Sokeefe Snippets

Foster Panic Attack

"Oh no!" she gasped. "It's time for study hall! Come on Keefe!"

She helped him up and they both rushed to study hall.

Honestly, though—Sophie dragged him the whole way.

"It's fine, Foster," Keefe assured her. "I'm sure no one will notice if we're a few seconds late."

But everyone noticed.

Literally.

Once he and Sophie had walked into the room, all heads turned their way and it got so silent you could've heard a pin drop. Sophie clearly looked like she was panicking, so he quickly pulled her over to their normal table in the corner where all their friends were waiting. The whispers and hushed voices filled the room again, and everything seemed to be normal.

But Sophie was freaked out. Keefe could tell. He didn't even need to be an Empath to know that.

She kept looking over her shoulder, glancing at all the students and fearfully avoiding eye contact. She was even trembling slightly, which no one seemed to notice except him—although he was the only one sitting next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly, but she didn't even notice. It was almost like she'd frozen, she was so stiff.

She was clearly too absorbed into her mind. The spikes of fear and guilt every second was concerning. He noticed that she had gone pale and their friends had too.

"Soph? You okay?" Dex asked. But Sophie didn't respond. Her breathing was ragged and she was as white as a yeti.

They all turned to Keefe for answers. "She had a nightmare yesterday. That's why we both missed classes. I was calming her down. She had a full on panic attack, a really bad one," Keefe whispered, running his fingers down Sophie's back to calm her. He stood up and helped Sophie up too.

"I think maybe you should step out for a bit," he advised. She nodded absent-mindedly and started walking. Keefe noticed she left her satchel behind and turned back to get it.

A thud sounded and it was followed by gasps that echoed around the room. Keefe's head whipped around to find Sophie fallen to the floor, his heart pinching. He ran toward her pushing aside the crowd that had formed around her, the satchel long forgotten.

"SOPHIE!"

He lifted her into his arms and raced her to the Healing Center—Biana, Fitz, Linh, Tam, Dex and Marella all close behind.

He placed her on the cot and Elwin rushed to tend to her. It scared Keefe the way her arms would fall limp when he lifted it. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

Elwin looked up at him, his face pinched with worry.

This wasn't good.

Elwin cleared his throat, adjusting his wonky spectacles before telling them, "She fainted."

Biana snorted. "Obviously! We can see that!"

He ignored her, making a few light orbs float around Sophie's head for a bit before continuing. "It was from stress. And probably anxiety. I'm guessing she had a nightmare recently?" he asked Keefe.

Keefe nodded in confirmation.

Elwin snapped one last time, making all the orbs disappear. "Well, that settles it, then." He opened his satchel, digging around a bit before taking out a Bottle of Youth and a dark blue elixir. "This is for when she wakes up," he said, holding up the Youth, "and the other is to help rebuild her poor cells." The physician carefully tipped the blue elixir into Sophie's mouth and they waited with bated breath until everyone saw her swallow.