"No Jen, wait," Kahlil says weaving between promgoers. He reaches out but she picks up the pace. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean t---" Khalil reaches for Jen, weaving through promgoers trying to keep up with her pace.
Jennifer breaches the gym doors continues down the hallway and gets halfway to where the hall splits. Khalil continues forward but before he can get halfway to her his feet refuse to move. He tries to call her name again but no sound comes. His throat begins closing and compressing, restricting his airflow. Panicking, Khalil's heart begins to race. He coughs and gasps but with every passing second it becomes harder to breathe. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to calm down. Envisioning himself in his safe space, in the dojo, he tries to focus on his breathing but his vision starts to blur and darken at the edges then fades to black. A blurry recreation of the hallway he's in fades into focus. Here, Jen is less than five feet away wearing a lilac gown. Her eyes are glossy.
Why is she crying? Why does this feel like a goodbye?
He tries to focus but the lack of oxygen makes him stumble. Khalil gasps loudly but as soon as the air leaves his throat seems to swell further nearly closing completely. Jen whips around and her brows rise; she rushes to him. Kahlil's eyes are wide, his hands are on his bulging throat and chest and his mouth is agape. His eyesockets are bugged out and tears have begun to seep out of his eyes.
"Kahlil?" Jen whispers as fright invades her upset expression. Her brows knit as her forehead wrinkles. "Hey," she says as her heart begins to race and her eyes dart across his face. She rests her hand against his chest, takes one of his, and presses it into her decolletage. Looking into his eyes, she takes deep breaths and encourages him to join her.
"You're okay," she says. "Breathe." Her eyes tear up more but she continues. As he watches her watching him, the pace of his heart begins to slow and his breath appears to come a bit easier. He clears his throat.
"I've been here before. Something happened here," he says breathlessly. "I saw you. You were wearing a purple dress but the rest is... blurry." Jen looks down and folds her lips in. "What happened?" Her eyes return to his and the tears she has been holding back all night begin to soak her waterlines. She lets her hand fall from his chest and leans away from him.
"We've been here. Before you..." Jen looks away but Khalil watches her until her eyes wander back to him. He nods.
"Yeah, I know."
"I was with you. Me, my family, your mom...we were all in the hospital with you." Jen blinks back tears and clears her throat. "I wanted some time alone with you so, I brought you here." Khalil's forehead wrinkles. Something in her voice raises his suspicions but he steels himself and focuses on the matter at hand.
"How? I couldn't move." They breathe deeply together and she dries some of his tears the let's her hand fall. He catches her hand and holds it firmly in his.
"I brought you to my safe space," she says. "It's a place I create in my mind. I didn't know I could take people there with me until that night," she says pointing directly to the spot. "I brought us here."
"We were holding hands." The fog in his mind starts to clear and his brows relax. His eyes search hers and she lets him look."Yeah. You were confused, I tried to explain. Then you told me---"
"That I...I told you how I felt about you. And you said felt, you..." Jen nods gently cutting him off; Khalil's brows furrow. "That's what you didn't want to tell me. Why?" Jen takes a deep breath and rests her other hand on Khalil's hand; he holds this one firmly as well gently caressing it with his thumb. She drops her voice further.
"TC explained what canceling the kill order did. Since you didn't remember me, thought---I decided that you should have a second chance at life. You could start over." Jen looks away a blinks a few times before setting her sights on Khalil again. "There's so much trauma attached to us...I thought it'd be better for you if you didn't know who I was. My first thought was, 'he doesn't remember me but he also doesn't remember all of the terrible things that have happened to him' Why retraumatize him? Maybe this way he can be happy." Jen's eyes soften further as tears finally escape and roll down her cheeks.

YOU ARE READING
Too Strange and Too Strong
Fanfiction"I can't love a weapon pointed at my family," Jen said. For the first time, she didn't offer her presence, sympathy, or her help. "Everybody gave up on me except you," Khalil said. She was the last good thing in his life. The last person who beli...