Page 19 of Angel

Chapter Six - Paige

Somewhere nearby voices murmured softly, rising and falling, none of them familiar. Something creaked and made a rolling noise.

I opened my eyes to see a strange window in front of me, the curtains fully drawn. Next to it sat a small couch.

Where the Hell am I?

Panic rose in my chest and I quickly sat up.

“It’s all right,” came a familiar voice.

I whipped my head around to see Angelo sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed I was in. He leaned forward, hands folded and resting on his legs, his eyes wide and uncertain.

I took in a shaky breath and adjusted to my surroundings. The lighting was soft, coming from a small light next to the bed. Nearby, the door sat shut, a thin slice of glass not doing much to show what was on the other side.

By now, though, I’d figured out we were in a hospital.

“How are you feeling?” Angelo softly asked.

I took another long inhale just to test it.

“Good.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Uh...”

“It’s okay. Don’t think too hard.”

I ran a palm across my temples. “It’s fine.” My voice cracked a bit.

“Here.”

He poured some water from the pitcher on the bed side table and handed the glass to me. I gulped half of it down and then passed it back.

“I was in the hallway,” I explained. “I know I passed out. I knew it when it was happening. I was going for my inhaler. And then… there were some people.”

“Paramedics. I found you unconscious in the hallway and called for an ambulance.”

“Oh.”

Heat washed over me. I was ashamed to cause so much trouble. And all because I couldn’t get to my stupid meds fast enough.

That never happened before. No matter if it took me a few minutes to get to it, I always made it there without passing out. In fact, this would be the first time it ever happened.

Because the circumstances had been different. What I had wasn’t a normal asthma attack.

The way I couldn’t get so much as half a breath in... The way my heart fluttered and my hands shook…

“I think I had a panic attack,” I dumbly said, staring at the blanket covering my legs.

“A panic attack? Does that ever happen?”

My head slowly swung from side to side. “No. It’s never happened to me before. I…” The full memory of what went on in the living room washed over me. I held my breath. “Oh my God.”

Angelo rested his hand on my leg but I barely felt it. He seemed a thousand miles away, a faint memory, less real than that horrific day I suddenly remembered. “Paige? Are you all right? Do I need to call a nurse?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered. “I just…” My eyes burned and I took in a sharp breath. It racked my chest and a dry sob escaped. “I remember why it happened. Why I started hyperventilating.”