When Breath Becomes Air Audiobook Novels & Stories

-Skylar- Suddenly, the pain stopped and everything around me looked completely different. Not in the sense that I was in a new environment, the way I was seeing everything was different. It was like I had a new pair of eyes; everything was much sharper. My nose filled with the most beautiful scent, cinnamon, my nose followed the scent, landing on Aspen. I looked at him, only to see him looking at me with complete and utter shock. I tried to get out some words, wanting to ask what was wrong, but nothing came out apart from a howl. Why was I howling?

His voice cut through the ringing in my ears, sharp and commanding. “Breathe. Brooklyn—look at me. Breathe.” I dragged in a rasping breath, then another, coughing so hard my ribs screamed. His palm flattened against my spine, grounding me, holding me together when I felt like I was splintering apart. Air. Finally, blessedly, painfully, air. I rolled onto my back, gasping, my chest heaving with each ragged inhale. My vision blurred, then sharpened, and Dominic’s face came into focus above me.

"Breathe for me, Aurora. Take a deep breath in and out. In and out." 'I-in and out! In and... o-out!' I chanted. The air felt like pebbles when I inhaled, but I did as he told me. "That's it, in and out. Breathe. Breathe." He whispered. The first few were hard, like I was breathing in tiny shards of glass. Slowly air returned to my lungs, my heart rate steadied and the heaviness in my chest dulled. "Are you feeling better now?" Sebastian asked, brushing his finger over my cheek. "I... I..." I buried my face into his chest, and I sobbed.

The more I reminded myself that the man sitting next to me was not my ex-brother who lied to me and abused me, the harder it was to breathe. “Can you hear me?” “If you can hear me, part your lips a little and breathe out.” I heard the man’s voice. “Open your mouth and breathe, mis… you’d go into shock, if you don’t,” he warned. “Just let it out… a little.” My lips parted slowly and I could feel my breath leaving through my mouth. “Now, inhale with your nose,” he said. I did. “Out through the mouth.” I did. We were like that for a few more minutes until my eyes slowly unfurled and I could see Honey, whimpering and wincing in front of me, ears dropped, eyes wet.

He dragged his fingers through her hair, pinning her head back as he tried to see her face. Her face was turning red from lack of oxygen. “For fuck’s sake, Lola, you need to breathe!” “Should I not have told her? Whoops!” Ash laughed, walking to the table. “Look at me. You’re okay. You’re not dying. You can breathe. Feel the air, Lola.” He moved her hair away and lifted her face. “Feel the air going in your nose, down your windpipe, and feel your lungs expanding. Don’t think about anything other than the next step of the next breath.”

More than grateful. All this while, it had felt like my lungs were clogged with invisible lumps of dust and I couldn't breathe fully. But with this, I could breathe and not only could I breathe, I could breathe fresh air. Clean fresh air. At first, they were heavy breaths as I inhaled and exhaled but as the seconds ticked by, my breathing normalized, my head clearing. "Are you okay?"

"You were standing still. And your body reacted like something was hunting you." He's right. God, I hate that he's right. "Breathe in for four. Hold for four. Out for six." I drag air in. My ribs resist. The breath stops halfway, like my chest forgot how to expand. I fumble the count. A laugh scrapes out of me. "I sound like a busted radiator." The corner of his mouth twitches. Once. Then it's gone. "Again." I close my eyes. Inhale. One, two, three, four. Hold. On the third count out, my vision whites out. Not pain. Just gone.

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?

My breathing was unstable as if the air was not reaching my lungs and there was no air for me to breathe. I can feel his strong hands gripping my shoulders as his face appeared in front of my eyes, My eyes moved to his lips. I noticed them moving but I can’t hear what he was telling me. I could see his facial features turn hard as if he was furious. He gestured to me to take a deep breath and look at his face using his hands. I tried to follow him but I couldn’t, my eyelids were growing heavy and it began to quite difficult for me to breathe. He took my face in his hands and made me look into his eyes, his lips were moving and I clearly saw it, he was cursing badly.

I'm having trouble breathing. The lock finally clicks open, and I leap out into the murky early morning light. I take deep, long breaths as I tightly wrap my arms around myself and press my eyes shut. What is going on with me right now? Amanda, take it slowly and steadily. You remember how to breathe through it all. Slow and consistent.