Matthew began to run back towards the Adventurer's Guild at breakneck speed. The feeling in his chest was growing worse and worse. It was like the world was about to end.
He saw the door and burst through it, running to the kitchen because that is where he had just left Sarah.
When he stepped into the room, he was dripping with sweat and looked like he had seen a dragon.
Matthew ignored everyone and ran for his sister that was standing and talking with one of the slaves.
"Sarah, come with me!" Matthew grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room where Bowser was still residing.
"What? MATTY!" Sarah finally noticed that something was extremely wrong with her brother.
[He is diaphoretic, pulse pressure is increase, pupillary response…rapid heart rate. He is having a panic attack?]
Sarah sat him down and tried to perform a more extensive assessment, looking for any obvious wounds or anything that would have caused this when she asked, "Matty, what is going on?"
Matthew was beginning to calm down a little and he looked her in the eye and said, "I felt like the world was about to end. I had just killed a slime, and something must have casted a curse on me!"
Sarah stood there for a second and then gave her brother a large hug.
"Sara-"As Matthew was going to ask why she was hugging him, she cut him off with a *shhh*.
Matthew hugged his sister and closed his eyes. The feeling was going away a little bit.
After a minute of hugging, Matthew released from the hug and had a confused look on his face.
"Sarah, the feeling went away, but nobody used a [Cleanse] on me? The curse should still be there."
Sarah looked at Matthew and said, "It wasn't a curse. It was a panic attack."
"A panic attack? Hahaha, no, it had to be a curse or something." Matthew stood up as he went to pet Bowser.
"Matty, you had a lot of the symptoms of a panic attack. The "impending doom" and the trouble breathing are pretty common among people suffering from panic attacks."
Matthew looked at Sarah and said, "I am not weak. It wasn't a panic attack."
Sarah calmly walked over and smacked Matthew across the face.
"OUCH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Matthew was angry for real.
"You shouldn't be dismissive of the truth, Matty. Mom always told you that." Sarah turned and walked away, leaving Matthew to rub the spot on his face.
"Sarah! It couldn't have been a panic attack…I just don't get them, ya' know. I am just not like that." Matthew was walking after her.
Sarah turned back towards him and looked him dead in the eye.
"Matty, I know you think you are invincible, but after what just happened…you can't tell me that you are really fine."
Matthew was stunned at his sister's brashness.
"I-I…" Matthew attempted to defend himself but he realized that he was scared.
"Sarah…I am worried." Matthew hung his head low and told the honest truth.
"What are you worried about?" Sarah wanted him to get his feelings out in the open instead of just yelling about it when it became too much to handle.
Matthew muttered, "I don't want to lose you again."
Sarah just nodded, as if to continue speaking.
"I CAN'T lose you again…" Matthew looked at the floor dejectedly.
"Matty, have you ever talked to someone able "my" death." Sarah could see that these wounds were very deep as Matthew began to tremble.
"Nope. I don't even talk to mom or dad about it. Ever since I dropped out of college, I have just been working on bringing "you" back." Matthew slumped over as Bowser came to lick his face.
"Hey, Bowser…not now buddy." Matthew pushed Bowser's snout away and wouldn't let him lick his face.
Sarah looked at her feet and walked over to Matthew. She sat down next to him and began to hold his hand.
She was thinking about how broken he must have been, spending all of that time alone…working on something that he didn't even know would work.
"Hey, Matty, what was your back up plan if this whole thing didn't work?" Sarah looked up at the ceiling and stared where Matthew was looking.
"Back up plan? Oh...." Matthew looked at the ground.
Sarah saw a hopeless look on her brother's face. She then asked, "Did you have a back up plan at all?"
Matthew sat there and did not answer her.
"Matty, you can tell me."
"Yeah, my back up plan was the 9mm. I believe you call it "high-velocity lead poisoning."
Matthew got up and walked into the kitchen, but as he was about to step through the door, Sarah pulled him back into the room.
Sarah stared at Matthew as he looked away, avoiding eye contact.
"Matty, I love you." Sarah gave Matthew a big hug and said, "I will never leave you again. Even if I die, I am just a copy of myself and I will reunite with you again."
Matthew still just stood there. He felt an endless pit form in his stomach. It had been over a decade since he actually told someone what he felt.
"I just can't lose you…and I can't guarantee that I can protect you. Can you just force eject us?" Matthew was staring in her eyes, pleading to leave.
"Matty, I have to tell you something else…" Sarah looked away.
"The method I was going to use didn't involve the administrator access."
Matthew looked confused and then asked, "What do you mean? Did you lie about that?"
Matthew was about to storm out of the room, but Sarah continued, "I was getting messages that told me what to say during the character creation phase…but and the last one said to "contact" her if we needed help. But during the fight it felt like there was something blocking me from doing it. The message part felt…fuzzy, and when I try now it still feels the same way....endless static separating me from her."
Matthew stood there and thought about it.
[It would make sense that the message system wouldn't work. We are fucking flowing through time at Mach 2 and the layer is gone.]
"Sarah, we might be stuck for a while then…"