A Family Podcast (english)

Chapter 49

Liam

"And you still haven't talked to each other?" Noah threw me a sympathetic look, and I shook my head dejectedly.

After our fight, Aden and I had been avoiding each other. I wanted to apologize, but instead, I kept hiding from him. Looking back, it all seemed so unnecessary and foolish, and I wondered if Aden would forgive me.

After two days of this, Noah dragged me out of the house to grab something to eat in town. But I had no appetite, so for the last twenty minutes, all I did was dismantle the burger into tiny pieces.

"Don't stress out so much, it'll be okay," Noah observed as I squashed the bun with my fork.

"Now, eat something already; I didn't pay for this stuff for nothing."

I gave a disgusted look at my squished burger. Noah rolled his eyes as he switched our plates.

I stared at Noah's mishmash of potatoes, vegetables, and bread, pursing my lips. After all these years, Noah still ordered the weirdest-sounding dish on the menu.

But before Noah could get mad at me too, I took a few forks full of that stuff into my mouth.

After we finished eating, Noah waved the waiter over and paid the bill.

As they chatted, I rubbed my chest with one hand. I felt like I couldn't breathe properly, so I slid off the seat to be closer to the door where the fresh air was. But it didn't help.

I coughed, trying to get some fresh air into my lungs, but that didn't work either. I clutched at my throat as my breaths grew shorter and shallower. I started coughing again, holding onto one of the chairs with my other hand. It felt like my chest was constricting. Something was wrong.

"Liam? What's wrong?" Noah waved his hand in front of my face. "Did you choke on something?"

He patted my back firmly, and I pushed him away.

Panic flared in my chest as dizziness washed over me.

The room began to blur before my eyes, and someone placed their hand on my shoulder.

"What's happening, Liam?" I looked up, panicked, meeting Noah's eyes before my legs gave out. Noah caught me, muttering curses under his breath.

"Air..." I tried to calm my breathing, but it didn't work. "I can't... breathe."

Noah stared at me for a moment before swearing and rushing out of the room. "I'll be right back. Keep breathing, hear me?"

I stared after him in a panic. It was impossible to ignore the fear now. I was going to suffocate. The realization hit me like a lightning bolt, and my breaths grew even shorter, gasping for air. With one hand, I propped myself up from the floor while pressing the other against my chest and letting my head sink between my shoulders.

And then Noah was back. He crouched in front of me on the floor, trying to get my attention while fishing something out of a black case. Somewhere in my mind, I knew what Noah was doing, but my body was too busy trying to survive to complete the thought. 

"Here," Noah held a small device to my lips, and I turned away. Noah tugged at my collar and tried again. "You have to inhale from it, Liam, do you hear me? Try to breathe, damn it."

I didn't know who was more panicked between the two of us. Noah seemed to be losing his composure entirely. But as I closed my lips around the device and took a breath, I did manage to breathe a little better. I immediately tried to inhale the spray again, but it didn't work.