A lifetime ago, a girl promised to go wherever a boy went. Sometimes, Sydney wasn't sure she was that girl anymore. But when that boy took her hand, Sydney followed him. He was hurting, deep in a cycle of anguish that had probably been buried for as long as the silence had existed between them, and how could she pull her hand away? How could she walk away when she knew what his suffering looked like? How it eventually bubbled to the surface?
Sydney only stood for a moment before she followed him to the sand as well, dropping to her knees beside him. His panic was terrifying and cruel, consuming him, and her heart ached for him. Even after everything, her heart still ached for Wes.
With his words, Sydney closed her eyes, stretching an arm across his back as her cheek rested gently against his arm. Her hand moved slowly, tracing easy patterns up to his shoulders, down his back. She kept her eyes closed, and her other hand settled atop his in the sand, gripping as tight as he was clinging to the ground. He needed something solid to hold onto. Something less likely to slip through his fingers.
"You can," she whispered. "I know you can. Just one breath in, Wes. That's all you need to think about right now. Taking that one, deep breath."