Page 142 of Ghost Ribbon

The tightness eased.

I told myself it was okay.

I told myself the dizziness was nothing. The tightness was nothing. The slight tremor in my hands was nothing. The way my vision kept blurring at the edges was nothing. The way my heart felt like it was going to leave my chest was nothing.

All of it was manageable.

So I kept reading.

Or pretending to read.

The words on the page had stopped meaning anything several minutes ago. They were just shapes. Black marks on white paper, arranged in patterns that my brain was no longer processing.

Then I shivered.

It came from nowhere. A violent tremor that started at the base of my spine and raced upward, through my back, my shoulders, my neck, ending in a full-body shake that made my teeth click together. It wasn’t cold. The room was warm. The sun was coming through the windows. I was wearing a sweater.

It wasn’t cold.

My body was just….doing something. Something I couldn’t control.

Rei looked up from his textbook.

His highlighter paused mid-stroke. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

I tried to speak.

I needed to say yes, I’m fine, just a little cold, don’t worry about it. I needed to say I just stood up too fast earlier or I didn’t eat enough at lunch or it’s nothing, Rei, really.

I opened my mouth.

“Yeah,” I managed. “I just… need to use…”

The sentence died and Rei’s expression changed.

He sat up, his body turning toward me, his eyes scanning my face. “Marco?”

The entire room lurched sideways and I fell.

My body gave up the act of being vertical and surrendered to physics, and I slid off the couch and became boneless.

Rei caught me. His arms came around me before I hit the floor, pulling me against his chest, one hand on my back, the other on the side of my face. “Marco? Marco, are you okay?” His voice was high.

Frightened.

“Marco, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

I tried. God, I tried.

I opened my mouth but it opened and closed uselessly because I couldn’t breathe.

My lungs burned.

My vision blurred.

My eyes watered.