“FELIX!” Ishouted, banging on the front door of his house.
The sun had recently set and the sky was a deep purple with thousands of stars sprinkled across the expanse like spilled salt. It was already cold, but with the sun gone, the temperature was rapidly dropping further.
“Felix!” I tried again, covering my mouth as I coughed.
I knew he was home; his damn car was in the driveway.
“Come on!Please!” I protested.
Alan opened the door and left me knocking on air. He was wearing a jacket and boots and stepped outside. He slammed the door shut behind him. “What did you do to my dad?”
“What? Nothing!”
“Liar!”
“Alan, no, whatever you think—”
“Dad called me at school. Heneverdoes that. He told me about the fire and said he wasn’t going to be seeing you again, sowhat did you do?” Alan asked again.
“I wish I knew,” I answered, raising my scarf and coughing into it. “I was with your dad while the fire chief talked to him, and then he… he told me to leave.”
Alan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, like he wasn’t buying it.
“I told him I’d stay to help, he said no, that if I did, he’d just keep crying.” I started coughing more. My lungs felt like there was a vise around them. I put a hand to my chest and heard myself gasp.
“B-Bowen?” Alan asked. He hesitantly reached a hand out and took my arm. “Come inside.” He opened the door and dragged me into the warmth. He led me into the kitchen and forced me to sit at the island. “Do you have your inhaler?”
I struggled to breathe, shaking my head.
“Is it in your car?”
I nodded and coughed again, an involuntary action by my body, desperate for air.
“Give me your keys,” he demanded, reaching into my coat pockets and feeling around before retrieving them. “I’ll be right back.” Alan ran out of the room, and I heard the front door slam shut a moment later.
I put a hand on the island and gripped it tight, trying to get my breathing under control by taking a slow, deep lungful of air, but this was a full-on asthma attack. I wheezed heavily and struggled for every breath I took. I felt like there was a ton of bricks on my chest and it was going to slowly kill me.
I heard the door open and shut once more, but when I looked up, Felix was moving to stand in front of me. He shook my inhaler and passed it over. He reached out, set a hand on my back, and rubbed gently as I took a deep inhalation of the medication.
“Is he okay?” Alan asked from somewhere nearby.
“He’ll be okay,” Felix assured his son. He kept rubbing my back.
I counted to sixty and took another puff. The panic was lessening as breathing on my own became easier.
“Bo?”
I held a hand up, and after another minute of focused, slow breaths, I said, “Hey.”
“You’re okay now?” Alan asked, standing in the doorway, still in his coat.
I nodded. “Thanks for your help.”
Felix kept his hand on me as he asked, “Alan, can you leave us alone for a bit?”
“Sure, Dad.” He walked away from the kitchen once more, glancing over his shoulder a few times until he disappeared up the stairs to his room.
Felix finally dropped his hand and walked to the sink. He picked up a tea kettle and began to fill it with tap water. “Take your coat off. I’ll make some tea.”
