3312. Breathless © Bruce Goodman 29 August 2025

Matthew was lying in bed and he could hear himself breathing. It was a wheezy breathing so he gave a little cough. The wheezy breathing continued, and then he realized that it wasn’t the sound of him breathing at all; it was something else. If he stopped breathing momentarily he could still hear the breathing, and he could feel the flow of air going in and out of his mouth. There was definitely something living inside his body somehow. Matthew sat on the side of his bed. Yes, there was definitely something breathing inside his body. When daylight came he made an appointment to see a doctor. The doctor was no help. She simply said it was all in his head. Matthew accepted that and went home. Time passed but the awareness of something breathing inside his body wouldn’t go away. It drove Matthew to madness. That’s when he, sadly, took his own life. The undertaker was getting ready to take the body away when a policeman called out, “Hey! He’s still breathing.” Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story