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IV

chapter name: 2

George and Clay finished unpacking his things, and they were now sitting on the couch. George was starting to get comfortable with Clay, he seemed really nice.

George pov

I was wondering if Clay might now about any jobs where I wouldn't have to talk much. I turned to him and mouthed my question, he quickly thought about his response. "Well, I'm sure you could get a job around the college, but there are other outside of school jobs that won't require much talking, really none at all." This intrigued me. 'Any ideas?' He thought about it, "Well, since classes don't start until next week, and it's only Tuesday I could show you some places tomorrow." I smiled at him and nodded, 'Thanks, it means a lot, even though you may not realize it, I normally get picked on for not talking, and I feel like I should be doing something in return but I just.'

Clay smiled, "It's no problem, but there is uhm, one thing I was hoping you might be able to help me with?" I nodded my head, helping others is a way of repaying those who help you, my grandmother taught me that. My Grandmother, and what happened to her, what I saw. I felt a slight hand around my arm and yanked it away, I turned to see Clay looking at me, he was very concerned. "George are you ok?" I slowly shook my head no, thoughts were coming through my head fast, images I didn't want to see and memories I didn't want to relive.

My breathing was speeding up, and I couldn't think straight. I couldn't remember where I was, it was all to much, it wouldn't go away, why wouldn't it go away.

Clay Pov

George was starting to shake, he was breathing fast and his eyes weren't focused on anything. He was panicking but I didn't know what he was panicking about. I couldn't touch him because the first time I did it sent him into shock. Once I snapped out of my short panic I was strictly worried about helping him. "George, how can I help you, please I can tell you aren't ok?" He panicked for a second later until I heard an almost silent whisper, "Help, pl- please." His voice was cracking and tears were starting to stream down his face.

I thought about it for a moment, and then decided to do what I thought was best. I reached forward to where George was on the couch and picked him up, I moved him to where we were laying down on the couch. His head was resting on my chest and his crying was getting worse. I started to talk to him. "George I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can please try to listen to my words, I am calm and I need you to try and copy my breathing ok?"