The Pentelements *SLOW UPDATES*

Ch. 58 Breathe

Mitch was still looking at the woman with uncertainty, refusing to get down, when he felt a sharp pain. Looking down, he saw a needle in his arm connecting him to an IV drip. The loud beeping got faster and Mitch saw it was coming from a heart monitor.

"Mitch, you need to calm down."

"ESTOU COMPLETAMENTE CALMO!!!" He yelled.

"MITCH!" Kevin scolded, then he noticed how he was breathing.

The quick shaky breaths reminded Kevin of when someone was going through a panic attack. His gaze softened and Kevin carefully held up his hands.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. It's alright." He told him gently. "Look, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you. I just need you to relax, okay?"

Mitch tried to listen, but it was hard when memories of his past kept flashing in his mind. Being strapped down, surrounded by people he didn't know, pain from needles in his arm injecting who knows what into his system. As much as he tried, he couldn't get himself to calm down enough to breathe properly.

Kevin saw Mitch struggling and took a cautious step closer, wanting to help him out.

"Alright, here, follow my breathing. Breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for seven seconds, and breathe out for eight seconds." Kevin told him, then he demonstrated.

Mitch was trying and messing up the number of seconds he needed to breathe, but after a while, he was finally starting to do it accurately. The heart monitor wasn't beeping as loud anymore, but it was still faster than Kevin liked.

"Good, you're almost there. Keep going and try to take deeper breaths."

After a few minutes, Mitch was breathing normally and glared at the two beneath him.

"NÃO ME ASSUSTE ASSIM!!!" He snapped, and they looked at each other.

"I'm sorry. We wanted you to see a familiar face when you woke up, but we didn't know when that would be. Of course, it happened the minute I decided to step out." Kevin apologized, muttering the last part to himself. "Now can you get down from there? Please?"

Mitch still looked a bit uncertain, but carefully climbed down and sat on what he recognized was Kevin's bed. The woman in the lab coat sat the clipboard on the bed, and Mitch quickly moved away from her.

"Right, you probably didn't register what I said before since you were panicking. Okay, Mitch, this is my sister, Candace. She's here to help." He explained, and Candace moved to the foot of the bed.

"Hi, Mitch was it? I'm really sorry if I scared you. You jumped out of bed so quick I didn't have time to explain myself, haha." She put her hands up to show she wasn't hiding anything. "It's okay, I promise I wasn't trying to hurt you. In fact, I was just about to check your vitals when you woke up. May I continue?"

As uneasy as he felt, he figured it was a good idea to make sure nothing was actually wrong with himself. She gave him a smile and picked up the clipboard again, moving over to the beeping machine. While she worked, the pain in his arm became a lot more apparent. Noticing his flinch, Candace offered her hand.

"Is it okay if I take a look?"

Mitch hesitated before slowly nodding. She gently grabbed his arm and took a look at it. After a few seconds of inspection, she was able to figure out what was wrong.

"Ah, I see. It looks like when you were jumping around earlier, the needle shifted in your arm so now it's lightly scraping the other side of your vein." She quickly continued explaining when she saw Mitch's panicked expression. "It's okay! It's nothing too bad. Our bodies are full of nerves which is why we feel some sort of pain whenever we get a shot or need to draw blood.