The Eighteenth Birthday

Kaelia

I sat cross-legged in the center of the mattress. Darkness swallowed the sparse edges of my room, thick and suffocating. I kept my spine straight, refusing to let my posture sag. My eyes remained shut. I focused on nothing but the exact rhythm of my breath.

In. Hold. Out.

The sequence demanded precision. Shallow, measured, deliberate. This ancient breathing technique was forged centuri