Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

in through his nose and out his mouth. His bandana—purple today, with little
yellow stars—sat crooked on his head.
Apollo turned his head, looking at Wallace. He whined again.
“It’s all right,” Wallace told him. “Everything is fine.”
He kept his distance, stopping in the middle of the deck. He left the chairs
alone, deciding to sit where he stood.
He waited.
It took a long time, but Wallace didn’t push. He wouldn’t. Not when Hugo
was like this. It wouldn’t help. So he sat there, head bowed, tapping his
finger on the boards beneath him, a tiny sound to let Hugo know he was there.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Quiet, soft, but a connection, a reminder. Tap, tap, tap. You’re
not alone. I’m here. Breathe. Breathe. He knew what this was. He’d seen it
before.
Hugo sucked in ragged breaths, his chest heaving, face scrunched up, eyes
unfocused, dazed. And Wallace didn’t move, didn’t try to talk to him. He kept
on tapping on the deck, keeping the beat, like a metronome.
Wallace must have tapped his finger a hundred times before Hugo spoke.
“I’m fine,” he said, voice hoarse.
“Okay,” Wallace said easily. “But it’s all right if you’re not, too.” He
hesitated. “Panic attacks are no joke.”
Hugo opened his eyes, glassy and wet. He rubbed a hand over his face,
groaning quietly. “That’s an understatement. How did you know to…” He
waved his hand at Wallace and the distance between them.
“Naomi had them when she was younger.”
“Your wife?”
“Ex-wife,” Wallace said automatically. “She … I didn’t understand them,
or what could trigger them. She explained it to me, but I don’t know that I
listened very well. They were few and far between, but when they hit, they
were savage. I tried to help her, tried to tell her just to breathe through it, and
she…” He shook his head. “She told me that it was as if a dozen hands were
clawing at her, choking her. Squeezing her lungs. They were irrational, she
said. Chaotic. Like her body was fighting her. And yet I still thought she
could power through them if she really wanted to.”
“If only that’s how it worked.”
“I know,” Wallace said simply. Then, “Apollo helps.”
Apollo thumped his tail at the sound of his name.