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Maddie and Elyse had met up with Ben on their way to history, since he was in that lesson too. They were now around halfway into the lesson, and Maddie was lightly tapping her pen on her desk. It was the first lesson she had been in in weeks, and it was proving to be difficult for her to adapt again. She was trying to distract herself from the building feeling of anxiety but it was slowly getting worse.
"Maddie?" Elyse whispered. "Are you okay?"
"Mhm." Maddie nodded and looked up. Her hands were shaking slightly but she tried to disguise it by tapping her hands against the desk. She closed her eyes for a second and reopened them, but when she did, her vision was slightly blurred.
"Maddie?" Ben asked, stretching his hand out to touch her shoulder. Maddie flinched at the contact.
"I'm fine." She said harshly as her grip on her pen hardened, so much so that it made her knuckles go white. She began to breathe irregularly and held one of her hands to her forehead, closing her eyes again.
"Madison, Benjamin, what is going on?" The teacher demanded, narrowing her eyes at them.
"Nothing." Maddie muttered, opening her eyes and staring at her desk as her breathing became much more irregular.
"Ma'am, I think that I should take Maddie to the nurse." Ben said, Elyse nodding in agreement.
"I think you are right." The teacher agreed.
"I'm fine." Maddie snapped, smacking her fist against the desk as tears sprang to her eyes. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes darted around the room for a moment. She couldn't handle it anymore. Eventually, she stood up, running out of the classroom without another word.
"Fuck." She heard Elyse say, cuing shrieks from the outraged teacher at Elyse's crude language. Maddie ran down the halls for a while until she eventually couldn't anymore. She rested her head against the wall, not being able to breathe. Her head was spinning, she was shaking a lot. She didn't know what to do.
Suddenly there was a blonde figure in front of her, grasping the redhead's arms and someone behind her trying to help her sit down. Maddie fell onto the floor and began to sob, taking shaky and shallow breaths.
"Shhh." Elyse comforted, quickly sitting in front of Maddie. "Everything's okay." Maddie looked into Elyse's eyes, her own filled with fear. She tried to speak but only gibberish came out. She couldn't breathe.
"Maddie," Ben's voice came from beside her. "He's gone. He can't hurt you. Just breathe." He said softly and calmly. Maddie shook her head. She was trying to listen to his voice and calm down but it wasn't working. She felt dizzy. She felt like she was going to pass out.
"Maddie, breathe." Elyse's voice came from a now blurry figure. "You can do this. We believe in you." She said softly. "Focus on my voice." Maddie shook her head rapidly and continued to breathe irregularly and shake.
"I-I'm going to... p-pass out." She managed to say.
"Elyse, get a medic!" Ben yelled, his voice quieting with each word, or so it seemed to Maddie. Maddie couldn't say anything. Her vision continued to blur and she kept shaking until her whole world went black.
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