Page 13 of Split You Open

Yet my lungs are burning. I need air. My arms and legs thrash as the demand for oxygen grows more and more urgent. No matter how hard I struggle, I can’t surface. The hand on the back of my head and the one pressed between my shoulder blades won’t relent.

I’m dying.

My vision is going dark. My thrashing is growing weaker. Soon my lungs will inadvertently expand and drag in all this cold water. It’s going to hurt. Dad said so. He also said that the pain will be temporary. Death will be temporary. I have to trust him. I have in the past and I won’t stop now.

Still, I can’t stop fighting his grip on me. My body simply won’t give up and die. Just as it gets to be too much, when the burning becomes agonizing, I open my mouth to accept my fate and⁠—

“BLAIR! Jesus Christ, breathe!”

The room comes into focus as my eyelids fly open. My lungs expand as I gobble down air. In my chest, my heart is beating so fast that I’m sure at any minute it’s going to explode. As I fight back the residual panic from my nightmare, my attention latches onto the face leaning down into mine.

Rhett’s dark brows are pinched together, his eyes wide as he stares at me.

“What the fuck was that, Blair?” he asks, breathlessly.

I’m unable to answer him right away.

It’s like I can’t get enough air. I try to get my breathing under control but I’m struggling. Ghostly rivulets of cold water rush over my body. That’s when I realize I’m shivering, hard. I try to sit up but I can’t. It takes me a second to realize Rhett’s hands are on my shoulders, holding me down onto a mattress.

He realizes it the same time I do. Quickly, he pulls his hands away and sits back to give me space.

“Blair,” Rhett rasps. He looks so concerned. It’s such a stark contrast to his surly attitude that it’s almost comical.

“I’m s-sorry.” I suck in a shaky breath and slowly sit up. “I-I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What the hell was that?” He asks. “You were making these weird noises, and you were stiff as a board but also tweaking. I thought you were having a seizure.”

“No, just a nightmare.” I squeeze my eyes shut and wrap my arms around myself.

It’s not until I feel the pull of my stitches that I remember to be careful.

With a sigh, I drop my arms down and look back up at Rhett. He’s still watching me. The anxiousness on his face has me feeling… uncomfortable. It’s too much attention. I’m not used to it.

“Rhett, I’m okay.”

“Bullshit,” he counters.

“Okay… Well, give me a minute and I really will be okay.”

Rhett sighs and leans back. Reaching up, he rakes his fingers through his dark hair and his shoulders sag. I start to look away but then I clock how tired he looks. When was the last time he’d gotten any sleep?

I still feel beat but I’m sure I feel better than he does.

“How long have I been out?” I ask.

“Two, maybe three hours.”

It feels like my eyes are bulging as I stare up at Rhett in horror.

“What? We can’t stay in one place for this long. We haven’t put enough distance between us and whoever is after me. We got to go.”

I start to get to my feet, but Rhett pushes me back down.

“No, wait, I want to know what the fuck that was, Blair. You weren’t breathing. Is that… is that normal? Should we take you to a hospital or…?”

“No! No hospitals,” I tell him quickly. “I promise, it was just a nightmare mixed with an old memory. And it…” I shudder. “It wasn’t a great memory.”’

Rhett scoffs. “Really? I couldn’t tell.”