KIRO’S STORY / CHAPTER 02 OF 36
Air
by hasira · about 6 min read
Kiro was playing his favorite game.
Nothing special.
Just another evening.
He sat on the couch with his legs pulled slightly toward himself, the controller resting between his paws.
Music from the game.
Buttons clicking.
Occasional sounds from the television.
Kiro looked relaxed.
Almost.
One ear moved slightly.
Something felt wrong.
He didn't know what.
So he kept playing.
His character walked into another room.
Picked something up.
Kiro pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
Nothing was wrong.
Still...
something felt wrong.
Kiro shifted on the couch.
His chest felt strange.
Not painful.
Not yet.
Just uncomfortable.
Like something was sitting underneath his ribs.
He rubbed the center of his chest.
“...Huh.”
Kiro glanced at you.
“Probably nothing.”
Then he looked back at the screen.
A few seconds passed.
The feeling changed.
Burning.
Right in the middle of his chest.
Kiro stopped moving.
His character stood still on the television.
The controller loosened in his paws.
The burning grew stronger.
“What...”
Kiro pressed one paw against his chest.
Then noticed the other.
His fingers felt strange.
Tingling.
Then numb.
Kiro opened and closed his paw.
Once.
Twice.
Nothing.
The other paw started doing the same.
Both of them.
Kiro stared at his fingers.
“No...”
His heart suddenly hit his chest.
Hard.
Kiro's ears shot upward.
Another beat.
Harder.
Another.
Faster.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The game was still making noise.
Kiro barely heard it anymore.
All he could hear was his heart.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
The controller slipped from his paws and hit the floor.
Kiro grabbed his chest.
His breathing changed.
One short breath.
Then another.
Then another.
He tried to take a deeper one.
He couldn't.
At least...
it felt like he couldn't.
There was air.
Kiro knew there was air.
But none of it felt like enough.
He inhaled again.
Quick.
Shallow.
Again.
Again.
Again.
“No, no...”
His throat became dry.
Completely dry.
Kiro swallowed.
Or tried to.
His saliva felt thick.
Sticky.
Like a wet sponge sitting inside his mouth.
He swallowed again.
Nothing changed.
His tongue felt wrong.
His throat felt smaller.
His paws were numb.
His chest was burning.
His heart wouldn't slow down.
Kiro stood up.
Too quickly.
The room moved.
He grabbed the couch to keep himself standing.
“What the fuck...”
Another breath.
Another.
Another.
He couldn't stop.
Kiro looked at you.
There was no smile anymore.
No joke.
Nothing.
“I'm...”
He grabbed his chest harder.
“I'm having a heart attack.”
The words barely came out.
Kiro looked toward the door.
Then the window.
Then the door again.
He didn't know what to do.
His thoughts stopped behaving like thoughts.
Short sentences started appearing instead.
Fast.
Something is wrong.
Something is really wrong.
Your paws are numb.
You can't breathe.
Your heart is too fast.
You're dying.
“No.”
Kiro shook his head.
You're going to die.
“No, I'm not.”
Then one thought hit harder than the others.
You're alone.
Kiro froze.
His breathing became even faster.
He looked around the room.
Nobody.
Of course nobody.
If something happens, nobody will know.
“Stop.”
Nobody is coming.
“Stop...”
Kiro rushed toward the window.
His legs felt soft underneath him.
He almost hit the table.
His numb paws struggled with the handle.
“Come on...”
He pulled.
Nothing.
“Come on!”
The window opened.
Cold air entered the room.
Kiro immediately leaned against the sill.
His stomach pressed against it.
His head pushed toward the open air.
Breathing.
Fast.
Way too fast.
He didn't know if the cold helped.
He didn't know if anything helped.
But it was different.
Something outside his body.
Cold air against his face.
Wind.
A distant car.
His shaking paws gripping the window frame.
“I'm dying.”
He whispered it like a fact.
His eyes started watering.
“I'm actually fucking dying.”
Nothing happened.
Nobody answered.
Kiro stayed there.
Breathing.
Waiting for something inside him to stop.
His heart.
His lungs.
Anything.
But after a while...
nothing stopped.
Instead, his heartbeat slowly began to change.
Still fast.
But not as fast.
His fingers tingled.
Feeling slowly returned to them.
His chest still burned.
But less.
Another minute.
Maybe two.
Maybe ten.
Kiro had no idea.
Eventually, he realized he was breathing almost normally again.
He stayed against the window anyway.
Afraid that moving would make it come back.
Then, very quietly:
“...What the fuck was that?”
Kiro looked back at you.
He tried to smile.
It didn't work very well.
“That was...”
He looked away.
“I don't know.”
That was the first time.
Now Kiro knows.
He knows the burning.
The numb fingers.
The dry throat.
The heartbeat.
That strange feeling before everything else.
The warning.
Now, when it starts, he tries to control it.
He sits down.
Slows his breathing.
Reminds himself what it is.
“It's fine.”
Inhale.
“It's just this again.”
Exhale.
“My heart is fine.”
Inhale.
“I can breathe.”
Exhale.
“I'm not dying.”
Most of the time, it works.
Eventually.
Kiro got good at it.
Really good.
Almost like practice.
When it ended, he would sit quietly for a while.
Drink some water.
Pick up whatever he dropped.
Continue his day.
Like nothing happened.
Once, though...
he didn't manage to sit down.
The burning started.
Then the heartbeat.
Then his vision changed.
Black dots appeared around the edges.
Kiro reached for the wall.
One thought came through clearly.
Not now.
Then nothing.
No thoughts.
No heartbeat.
No fear.
Nothing.
When Kiro opened his eyes again, he was lying on the floor.
His cheek pressed against the cold wood.
For a few seconds, he didn't understand why.
Then everything came back.
Kiro slowly pushed himself up.
He looked around.
Empty room.
Empty couch.
Empty doorway.
Nobody standing over him.
Nobody asking what happened.
Nobody even knew he had been unconscious.
Kiro stayed on the floor for a long time.
Then he looked at you.
“...I'm okay.”
A pause.
“I know what it is now.”
He rubbed his chest.
His paw was still shaking slightly.
“It's not like the first time.”
Kiro smiled.
A small one.
“I can control it.”
He looked toward the place where he had collapsed.
Then toward the empty house.
The smile disappeared.
“Mostly.”
Silence.
Kiro picked the controller up from the floor.
He sat back on the couch.
The game had been paused for a long time.
He stared at it.
Then at you.
“You know what's funny?”
Kiro looked down at the controller.
His thumb rested over one of the buttons.
“If something actually happened...”
He stopped.
His ears lowered.
“...I'd still be the only one here.”
Kiro didn't say anything else.
He unpaused the game.
The music started again.
He continued exactly where he had left off.
Like nothing happened.