Once Johnny let go of his breath, the strange tingling in his muscles faded away. He looked over at Edward who smiled proudly.

“Well done, Johnny,” Edward said as he put his wooden sandals back on.

“We’re done for today, get some rest.” Edward continued

“What? I just started to finally understand how to breathe!” Johnny protested.

“Yes. You have. Now rest.” Edward demanded.

“Why?!” Johnny screamed.

Annoyed by Johnny’s protesting, Edward walked towards Johnny and plucked him on his head.

“Ouch!” Johnny screamed while rubbing his head.

“You’ve accomplished a great thing, but now you need to allow your body to rest otherwise it’ll fall apart,” Edward instructed.

Johnny finally conceded, pushed past Edward, and begrudgingly went back inside their home pouting like a child that had just been scolded.

For the next month, Johnny and Edward repeatedly practiced outside, and as time passed Johnny became able to hold his breath for longer periods. The New Year celebration had come and gone and the cold snow layered on top of itself in January.

Johnny and Edward sat at their table drinking hot chocolate out of their mugs, enjoying watching the snow fall from the clear sky.

“Now that you’ve gotten used to inhaling, it’s now time for you to learn how to exhale,” Edward said having finished his cup of hot chocolate.

“Finally,” Johnny replied.

Edward shot a glare at an overexcited Johnny, causing him to immediately apologize for getting worked up.

“It’s fine to be excited, but don’t be impatient,” Edward said.

“Okay…” Johnny meekly said as if he had just been scolded.

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Edward got up from his seat at the dinner table, filled a glass with a cup of water, and placed it in front of Johnny.

“Watch,” Edward said after he hovered his index finger over the water ever so slightly touching it.

Instantly the water froze inside of the cup to Johnny’s surprise.

“Magic…” Johnny whispered to himself.

Just as quickly, the water turned back into liquid.

“Now you do it,” Edward demanded.

“Okay,” Johnny said with hesitation.

Johnny hovered his finger over the water inside of the cup just like Edward had done. Johnny went intending to “freeze” the water, but nothing happened.

“Why didn’t it work?” Johnny asked while he stared with confusion at the cup of water.

“That’s the difference between inhaling and exhaling. By inhaling, the user breathes life into their own body. With exhaling, the user must breathe life into the object.” Edward explained.

“So how do I do that?” Johnny asked.

“Instead of concentrating on the water, concentrate on the finger that is touching the water.” Edward continued.

Edward fell silent giving no other instructions.

Johnny closed his eyes and focused entirely on his that hovered on top of the water, but nothing had changed, so he then tried with his eyes opened, staring intently at his finger, and nothing happened. He slowly began to get frustrated as minutes turned into hours and then into days.

“Why isn’t this working?!” Johnny thought to himself.

Getting up from his seat at the dinner table, Johnny went into the freezer and grabbed as many ice cubes as he could in one hand.

“Maybe this will work,” he thought to himself.

Johnny tried to imprint the cold feeling into his mind as his hand began to turn numb from the cold. He even tried to memorize the pins and needles in his hand. Then eventually, Johnny held the ice for so long that it began to melt. Once the ice had completely melted into a puddle in front of him, Johnny hovered his finger over the cup of water once again.

The stinging from the water touching his frozen finger caused Johnny to wince in pain, but he kept his finger hovering over the water and once again intended to “freeze” the water, but nothing happened. Giving in to his frustration, Johnny picked up the cup of water and flung it into the wall causing the mug to shatter. Edward came from upstairs to check on Johnny,

“What happened?” Edward calmly asked, examining the situation.

“Why can’t I do it? It’s been nearly ten days of me just sitting in this chair and looking at that mug.” Johnny questioned, balling his fists.

Edward sighed as he walked over to the scattered glass, gathered the broken pieces into his hand, and the mug was restored to its original form.

He filled it with water and placed it in front of Johnny once again.

“Keep trying.” Edward encouraged Johnny.

Edward returned upstairs leaving Johnny by himself again.

Johnny took a deep breath to calm down and began to think.

“Okay. Maybe I need to think about this differently. If I think about it like I’m an electrical plug and the water is the socket. That’s simple enough right?” Johnny thought.

Johnny began to take deep breaths as he stared at his right hand. He sucked in all the air that he could, hovered his index over the cup of the water, and “discharged” causing the mug to slightly crack.