Righto, last one. And it's a bit...um, different, but hopefully that's okay. Anyways… here's the reflection/epilogue thing.

Epilogue

Have you ever run, as fast as you can make your legs move, until you physically couldn't run anymore? Running for more than just a sports game, or an exercise programme. The kind of instinctual, primal running that our ancestors used to win that good old game known as 'Survival of the Fittest.' Sprinting until you couldn't take one more step? If you haven't then, let me tell you; it hurts.

Not the actual running part, although that's painful enough. No, the worst is the aftermath. Your whole body is on fire, because when you're going flat out like that, you use more than just your leg muscles. Your arms, legs, shoulders, chest. They are all screaming agony at you in ways that you didn't realise possible. Like being thrown into a sea of boiling tar, except the pain isn't on your skin, it's under it, seeping into your muscles, each individual fibre being coated in liquid flame.

And that's just your muscles.

Your eyes feel like all the water in them is being slowly frozen. Most people are surprised by that one; the torment in your eyes. But at the time, you don't have a chance to be surprised because all you can hear is a high pitched screaming buzz inside you head, overshadowed only by the fierce beating of your heart, pushed to a limit that's just a little bit more than 'unhealthy'. Each beat sends a throbbing convulsion through your entire body, as you lie there on the floor, unable to move.

The worst of it all though: breathing. Something that normally is so... simple, so easy. Easy as breathing, isn't that how it goes?

I hate that phrase.

Every shuddered, shallow breath explodes through your ribcage like a great white shark making a shotgun exit from the water, its massive jaws ripping through your chest with the frenzied desperation of a rabid dog. And they come so fast; one breath then another, each explosion as vicious as the first. Ripping, tearing through your lungs so that by rights, you're sure that they should be totally shredded already.

Each breath is a waste. Even before you've finished inhaling, you know it won't be enough. But you can't make it any deeper, no matter how hard you try. There just isn't enough oxygen in the world to fill your pathetic, decimated lungs.

Now, that kind of exertion? Not something that just a sip of water and a minute on the ground can cure. You can lie there for an hour and still not be able to take a meaningful breath. Sure, after a while your muscles recede from a 'flying meteor' style burn to a simple raging house fire, and they're almost bearable to stand on. But you'll never be able to roast a marshmallow again, not if you don't want ludicrous flashbacks at least.

The recovery for that kind of physical torment is chronic.

I'd run like that once. More than once. I thought I'd managed to get better. Thought I had overcome it.

But as I lay there, the early morning sun sliding through a crack in my hastily drawn curtains, reflecting off the glossy brown hair and soft face that lay comfortably sleeping on my chest, I realised that all my life, I had never managed to take a breath.

I'd been lying there on the floor all these years, gasping for air like a fish out of water, knowing it was futile but convincing myself that I was okay. That I was better.

Now though, she'd shown me the truth. Her very presence had re-inflated my collapsed lungs, had soothed the flames that had refused to die. Just being near her made me a better person, more whole.

It was like I'd been underwater all my life, never knowing that the surface was just a foot above me. She had reached down from above with her hand, grasped at my flailing fingers and pulled me up to face the sun. I had taken a breath that I never knew I needed.

She was oxygen to me.

I was never going to live without her.

Ta – dah! That's it finished then, I hope you liked it. I've started another story, but that won't be posted until later on in the summer. :] Have a good summer, and thanks for following this thing to the end. Special thanks to those who have reviewed, you've been really kind in your support for this story.