Lyrical Lies

I couldn't breathe. Everything came crashing down. My mom is dead. She was all I had left. I'm alone.

The colors around me seemed to blur. The air was thinning. It was evaporating. My breaths became shallow and irregular. I tried to cling on to what was remaining.

Tears began to fall as I felt Gerard reach over me and gently loosed the phone from my fingers.

His arms surrounded me and pulled me onto his lap and into his chest.

"Breathe Violet," he whispered into my hair.

"Is she okay?"

It was Frank. His voice quivering. The coldness gone.

"Yeah. She'll be okay. She's having a panic attack."

Gerard rubbed his hand up and down my back, trying to calm me down.

"Come on Violet. Breathe. In...and out. Breathe with me okay?"

I tried to follow along with his slow gentle breathing. I bit my lip in frustration, gulping for air.

I felt a soft hand wrap around mine, comforting. Frank's hand.

I squeezed his hand tightly. I could feel his worried smile.

My eyelids drooped, heavy with tears. I slowly drifted off to sleep in Gerard's lap, still holding Frank's hand.