Just Breathe

12:00 am

Endless rows of highway lights set the night ablaze like golden fireflies rising and falling over the dark waves of the road.

My mind drifts on aimlessly like an abandoned raft bobbing along the sea. Memories of the day float through my head. They are nothing more than mirages. Distant echoes of a forgotten dream.

And then a thought hits me like a bolt of lightning. My thumping heart nearly pounds through my chest. My lips begin to quiver. My eyes dart in a million directions and yet are blinded with fear. Beads of sweat pour down my face like a raging storm. My hands throb with pain as I hold onto the steering wheel for dear life. I am almost consumed whole by the darkness clouding my soul and then I turn and lay my eyes upon her.

Suddenly the symphony of chaos falls silent. The beating of my heart, once a scream of anguish is now calm…like the falling of a single lonely snowflake after a harsh blizzard.

She takes my hand in hers and gently caresses it with her fingertips. The warmth of her skin smothers the lingering shards of worry. She faintly whispers two words to me so quietly that I wonder if they were ever whispered at all:

“Just breathe.”