Gemotions

“Just…breathe,” the nurse said, her voice a soothing balm against the sharp edges of his rising panic. But it was impossible. Everything seemed to be closing in around him. He felt as though the walls were slowly creeping inwards, crushing him.

He was in the middle of a crowded mall, and every sound, every smell, was an assault on his senses. He wanted to scream, to run, to disappear. All of it.

Then, at the food court, he saw her. A woman, clutching her chest, looking as though the end of the world had just arrived, as if every last terrible thing had happened all at once. Her eyes locked with his. She simply shook her head and mouthed, “No…not again.”