FEATURED STORY
RECENT STORIES
STORIES BY TOPIC
NEWS
TRANSPORTER
Take me to a...
SEARCH
Enter any portion of the author name or story title:
For more options, try our:
SUBSCRIBE
Sign up for free daily sci-fi!
your email will be kept private
TIDBITS
Get a copy of Not Just Rockets and Robots: Daily Science Fiction Year One. 260 adventures into new worlds, fantastical and science fictional. Rocket Dragons Ignite: the anthology for year two, is also available!
SUBMIT
Publish your stories or art on Daily Science Fiction:
If you've already submitted a story, you may check its:
DAILY SCI-FI
Not just rockets & robots...
"Science Fiction" means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer.






Breath

Chelsea Berghoefer has been writing stories for as long as she can remember. She enjoys the challenge of taking things that she feels and observes and communicating them in ways that resonate with others. She currently lives between California and South Korea.

I never knew I could hold my breath for so long. But every time I heard the door open, every time the footsteps came towards me, time felt slower. The footsteps took longer to hit the floor, and my breath took twice as much time to go in and out of my lungs.
I didn't want to know how long I could go without breathing, and I had to be getting close to my limit.
So I waited until the stars were out, and I could hear snoring, and I left. I wished I had a bag to pack, but there was nothing for me to bring. I barely owned my own skin. The outside air, it smelled like freedom and my breath came easier, for a moment.
Then I learned--it turns out there's lot of things in the world just like those footsteps. It turns out there's lots of things that make you hold your breath.
But at least I got to choose where I took my last.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, September 6th, 2018
Become a Member!

We hope you're enjoying Breath by Chelsea Berghoefer.

Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.

Daily Science Fiction is not accepting memberships or donations at this time.

Rate This Story
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):

Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.

3.9 Rocket Dragons Average
Share This Story
Join Mailing list
Please join our mailing list and receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept 100% private):