The Blackout ⤖ George Russell

T H I R T Y O N E

"So, how was Switzerland?" Ben curiously asked when they arrived at a park.

"Besides a massive panic attack, very nice," Nora replied and opened the door of the car as soon the car was parked. "The nature is beautiful, the surroundings are amazing, the people are kind. I needed it, I needed the time for myself."

Ben nodded. "Everything is fine now?"

"Yeah, I was just overthinking." He didn't have to know what was going on, how she felt about the crash. "Nothing to worry about," she smiled.

He locked the car. "Alright, different scene, but we are still going to work hard today. I'm gonna spice up your routine," he announced.

She widened her eyes and teased him by looking worriedly. "Is it worse?"

"Nope," Ben replied and smiled widely.

"It is," Nora breathed. "But okay, go on."

"For the past few weeks, we have been working on getting back the strength, and to my surprise, everything goes extremely well. I haven't seen someone whose strength is that good as yours after a coma in a few months," he priced her. Nora happily smiled. "We're going to do some exercises and a bit of an interval training. Change of location, it may help you to give more power. It is up to you if you can handle it, if you don't feel it, we will stop. That's fine as well," he promised her. "We are going to bring you back to your old level, but in baby steps. Do you want that?"

She looked impressed. "You seriously can replace Damien, you're a doctor, not a personal trainer, Benjamin."

"Trust me, Damien has given me an instruction manual with every in and out of how this works," he smirked. "But are you in?"

"Yes," Nora blurted. "Of course. Is that even a question?" She closed the zipper of her training coat; she was dressed up in her old run clothes - it fitted, but it was tight.

Ben smirked, that was right. "First we will walk for 45 seconds, then 20 seconds running, 45 seconds walking and so on. Don't start too fast, baby steps."

The two people did an interval program, alternately with other exercises to make it variate. It wasn't much, but it felt horrible to Nora. She stopped, put her hands on her knees and tried to catch some air. Ben stopped as well.

"Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "I can't..." She was panting. Her eyes closed, the cold air was cutting on her skin. "Can we stop?" The words were pressed over her lips.

"It's fine, it's okay," Ben said supportively. "Breathe in through your nose, out by the mouth," he said. Nora nodded and followed up his instructions. "You did an amazing job!"

A painful look flushed over Nora's face when she stood straight up again. The freezing cold air felt unpleasant in her lungs.

Ben noticed the look on her face. "Are you hurt?"

"My lungs...burning...cold."

Their eyes met. "It's fine, your body needs to get used to it. Don't panic." The panic was flickering in her eyes.

"How long..?"

"Don't try to talk, Nora," he said. His eyes glanced over his watch. "Eleven minutes." He gave her a bottle of water.

Nora raised her eyes. "Are you joking?" She breathed heavily and cleared her throat. "It feels like..." She deeply breathed in. "...like I ran for a whole day, non-stop." She took a big sip from the bottle.

"How are you feeling? Besides the fact you're breathless. How did it feel?"

"I feel like I have been pushed to the limit, what is odd because I have been working out for only eleven minutes." Her eyes glanced over the trees. "But it felt good, outside's feeling good."