Soulmates Read Free Page B

You’re not going to die.
    But I didn’t believe myself. This was worse than anything I’d experienced before. My lungs burned and the edges of my vision went hazy.
    “Help,” I rasped pathetically, hoping someone would hear. But no help came.
    I tried to breathe again. Nothing. Panic rippled through my body like a tsunami.
    I have to get out. I’m going to die.
    With my remaining strength, I tried to stumble out of the crowd, vaguely aware that people were yelling at me. I couldn’t see my friends. I couldn’t see anything. It was all going dark.
    JUST BREATHE
, I instructed myself. But I couldn’t. I kept taking empty gasps. My lungs felt like they were going to explode.
    I’m drowning
, I thought.
I’m drowning in no water.
    I felt my feet slipping on the beer-covered floor and the burning in my lungs began scorching through my insides. I let my body buckle. I could vaguely hear the dim sounds of loud chords echoing from the speakers. And then everything went black and it was finally quiet.

Pain.
    Burning.
    It was still black but the serene silence had gone.
    “Her eyes are flickering,” I heard. It sounded far away, like I was underwater.
    The scorching filled my lungs again. It hurt so much. I had to get rid of it. My eyes blinked open. I was on my back. That wouldn’t do. Using all my strength, I flung myself over onto my side as vomit bucketed out of me. I retched. I gagged. The sour taste of regurgitated rum and Coke burned up my throat. I lay on my side, being generally disgusting, for a few minutes. I kept spitting, wiping my mouth, retching again. I didn’t care who was watching. I needed to get whatever poison there was out of me. When I finally finished, I rolled onto my back and wiped my hair. It was slick with sweat.
    “Well look who’s bringing sexy back,” someone said sarcastically.
    It was Lizzie’s voice. I concentrated on focusing and her face became clear beside me. We were outside the club, on a small piece of grubby grass round the side. Lizzie and Amanda looked concerned. Well, Lizzie looked a bit more disgusted than concerned.
    I took a deep breath. “What the hell happened?” I tried to lift my head but Lizzie firmly pushed it onto her lap.
    “Not so soon. You’re staying put for a few minutes.” She looked at me in a motherly way. “You had one of your attacks. Scared the crap out of me and Amanda.”
    Amanda was sitting cross-legged on the grass, a respectful distance away from my puddle. She looked terrified. I remembered she’d never seen me have a panic attack before.
    “How long have I been out?” I always lost track of time when this happened.
    “Just a few minutes. You’ve not missed anything, don’t worry.”
    “Where’s Ruth?” I asked.
    A look of irritation crossed Lizzie’s face before she composed a smile.
    “She’s saving our spaces for us. I told her it wasn’t worth bothering as you’re obviously going straight home, but she stayed inside anyway.”
    “Home? I’m not going home.”
    “Yes you are. Poppy, I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, I’ve seen you collapse before, but not like this. I thought you were dead.”
    I could see that she was genuinely concerned behind her forced grin. “Was I that bad?” I asked. “It felt worse than the others.”
    “You were terrifying. I was trying to keep an eye on you because I know crowds can sometimes set you off. You seemed fine, even though it’s absolutely mental inside. My fringe is completely ruined…” She stopped herself and started again. “Anyway, as soon as the band came on you started twitching. I tried to get to you but the crowd was too solid. You were staggering around like your feet weren’t working. And then you just went down. I managed to reach you, and you were unconscious but shuddering, like an electric current was surging through you. It was seriously messed up. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you were having an epileptic fit or something.”
    I