Wal-Mart

You can do this, she says to herself. The walls aren’t closing in; it just feels like it. Breathe slowly. That’s right. One, she fights to lift her chest against the crushing feeling. Two, she releases it so slowly that her lungs scream in protest, her heart pounding blood into her cheeks

Bright colors and lights break through her tunneled vision. A child runs by, breaking her concentration, a flood of jumbled, bizarre energies entering her.

Walls advance, ready to collapse. A shrill ringing invades her ears.

She’s falling, suffocating, dying!

******

“Daddy, come quick! Momma’s having one of her spells!”