Read Serving of Poison :: What is this feeling?

Ryan was hunched over the bar table with clenched fists on the table and was sweating buckets. He was flushed, cold and lightheaded, eyes widened but out of focus. He tried to move but each movement felt disconnected and sluggish, like he was a ghost trying to make his body work. Only the locked joints of his arms were holding him up. His head was getting squeezed by an invisible pressure and his abdomen tightened and felt piercing pain like he was being stabbed. He was trying his best to be strong but the pain was too much for his body to bear.

Whenever he attempted it only got worse and he had to hold back his screams and after two attempts at getting up he broke. He felt weight over his eyelids and he started seeing double due to the pain, his body was shutting down but he couldn’t let that happen. He was the fearless leader after all.

“What’s…h- hap- happening?” he croaked as he swayed and fell towards Andrea’s side, right off his bar stool. Andrea shot up in the nick of time despite her full stomach.

“Ryan!!” She caught him by the shoulders before he hit the ground. Andrea led his body down to the floor slowly by balancing his bodyweight through the firm grip she had on his shoulders. They were both now on the hardwood floor of the bar, with the worried teammate supporting the weakened leader’s head on her laps as he lay on the floor, shivering. There was concerned chatter all around them at this point and Andrea shook Ryan’s body in panic. She yelled, “Stay with me Ry! What happened?! Ryan!” Ryan’s body shook like a ragdoll in her strong arms and he clenched his eyes and gritted his teeth in pain while squeezing the fabric of his sky blue T-shirt that covered his chest.

Liam was now just standing over the hero duo. He was unmoving and surprisingly…stunned. He felt his heart racing. This isn’t right? Why does he feel fear and anger and overwhelmed with so many feelings?

“Call an ambulance! Somebody, please!” screamed Andrea with a shaky voice but trying to take charge of the situation without panicking or breaking down. Her voice echoed and was muffled to Liam’s ears. He stared blankly at Ryan’s shuddering form as he breathed in short, ragged breaths. Seeing him suffer made the undercover assassin feel too much. Too much of the wrong things. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding against his own chest, it was so loud that he couldn’t think straight.

The killer’s inner voice rambled worriedly, “Why can’t I think straight? I…I don’t understand… What is this feeling?” He couldn’t fathom the whirlpool of emotions that were consuming Liam after having killed his target. He coughed up a bit of blood. Ryan cracked his eyes open, barely holding on to consciousness. His face was etched with pain and his glazed over eyes locked with Liam’s.

He shakily raised his hand to hold it out towards Liam, almost asking the man to hold it and gasped, “L-Liam… Why?” That was Liam’s breaking point and his world could be heard shattering around him.