Cocoon by Emily Sue Harvey Page B

even for a second. She left the class distressed.
    Panic washed through her like icy rapids.
    What was happening to her?
    â€¢ • •
    Barth’s mouth dropped open when Seana joined him at the dinner table that evening. Her face seemed to belong on another person. It seemed frozen into a mask of stunned remorse.
    â€œSomething’s wrong, Barth,” she muttered through tight lips. “Something horrible’s happening to me.”
    Barth scooted around and took the bar stool next to her. He took her icy hands in his. “What do you think it is?” Her distress was viral. His pulse began to pound in his ears. This is ridiculous, he told himself. Stay calm and reassure Seana.
    â€œI can’t remember a thing the teacher said in class today.”
    Pull it together, Barth.
    Barth sucked in a deep, raw breath and drew Seana into his arms. She was limp as a noodle. “Listen, Babe, you’re okay,” he murmured gently. “You hear me? You’re okay. ”
    Her head moved slowly from side to side. “No, Barth. I’m not okay.” The lackadaisical words pierced his heart and shot terror clean out his fingers and toes.
    â€œYes, you are.” He heard the edge in his voice then backpedaled to gentle mode. “A good night’s sleep is what you need. After that, you’ll feel better. You’ll see.”
    â€¢ • •
    Barth slept restlessly, and every time he turned over, Seana’s eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. “You need to relax, darling; there’s nothing to fear,” he reminded her each time. “Close your eyes and just – let your mind drift.”
    â€œI can’t.” That’s all she said. Just “I can’t.”
    That in itself scared the dickens out of him. Now he knew what that Southern term meant. He was living it. Still … he felt that this was only temporary.
    Finally, around 3:30 a.m., he gently nudged Seana over on her side, into a fetal position, then he spooned against her back, wrapping her in his arms and warmth. The night had been dark and desolate. Endless.
    At least he could give her solace.
    Then, through the floor-to-ceiling window, he watched as daylight swallowed up the darkness and the mountain range grew clear and blue.
    And he felt a spurt of hope.
    That today, Seana would come back to him.
    â€¢ • •
    But Seana did not come back. Was not, in fact, able to function. She was barely able to go to the bathroom and crawl back in bed. She refused to eat unless Barth spoon-fed her. Then she would turn her head away most of the time.
    Barth called Tech and cancelled her lesson for that day, then the next, and finally all of them.
    Sunday came and Seana didn’t go to church, an unheard of thing as a rule. Barth asked Billie Jean to stay with Seana and he volunteered to teach Seana’s kindergarten-age Sunday School class. Easy enough, he decided.
    Joanie Knight volunteered to help him. “Sort of a teacher’s aide.” She grinned at him, and her periwinkle blue eyes, which matched her top-of-the-knees dress, twinkled as she watched the innocent-faced cherubs enter the classroom.
    Barth began to relax. Heck, what could go wrong with such sweet students?
    Gaining their attention, after five minutes of getting them all situated in tiny chairs, wasn’t too bad. Curiosity won out. They’d not seen this gigantic male before in their little setting. They peered openly at him as he read the Sunday school story of the week, about David and the giant, Goliath.
    Barth found himself getting carried away with the drama and began acting out the roles. Only thing, when he got to Goliath, he wasn’t sure how to demonstrate the actual murder. One child, little red-haired Harry Woodall, was on his feet in a heartbeat. “I know,” he pealed and ran to the corner toy box. There, he extracted a rubber sword. A long one. “Dis how Da-bid did