“Max, make it stop,” I said as my breathing grew bullet-fast again. At least, that’s what I meant to say. I think it came out more like TV in fast-forward.

“Max, I can’t control it, make it stop!” I repeated, groaning with confusion and anguish as time seemed to play tetherball with my head. Whoa – tetherball. What was tetherball? The word sort of…just sprang to my mind. Gah, it was all so confusing!

I simply curled up in a ball and lay on the grass, whimpering as its dead taste entered my mouth. I think I registered Max leaning down; maybe even picking me up and carrying me somewhere.

~

Dark. Dim light seeping through, but a familiar smell. My eyelids cracked open a fraction farther and I found myself in my sleeping bag, in the cove where I slept. A dream?

No, Max was right above me, staring down with a worried look on his face. Time still felt awry and out of place, but as soon as he laid his hands on me, it stopped.

I looked up and sighed, drifting back into oblivion.