The next morning, I woke up with a heavy feeling in my chest. I couldn’t move my body or even open my eyes. Something felt deeply wrong. I willed myself to move, but I was frozen in place, and everything felt so dark. I couldn’t even tell if I was breathing.
“Adira?” I heard Mark’s voice calling to me. It seemed so distant. “Adira?’
I felt Mark’s hand touch my arm, and my eyes shot open. It was almost as if he released me from a prison. I sat up quickly, looking around the room, my chest heaving in panic. As I saw the familiarness of Mark’s bedroom, I felt a little more grounded and my breathing slowed.
“Did you have a nightmare?” Mark was staring at me carefully.
“I don’t know. I just had a really weird sensation of being trapped.” I stretched my arms, grateful to have control over my
