As annoying as the situation was to him and as frustrating the knowledge of what was about to happen with his body was, Lucas just kept running. The last time such a hard rain fell and he allowed himself the leisure of walking slowly in the rain as his clothes became drenched he got himself pneumonia and took two full months to fully recover from its effects, and as such, despite knowing that his asthma would be triggered and that the wheezing tight throat hell that was the experience would soon occur followed by aching all over his body and a drastic drop of stamina to the point where he would feel his already heavier body due to the rain-soaked clothes feel like it weights twice as much as before, he just ran with all his might.

The library was still a solid ten minutes away at his current speed and although it was still considered quite close in general terms, to him and his trashy stamina this distance was an absolute nightmare. Running recklessly and without warming up first like he was doing was a stupid idea above all else and he knew it. At best, if he adjusted his running and reduced his speed, he could keep running at a moderate pace for five more minutes, but considering that he wanted to dodge pneumonia to the best of his abilities he found himself with no other choice but to speed up and find a place to rest, dry properly and take his asthma medicine.

"Can't....let....pneumonia....again....not....enough cash....to buy medicine...and patience...to recover...."

As his breathing began to get heavier and his throat began to lock down making the act of drawing fresh breaths a colossal effort, even his thoughts began to slow down and match the rhythm of his breath. It was a process he was too familiar with at this point. First, his shoulders would get stiff and feel incredibly heavy, and as that thought crossed his mind they rapidly became so. His shoulders slumped downwards as his back began to, ever so slowly, bend down.

Then, heat would build up in his body and temporarily increase his movement with the collateral effect of increasing his sweating ratio to the point that in seconds he would be dripping with sweat. First, it was his chest that heated up. He could easily feel the pain in his muscles fade somewhat as the warm feeling spread from the center of his chest and went outwards and mere instants after the sweat began to condense in the area with a hot feeling to them that let him easily distinguish the beads from the rainwater.

His armpits came right after together with his forehead. The friction of his arms moving and brushing against his ribs just sped up the sweat condensation process together with the feeling of heat that would soon enough spread to his shoulders, arms and neck. As the forehead sweated soon followed his face. Thanks to his unusual cheek condition, his face flushed scarlet in instants and he seemed as if his face would produce blood through the skin at any moment. The only exception was the discolored skin around his left eye, in contrast to the rest of the flushed red face, the discoloration only seemed to become even whiter, resembling a deformed small blot of white ink in his face.

Afterwards, his back began to heat up, and as the pain on it subsided somewhat Lucas used the moment to contract his back muscles and straighten himself releasing several cracking sounds and a marvellous sensation of relief as his spine got back into place.

"Haaaah...."

A sigh escaped his lips as a smile crept on his face amidst the overheating turmoil that his body felt like right now. But then the familiar ritual continued as the rest of the effects he was all too familiar with played out. His chest then quickly started to hurt as his heart sped up to the rate that it felt like the effort it was exerting was so grand that it was giving light jabs at his chest cavity bones from the inside.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

His feet started to hurt and feel gross as his socks and sneakers filled to the brim with rainwater and his pants got even heavier as they became soaked with water all the way to his underwear. As his body entered in overheating standards and pain spread to every muscle, coupled with his short breath that was starting to make him feel dizzy, Lucas suddenly saw a few meters away from him a sophisticated bar that his brain quickly identified as a new expensive bar that had heat control inside that just recently opened.

"A chance!"

He sped up a bit further and in a few instants, he reached the blue door of the surprisingly small bar that as he thought for a bit more he classified as more of a pub than an actual cheap bar that he was so used to see in his town. It was a blue glass door that had a metallic black handle attached to it and had a beautiful white calligraphy engraved on it that said "La Maison du Vin". He had a slight knowledge of French, so he immediately recognized the meaning of the words.

"The wine mansion?"

At this point he didn't care much if he would have to interact with possibly annoying people and just pushed his doubts away together with the blue door and entered the place. The instant he did a smile rapidly crept into his dripping wet face as a warm and fragrant gust of air that carried the thick and pleasant smell of wine with it washed of him.

There were but three steps to reach the counter inside. The ground was covered with a smooth and surprisingly, at least in Lucas's perspective, clean crimson carpet that gave the whole place a feeling of being stuffy and warm. Contrary to his expectations though, there was no customer inside and the only person besides himself inside the place was the owner that looked at his with a slightly shocked expression as well as a pitiful gaze in his eyes.

His eyes met the owner's and for an instant, the both of them stood silently gazing at one another. As if coming out of a trance, Lucas nodded his head and spoke a short greeting.

"Good Afternoon"

His voice came out raspy and out pained despite his best efforts to hide his current asthma crisis, which immediately gave away his condition and the owner not being deaf or brain impaired, obviously noticed his struggling disposition and said.

"Come in, have a seat"

Lucas didn't stand any ceremony and quickly sat on one of the three benches across the counter, choosing the centermost one. The owner being a smart businessman then spoke amicably.

"Don't worry about buying anything, for now, recover your breath and dry up for a while. I know how having asthma in a surprise rain like this feels like"

Lucas then looked at the man surprised and silently gazed at him as if asking.

"You have asthma too?"

The owner noticed it and smiling replied.

"Asthma is something I have had to deal with for a long time now, so don't worry. I understand your struggle"

Lucas gave a short nod and went silent as his body slumped over the counter and his deep breaths sounded out inside the store. His eyes were barely open and his head was leaned on his arms as his heart began to slow down. The temperature inside the place grew a tad higher as a hot wind blew from the ceiling unto him and he could feel that his body was already slightly drying, despite at a really slow speed. But, considering his current condition and state, he could not complain about as at least he was drying and erasing the danger of catching pneumonia again.

As his breathing stabilized, Lucas could still feel his air absorption capabilities were still reduced. He then produced an L shaped white plastic asthma breather out of his pocket that he had luckily remembered to bring along with him and put it in his mouth, pressing the button on top of it and releasing a quick and shot burst of pressurized gas inside his mouth that travelled straight to his lungs giving a cold feeling as it passed through his throat. He held his breath for a few seconds to let the medicine take effect and then released it with a pleasantly relaxed sigh.

"haaaah...."

The next breath he took was considerably easier to take and a satisfied smile appeared on his face as his previously tense facial muscles relaxed and the frown on his expression disappeared, giving way to a tranquil face that exuded bliss.