my chest. Holding onto my chest, I fall to the ground, whimpering until it turns into a wail, uncaring of who is watching or listening. I thought I had cried enough. Where the tears are coming from is something I have no idea about.