It felt like the air was being squeezed from my lungs, each breath harder to catch than the last. My chest tightened painfully, and a cold numbness crawled over half of my body. My vision tunneled, the edges going dark, as though the world were closing in on me.
I barely registered Brant’s footsteps pounding toward me before his hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me into him. I collapsed against his chest, his arms wrapping tightly around me.
“Breathe slowly,” he whispered, his voice low and soothing. “I’m here with you.”
I nodded weakly against his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt as I focused on the steady rhythm of his heart. With every beat, my body began to remember how to breathe—how to exist. Slowly, my vision returned, my limbs warmed, and the crushing weight on my ch
