The Air He Breathes Novels & Stories

Tell me and I will believe you' His face is inches from mine, and his breath is all the air I get. And that air is filled with spear and peppermint. It makes me heady, so heady that I can't get my thoughts straight anymore. What if James wakes up now?

It’s like something is missing inside of him, something vital. Kieran blinks again; his lashes are heavy, and the ceiling above him is tilting and warping. His lips part, but no sound comes out. His throat feels raw, his tongue thick and bitter, and every attempt to breathe feels like a difficult task, like there isn’t enough air in the room. Everything feels wrong.

Like embers breathing back to life. Arin grabs my sleeve tighter. “It’s loud,” he whispers. “I know.” “No. I mean really loud.” He presses his hand to his temple. “It feels like when Mom prays but bigger. Like… like the air is alive or something.” That makes my chest twist because he’s right. The air does feel alive. It feels aware. I kneel in front of him so he has to look at me. I don’t want him staring at the walls like they’re going to swallow him.

This was confirmation. The man who once said he couldn’t breathe without me was learning to inhale someone else.

"Breathe." He soothes slowly. ‘Breathe’? As if I have ever stopped breathing. I have been breathing since I was born, since I fell in love, since I first got slapped by his mother, since I walked down the aisle anyway, and since I signed those papers. I have been breathing so... “That’s it, in…and out.” He repeats rhythmically, over and over, until the tears flooding my eyes slow, and my lungs take in the air following his pattern.

"Sharp or thuddy?" He shook his head. "I don't know. Either. Both." At the bottom of my vision, I saw his hands clenching and relaxing almost convulsively. "Take a deep breath." He sucked air in through his nose so fast it whistled slightly. "Let it out." His breath bathed my face and neck. "Again." He followed my directions as if he were blind and I was his visual aid. "Out." He nodded, pushed the air out.

“You are running out of air. I control that.” I tried to slow down my breathing, but it felt like I was breathing gelatin, the air impossibly thick. I gasped out. “Please,” I managed to say. “No screaming,” the voice said. “I will give you your air back as long as you don’t scream.”

He laughs at my reply even though it's even near being funny but oh well. "Feel my shirt. That's boyfriend material." He smirks. "It looks a little too clingy and hard to maintain." I roll my eyes. "Dang I thought I had you there." "You can't beat me, I'm a pro." I brag "Let's see about that." He takes a turn on the road. "I hope you know CPR because you take my breath away." "I don't. But I know karate and I could rip your lungs out." I smirk.

The air was silent, and only the sound of our breathing could be heard as he finally spoke. “Yes.”

I don't want to fall asleep again. I breathe my life in and try to stop my breathing before exhaling. This is helpful in regulating the pain. The ache in my head starts to subside as I run out of air inside my body. Adam was furrowing his brows at me, wondering what I am doing but I signaled him to wait by my palm and he reluctantly obeyed. I can't breathe now. I continued breathing and gasps a lot of air as I stop with what I am doing. Who is that man I saw?