~SCARLETT.

The air thinned.

No... no, no, no.

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

My lungs seized. My heart stuttered, then collapsed into a frantic, gasping rhythm. The edges of the world blurred: colors bleeding together, sounds stretching and snapping like elastic. The ground felt miles below me.

This isn't real.

My chest strained for air, but each inhale was like dragging breath through cloth. My eyes fluttered, refusing to land on anything. The backyard, the crowd, all of it ...