"Calm down, just calm down." He thought to himself as he tried to even out his labored breathing, it it seems to just have made it worse.
His breathing became shorter and harder causing him to clutch his chest as the bitter December air seemed to...
When the two left, they made their way to a semi new cafe Jamari had found about two weeks ago. He knew it would be a chill and comfortable enough environment to talk in.
As the two walked in, Jay found himself in awe as he looked around. They greeted the barista and found a table next to a literal wall of books.
"This is nice, I really like the vibe." Jay admitted as Jamari out of excitement began dropping facts. "The owner opened like a month or two ago, she's super nice from what I hear. Oh! And all these books are free as long as you bring one to replace whatever you take." Which caused Jay to raise his eyebrow in shock.
"Wow, she really knew what she was doing from the jump." He marveled as he took in the environment, he really felt a sense of peace begin to flood his body, similar to what he felt last night.
Maybe it was the overall vibe of the cafe that specialized in warm lighting, maybe it was the energy, maybe it was the food settling on his stomach, whatever it was he knew he'd be coming back.
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Jamari went to go order their drinks as Jay pulled a random book from the shelf. 'Maybe he can really help me, maybe he'll understand what I can't.'
As he read the title of the book, he opened the front cover to see a name scribbled in black ink.
'Junni 🤍' "Junni... that's pretty." He mumbled as Jamari came back with their drinks. "Junni? That's the name of the owner." He said setting down their drinks and taking a seat himself. "Are these all her books?" Jay asked as Jamari pulled one down and opened it himself. "I think so, this one is signed too." As Jay say the book down he chuckled softly to himself. "I thought I loved to read."
Jamari laughed quietly as he took a small sip from his mocha. "Alright, talk to me man. What's been going on? Cause contrary to popular belief - by popular I mean Marc. You've been acting weird since November." Jay sat forward as he tried to gather his words.
"Well for starters, you're right. But if I'm being honest I have no clue. I know I've been feeling like I should go out. I don't really know why, but I haven't had the energy to do the stuff I normally would since December. And when I force myself to go out, I end up regretting it. Or something happens. The only time nothing has happened has been today. Even smoking, I haven't had the urge to do it and when I do I gag. Like what is that??" Jay began as Jamari nodded his head.
"Wow, and all of this has been happening since December?" He confirmed as Jay nods.
"Well really, more like September. But it didn't get as bad as it did until November." Jay admitted as he instantly began feeling better about getting this weight off his chest.
"Oh wow, okay. So tell me what happened last night then."
"Last night was the worst thing I've felt in a long time."
"I was already feeling like I shouldn't have gone out, but I kind of wanted too since I haven't been anywhere so I did. Marc and me went to that party and everything was fine until about 10 or 11. Out of nowhere my ears started ringing really bad, my head felt like it was gonna explode. It got to the point where I was hearing voices. I'm not scared of a lot but that was genuinely scary."
Jay unconsciously began wringing his hands together as Jamari studied him. "I'm listening, go ahead." He encouraged.
"So basically after that started, I just needed some quiet so I tried to go tot he bathroom. Occupied, I went for outside next, while I was walking that way my chest started getting really heavy and everything was moving in slow motion, the people I was partying with has this uncanny look about them and I just couldn't handle it."
"As soon as I pushed the front door open, I fell and couldn't breathe."
"I heard this voice that kept telling me to calm down, and that I was okay. It was really soft — but anyways, I couldn't get my breathing under control and then I just stopped. I felt warm all over and ultimately accepted the fact that I was done for."
Jay paused before he started speaking about what happened next as the blurry image of the woman that helped him played on the 3D screen of his mind.
"Then..out of nowhere a bunch of air was forced into my body, I sat up choking and stuff and there was this girl. She had her hand on my chest but by the time I could see her clearly she was gone. I'm not sure if she was at the party or not but she pulled off in a car."
Jamari nodded as he sat back. "Dang man, I'm sorry that happened to you." Jamari said remorsefully, Jay shrugged. "Also last night. I had a dream, that I was on an island and I was running away from something or someone, and when I jumped into the water this mermaid tried to help me, but then I noticed that we were slowly getting further and further away from the surface and I started trying to pull away. She turned all scaly and tried to drag me down so I kicked her swam up, this thing was chasing me all the way until I got to the other island that was across from that one."
"When I came out of the water, I looked down and noticed I had this necklace looking thing on, it was half of one so I knew somebody else had the other piece."
"Then I saw this girl, and a guy on a raft. They were heading to that island that had the thing on it, and I was trying to warn them but for some reason they couldn't hear me, so I just had to watch. The girl was looking down at a necklace she had and it was the partner piece to mine, out of no where it flew off my neck and appeared on hers."
"She looked so sad, and it's my assumption that she was sad cause she couldn't find something or maybe cause they were lost, but I could feel it. I could feel her sadness, her despair even, but she put them together and they made this little cornucopia thing. It was very small, maybe like small enough to hold some oil or something."
"I watched them dock on the island, and they were running around looking for someone, maybe me. I don't know. But the girl had ran past this shed that I recognized and she turned to the guy and said 'Look here it is right here, I'm telling you he's here. I was here with him, I know he's still here.' But the guy she was with was writing her off. She even found a raft and stuff implying that there was someone there but dude wasn't trying to hear none of it." Jay breathed as his shoulders relaxed finally being finished, he picked up his matcha and took a long sip.
Jamari nodded once more, a brief silence falling between the two as he thought. He was trying to process and put all the pieces of what he was just told in order, and trying to find a way to make sure it makes sense to his friend.
"She was looking for you. You're the someone." Which caused Jay to frown. "Huh?" Jamari took a deep breath and exhaled. "A lot of what I'm about to say may sound crazy, but I know it's gonna make perfect sense to you."
Jay could feel goosebumps run down his spine as he waited to see what his friend was gonna say. Was he nervous? Absolutely, but if any small piece of information could help him make sense he was gonna take it.
