Arms Of A Stranger

stuck with you

*I just wanted to let you know that this chapter is about Niall having a panic attack*

Niall's POV

When I heard the noises I exactly knew what that meant, and it was one of my biggest fears. I got ones stuck in an elevator when I was out with Louis and Liam luckily it was only for a few minutes, but I had a feeling that this one would last longer.

Madi had to experience a few of my panic attacks, but she never really knew what to do and it made her uncomfortable.

One time she just kissed me while I was having a panic attack, and it even made it worser for me and since that day she hated to be with me and to deal with my panic attacks.

I was staring at the ground and tried to stay calm and breath because I know how that could end for me.
I saw in the corner of my eye Harper looking at me, but I didn't dare to look up to her.

"I knew this elevator was odd to me, the minute I moved here and now we stuck", Harper said annoyed and sat on the ground.

"Niall are you okay", She asked me now with a worried voice and looked in my eyes.

"Come sit down with me, someone will come and find us"

I didn't respond to her I was too focused to panic.
I was still standing on the same spot like I was frozen and couldn't bring one word out of my mouth.
I started sweating and shaking on my whole body, and I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
I didn't know what to do, honestly I never knew how to handle a situation like that, so I was now banging against the elevator door and screamed my heart out.

"Niall stop screaming nobody can hear you, you only ruin your voice"

I then realised she was right nobody will hear me except someone wants to use the elevator, and it made me even more panic than before, but then I saw the red emergency button, and I pressed it in the hope of someone will come and save us.

I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore, and I was hyperventilating now. My whole body was shaking even worser than before, and I felt dizzy.
I sat now down to the ground pulled my legs to my chest and buried my head in my arms and started crying.
I felt so helpless, but then I felt an arm around me.

Harper's POV

I didn't notice that Niall was panicking until I saw how hectic, and afraid he looked while he was banging against the elevator door.
It made me sad to see Niall like that and it reminded me of that one time when Summer freaked out in the plane on the way to her first Model job.

She had the same look in her eyes as Niall right now. It was my first time in my life dealing with someone who has a panic attack, and Summer really helped me to calm her down because she knew how to deal with it.

I learned from Summer that every person has a different kind of panic attack and different things that could help to calm the person down. Sadly I didn't know Niall's things that could help him.

I saw him now sitting on the ground shaking even worser and I still didn't know what to say to him to calm him down.

I crawled a bit closer to Niall and put my arm around him, and he then looked up to my eyes.

"I"m here for you", I whispered to him.

"Should I sing for you?"

I started singing my favorite song of Niall's.

"And our paper houses reach the stars
'Til we break and scatter worlds apart..."

I thought I saw a little smile on Niall's face for a second, but I think it was only because of my bad singing skills.

Niall do you have some things that would make you comfortable?"

Niall shook his head, so I had to improvise on my own. I sat across from him and took his hands in my hands.

"Niall could you look up to my eyes and take my hands please?"

I was surprised that he listened to me.
I could feel his shaky hands taking my hands in his.

"Okay how about you will look into my eyes, and we'll breathe in and out together?"

"One, two, three...in and out Niall in and out, and slow your breathing tempo down"

I started breathing in and out, and looked into his eyes, he followed me and did the same thing while he was looking into my eyes.

I had the feeling it helped him, but he was still shaking and breathing a bit too fast, so I thought distracting him with question would be a good idea.

"Niall what's your favorite thing about being a world-famous pop star?"

I looked at him, and he looked like he was trying to think about something, but then he started talking.

"I would say it's the stage, and this feeling when you start singing a song and see so many smiling faces singing the lyrics with you, it's so magical and so good to know that actually people like what I'm doing."

"I always thought in the One Direction days that I was bad and nobody liked what I was doing, and they just liked me because of my blonde hair."

He laughed when he finished the sentence like it was the stupidest thing he ever said, but for me it felt like he trusted me enough to talk about him and his feelings.

"I bet they liked you because of your talented and your sweet soul and not only because of your blonde hair"

"Not only?," he laughed.

"Oh come on you know you rocked the blonde hair"

"Yeh you're right I looked pretty fabulous"

"Don't get to confident James", I said while laughing so hard.

"What's your goal in life Harper?"

"Uhm... Idk I like to make people happy, I want to help homeless people and people with disabilities, but I don't know how cause my bank account looks pretty empty."

"I actually worked with Rays of Sunshine and the kids were lovely.
It was the best feeling to see them smile and hug me."

"Oh that's great I wish I would have been there."

"Hey maybe someday you can.."

Niall stopped talking when we heard a voice talking to us.

"Is there someone in there?", a guy screamed.

Niall stood up and ran to the elevator door and screamed back to him.

"Yes, please help us, I need to get out of here", Niall screamed.

In the next second the elevator really moved, and the door opened.
An old man was standing in front of the door and looked at us.

"Are you guys okay?", the old man asked.

Niall stormed out and laid himself on the floor. I followed him out of the elevator and stood next to him.

"Now we are," Niall answered him.

It made me smile to see Niall so relieved and happy again.

The old man left, and Niall was still laying on the floor.

"So do you still want to order a pizza or do you want to stay on the floor forever?"

Niall stood up without saying anything, took my hand and led me to his door.