"Breathe, Jacq. Just breathe. Take it slow. You're fine. I'm here. Breathe…" Damien whispered near her ear, his deep voice steady and grounding in the suffocating dark.
It felt like something invisible was tethering her to the surface, keeping her from slipping completely under. She clung to it desperately.
A voice was calling her.
It sounded distant, like an echo carried through a tunnel. She tried to focus on it, to understand the words.
There were hands on her warm, large, roughened palms gripping her arms. Whoever it was was shaking her gently, trying to pull her back.
Who…?
He was calling her Jacq.
Something about breathing.
Wasn't she breathing?
She tried but she couldn't. It wasn't within her control. The darkness swallowed everything. It pressed against her eyes, her skin, her chest. It haunted her.
Then
A faint glow seeped through the thin veil of her eyelids.
Light.
Slowly, cautiously, she opened her eyes.
Light.
