Oh God, what was this? She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t… As soon as the attack—whatever it was—had come upon her, it was gone. She filled her lungs with blessed air, expanding them to their max. If she could overflow them, she would, because the deeper she inhaled, the more a sense of peace she’d never known before seemed to seek out all the dark places in her soul and fill them up. Finally she couldn’t take any more, and she exhaled slowly. That felt even better. Like all the bad things, the fear, the dread, were pouring out of her with every measure of breath she released. Was she crazy? She couldn’t be. Or if she was, it felt pretty damn good. The gentle knock at the front door startled her. She scurried into the living room and peeked out to see Ash standing outside, his head down. As her heart knocked against her ribs, she saw him rub a hand hard over his face. She didn’t want to let him in. He hadn’t been gone long at all, and that couldn’t be good news, could it?
