𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜'𝗺 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗖𝗼𝗰𝗼 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿
𝗢𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗰𝗼 𝗩𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗷𝗸

𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗉𝖺𝗇𝗂𝖼 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝖺𝖼𝗄𝗌! 𝖯𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗂𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗈𝗉𝗂𝖼 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎! 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖨 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗋𝖾𝖽! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲!

As I enter my house with tiredness from the day kicking in, I simply plop on the couch, not having any energy to go into my room to change my clothes and sleep in my bed properly. I feel my eyes droop, closing with sleep lying heavy on them. But before I can even score a second of sleep, my phone begins to ring rapidly.

I pull my phone out of my pocket to see my girlfriend, Coco calling me. Without even stopping for a second to think, I swipe my thumb against the screen, accepting the call.

"Hey Coco," I say, intending to be quite cheery but failing due to my tiredness kicking in.

"H-hey," I hear her stammer. My eyebrows knit together in confusion.

Is she okay?

"Coco, love, are you okay?" I ask, sitting straight on the couch. A few seconds pass and no reply comes through. I pose the same question again.

"Are you okay love?" I repeat.

"Can- can you come ov-over?" She says, her voice low and shaky. Without a single doubt, I get up from the couch and run out of my house to my car.

"I am coming over love, just a few minutes." I disconnect the call, sitting in the car and driving it out of the driveway. Once I come on the road, I begin my drive, my speed faster than usual as I rush to Coco's house.

Our houses being only a short distance away, I reach her house within five minutes. I quickly park my car outside and rush to the door, ringing a bell.

No response comes through when I suddenly remember Coco is alone at home today. Using the spare key she gave me for such moments, I barge inside her house, rushing up the stairs to her room.

The door of her room is completely shut. I take a quick moment to catch my breath, before knocking on the door. "Coco love, are you okay?" I ask. She doesn't say anything. I gently pull down the latch of the door and push it. The lights in her room are quite dim. Her bed is covered with books, notebooks, papers, pens, pencils spread on it. I look around to notice her sitting on the floor in the corner, completely bunched in a ball. Her rapid breathes echo off the walls of the room.

"Coco, I'm here, I'm here," I say, rushing up to her and and wrapping my arms around her shoulder. Her crying becomes even more rapid when she leans her head into my chest, while I trace light circles on her back with my hands. Some time passes, for which Coco sobs in my t-shirt, and I let her. I let her let it all out, because it's better to let out all your feelings instead of burying them in.

As I keep on murmuring comforting words in her ears, Coco pulls back, her face tear stained. My hands instantly cup her cheeks to wipe all the tears away. Her breathe becomes more normal than staggered, as her visibly tense body relaxes.

"What happened my love?" I ask softly. Her bloodshot eyes pierce mine.

"I had- I had another panic attack," she sniffles, "I am- I am so scared..." Her voice fades away as she bursts in another fit of cries, this time silent than the last one.

Coco has been quite in the deep since the past few weeks. With wanting to achieve her degree with a great score, she has been under the constant stress to study all day long. She mostly overworks herselves and tires out, which leads to her taking less sleep. She worries a lot which leads to anxiety and panic attacks.

I have been meeting up with her as often as I can, so as to be there for her whenever she needs me. Coco is the most intelligent person I know. She will pass with flying colors; no doubt, but Coco takes time to believe in herselves. I have been constantly reminding her about how perfect she is and how she will ace the exams, but she can only believe this once she believes in herselves.

"Coco," I begin, "you've been stressing out a lot these few days. Let's take a break. Do you want to watch a movie or a show?" I ask. Her soft eyes look at mine, practically begging me to make her take a break.

"Yes please," She whispers. We both get up from the floor and walk to her bed. I pick up all of her notebooks, papers, pens lying around the bed and place them on her bedside table. She grabs her laptop and opens Tangled, her favorite Disney movie.

As the movie begins, Coco rests her head against my shoulder whilst my hands play with her hair and lightly massage her scalp. Not even ten minutes pass when Coco is fast asleep in my arms, her body finally at peace.

Author's note

Heyyy *waves aggresively*

I hope you enjoyed this oneshot! Please note that in no way was I romanticizing the topic of panic attacks. It is a serious issue and many people struggle with it. I, for one, have anxiety and it mostly gets the best of me.

Please get some help if you are undergoing through anything, and if you ever want to talk to me, don't hesitate to text me AT ALL. I promise I'll be a great listener 🥺

Please vote and comment! And more importantly, have some food, some hydrogen and oxygen in the ratio 2:1 (i'm sorry but my irl guy friend is rubbing off on me 😍) and take enough sleep because your body needs it!

With love through health and sickness
Keziah