Never Again

A/N For this internal I had to write a problem, it could be anything and I have to then solve it. I chose not to specify the looks, relationship the characters have with each other or their names, so the reader has some freedom in what they are reading and can decide it for themselves. I'm very proud of this and I got Excellence on it, which would be an A in the GPA grading system (we don't use + or - to grade so its just Excellence) So enjoy and let me know what you think :)
P.s please note that I've never had a panick attack before, I've come close, but never fully there, so please let me know if there is anything I should change.

It was happening again. She didn't know why, she didn't want to know why. Knowing would make it worse.

Everything was so loud. The clock, the trees tapping on the widow, even the sound of her heartbeat. Her breathing became fast; her feet unstable.

She stumbled backwards, away from the window, tripping up on her clothes until her back hit a wall.

Sliding to the ground, the girl brought her legs up to her chest. She couldn't think straight and nothing felt right. She wanted her bed. She wanted to lie down, close her eyes and never wake up. Her bed was only a few feet away; she could crawl to it, but her body refused to move.

A pinched cry crawled its way out of her throat, "Help, please, someone. I admit it, I need help, I'm not ok." The dark room responded with silence. "Please." That last word echoed around the room, making her breathing faster, harder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated the words until they became no more than a whisper. She thought it would calm her down, but it didn't. The tears kept coming and the shaking got worse.

She was faintly aware of the door opening and closing and a hand being placed on her shoulder. She flinched and the figure moved away. The tears poured faster.

"You need to calm down. Please calm down." It was a guy, but she couldn't put a face to the voice. She couldn't work out who would be there, who would care about her. "If you don't calm down you are going to choke." She knew that. She knew she was about to cry herself raw and drown in her tears, but she couldn't stop.

Normally after a few deep breaths, she could stop or fall asleep, but this time wasn't like the other times. This time it felt like the weight of the world had finally fallen on her and she couldn't get it off.

If she just let someone help her, or even just talked to someone about everything that was going on in her life; from her family falling apart, to trying to be the person everyone expects her to be, she wouldn't have all this weight on her shoulders. She was too proud to announce that out loud. Her whole life, she had felt like she had to do everything alone and be strong all the time, but she couldn't do that. No one could.

"It's ok, you're ok". The lies. It was not ok, it would never be ok. She was beyond broken and no one could put her back together.

"I'm here, I'm with you, you don't need to be afraid. No one is going to hurt you. I won't let them."

Afraid? She was not afraid. In truth, she didn't know what she was or why she was on the ground panicking, but she knew that she was drowning and that it didn't scare her. If she drowned maybe all the pain would come to an end.

"Can you breathe with me?"

She gave no response, just kept crying. The room fell silent.

"I need you to breathe with me." The girl tried to look up at him but failed.

"Can I touch you?" She didn't know how to respond. She didn't want to be touched but she needed help. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the sound of her ragged breathing.

Warm hands under her chin lifted her head to meet his gentle but worried eyes. "Now we are going to breathe, ready?"

Nodding her head, she sucked in a deep breath. She doubled over in a fit of coughs as her tears got in the way. "Oops, sorry, I should have said through your nose", he moved his hand from her chin to her back. "Can we try again?", she nodded. The guy helped her up into a sitting position. "Now, in through the nose and out through the mouth."

Slowly but surely the tears stopped and her breathing slowed. He began to pick her up. She stiffened and he froze. A little voice went off in her head. 'You need to relax. You've known him for as long as you can remember, just trust him, accept his help. You will relapse if you don't accept help'. The voice was right, she had to start letting other people take some of the weight she carries.

Slowly she let her back melt against the wall and made a sloppy effort of putting her arms in the air like a toddler asking to be picked up. Taking that as his cue, he picked her up bridal style and carried her over to her bed.

He sat with her, running his fingers through her hair until her eyes began to drop. Just before her world faded to black, she whispered, "Never again." 

A/N That's it, I had a word limit of 500 words, but I was allowed to go over whilst editing, so that's why it's short, hope you enjoyed it and I would really love some constructive criticism or feedback :)