The Adventures of a Cosmic Girl: Vol. 1

Chapter Nine: Panic

Void stiffly marched towards the house. His stilled movements kind of reminded Cosmic Girl of a robot. Maybe flying took more out of him than he liked to admit.

Cosmic Girl followed closely behind her partner, shivering as the cool night air blew against her face.

Once Void reached the crimson front door of the suburban house he paused. His hand hovered over the door, but something seemed to hold him back from knocking.

Sighing Void screwed his eyes shut in determination. He looked like a diver about to jump into ice cold waters. Finally he knocked.

A dog started frantically barking from inside the house, causing Cosmic Girl to jump slightly in surprise.

The door swung open suddenly to reveal a short, plump woman, with long, gray-streaked black hair.

"Whatever your selling I'm not buying! So you can. . ." Her brown eyes focused on Void. He opened his mouth as if to speak but she cut him off.

"Conor?" For a moment her face softened, and Cosmic Girl could have sworn she saw a look of relief flick across her face. As soon as it appeared it was gone.

"Why are you here?" She asked pointedly.

Void's eyes avoided her's like the plague.

"We need a place to stay for the night. I didn't know where else to go."

Cosmic Girl cast a sideways look at her partner. He stood tall but she could tell by his body language that he was incredibly nervous. His arms were crossed defensively over his chest, and his posture was unnaturally ridgid, like a statue.

"We?" The woman asked confused. It was at that moment that she noticed Cosmic Girl for the first time.

Void took a quick step to the side, to partially block her from view. The blonde teen didn't know whether to feel indignant, or relieved. She settled on a little bit of both.

"Yes we. This is my . . . Friend. . . Betty."

Betty could easily pick out the hesitation in his tone, so apparently could the mystery woman.

"Oh yes of course! It's nice to meet you Conor's 'friend' 'Betty'!" The woman exclaimed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"Look mom I'm not asking you to let us live here. Just to let us spend the night, and get some stuff from my room," Conor's face was passive, but Betty thought she could detect a note of pleading in his voice.

'Mom?' Betty repeated in her head. Taking a closer look at the woman she could see the resemblance. They shared the same dark hair, golden brown eyes, and the same smooth complexion.

The woman, who Betty now knew to be Mrs. Chakrabarti side stepped out of the doorway.

"Fine come in!" She said in a resigned voice. "Just don't let Kylie see you. I don't want to get his hopes up."

Conor's face fell at her last comment.

"Thank you."

He guided Betty past his mother and down a narrow hallway. At the end of the hall he opened a poster covered door, and ushered her in.

Inside the room was a stark contrast to the door. The only things in the room were a full sized bed, and a night stand with a lamp. The walls were bare, and the whole room gave off a cold, unlived in vibe that made Betty shiver slightly.

Conor carefully closed the door behind them.

"Over there is the closet," he said pointing to a sliding door. "There should be some sweatpants, and a tee-shirt you can wear. They won't fit you perfectly, but they'll be more inconspicuous than these things."

Betty nodded, but didn't make to move. They stood there for a moment in awkward silence.

About a million questions were flying through Betty's mind. Why wasn't he welcome at home? Who was Kylie? What breed of dog did he have?  But she knew better than to ask any of them.

"Fine!" He said breaking the silence. "I'll go first!" His tone was harsh, but Betty could tell that it wasn't really directed at her.

He walked briskly over to closet, flinging the door open than ceiling it behind him.

With her partner out of sight an intense feeling of isolation came over Betty. Her breathing slowly started to become more erratic, as her knees began to waver under her weight.

"No not now!" She choked out, her breathing getting worse.

She collapsed to the ground and curled herself into a ball. Her body was trembling uncontrollably, she felt like a leaf in a hurricane. She tried to take a deep breath but her throat constricted everytime she tried. The room started to spin. Betty held her eyes shut in hopes of drowning it all out, but to no avail.

'There all dead! You know they are! You should run while you still can!' Betty tried to shut out the frantic voice in her head, but she could not.

'It's all your fault! You should have been there! You should have stopped them!'

She feebly shook her head in protest causing her nausea to worsen.

'You should have died with them!'

"No," she choked out almost silently.

"Betty?" She heard her partner call out. Betty ignored him too caught up in her panic to pay him any mind.

"Betty!" He called out again, this time closer.

She still did not respond. Conor kneeled down next to his partner.

"Cosmic. . . I mean Betty is it ok if I touch you?"

It took her a moment to acknowledge his request. She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak but couldn't get any words out. Eventually she nodded.

Conor sat down next to Betty, placing her head in his lap. The teenage girl's eyes remind shut.

"Betty I need to look at me," He said, in an uncharacteristically kind voice.

At first Betty did not comply.

"Betty please."

She opened her eyes. Conor's calm face was looking down at her. His golden-brown eyes full of concern.

"Focus on me. Breath with me Betty. Deep breath in. . . Deep breath out."

It didn't start working instantly, but after a good ten minutes of breathing exercises Betty started to calm down. She was still shaking slightly, and felt very on edge, but she was able to breathe freely again.

"Feeling better?" Conor asked, noticing his partner's stable breathing.

Betty nodded. "Yeah I'm better now. It was just a. . ."

"Panic attack?" Her partner guessed.

"Yeah," she replied sitting up. "How'd you guess?"

"My little brother gets them sometimes. If you want to go down to the bathroom and take a show you can. That usually helps him calm down. My mom's probably left for her shift at the hospital so we don't have to worry about her."

Betty nodded again. "A shower sounds nice."

Conor helped her up then lead her to the closest to pick out some fresh clothes, before directing her towards the bathroom.

Betty finally started to fully relax as the hot water ran down her back. The future was still very uncertain but at least she wasn't alone.

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Sorry I haven't been updating lately! I've had some really bad writers block. I rewrote this chapter more times than I can remember, and I'm still not all that satisfied with but oh well. I hope you enjoyed. I'd love any and all kinds of feedback :)