Sealed with a Kiss ✔

Chapter Twenty Five | Sealed with a Kiss

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The growing tightness in my chest forces my eyes open. Clutching a sweaty hand against my heart, I quickly sit up, dropping my head against the headboard while I struggle for breath. I realise what's happening when my trembling fingers grasp my pyjama shirt.

There's a familiar and horrible sensation in my chest as my heart beats erratically. It feels as though someone's thumping their fists on a drum, but with each strike they don't quite manage to hit the same place, making every beat irregular and painful.

My eyes search though the inky dark bedroom to find something to focus on and they find a glittering, small glass elephant sitting on my bookshelf.  It's oddly calming. Keeping my gaze fixed on it, I think of the next step Mr Hibbert always advises me to do whenever a panic attack hits.

Struggling, I try to slow my breathing, focusing on not breathing too quickly. Sliding down the headboard slightly, I lean my head back and look at my ceiling that's scattered with glow-in-the-dark stars. The pain in my chest finally begins to ease.

After inhaling deeply, I glance towards my alarm clock on the bedside drawers next to me. 4:02 A.M. As I sit staring at the neon-blue digital numbers, I try and think of what I'd dreamt of that had made me lose it. Blurred images of hospital rooms and decaying gravestones begin to piece together in my mind and as soon as they do, my insides tighten again.

I stop trying to remember.

Instead, I sink back down onto my pillows. My gaze drifts back the dimly glowing starry ceiling. I think of last week and Levi and I looking up at the Big Dipper. I think of his hand in mine.

My breathing eases a little. Trying to thinking only of that starry sky and nothing else, I convince myself that my dreams had been nothing. It was just because of exam stress. If I go to sleep, I'll be able to think more clearly in the morning.

I close my eyes and hear the grass softly rustling in the night breeze, I feel Levi's warm fingers. There's the dizzying, sinking moment between being awake and teetering towards sleep. And then there is nothing as I finally fall back asleep with confusing dreams of graveyards and constellations drifting through my mind.

*     *     *

The sun is streaming brightly through the curtains- soaking everything in midday light. I shield my eyes away from the light, blinking and surprised at how I managed to fall into such a deep sleep, especially after a panic attack.

I'm about to get out of bed when the door bursts open and Evie comes running in, a little blur of red and blonde. Without warning, she leaps onto my bed, landing right on me.

With an oof, I land back on my pillows as she hums merrily. I notice she's got what looks like chocolate spread on her red pyjama top.

"You seem to be in a good mood," I say, sounding slightly winded.

Evie gives me a wide grin that I would have described as toothy had it not been for the fact that a good few of her teeth were missing. The Tooth Fairy has definitely become her new best friend.

She points to the window while bouncing around excitedly. "There's a boy outside for you!"

My eyebrows furrow. "A boy? Who?" Secretly, I have a feeling who it is and it both confuses me and has my heart beating a little faster in my chest.

Evie shakes her head, her little shoulders rising up in a shrug. "He's nice."

"Oh, he's called Nice?" I grin when she giggles, it's a colourful, mischievous noise.