My Only Hope

Chapter 0.2

Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder pulling me out of my memories, causing me to panic more thinking that it's my dad. I start to shake harder and harder as it becomes harder to breathe. "I-i-i'm s-sorr-y p-p-please d-do-don't h-urt me, p-p-pease-se" I rasp out, hoping to avoid the beating.

All of a sudden the owner of the hand is in front of me prying my hands away from my face. "Whoa, I'm not gonna hurt you I promise. Just breathe for me love okay?" the person whispered softly.

I slowly open my eyes to see a blurry Michael with a concerned look on his face. I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my sweater in hopes to get the tears out of the way so I could see him better.

"There ya go sweetheart, breathe with me okay. In through your nose and out through your mouth." He whispered calmly. I watched as he started to breathe the way he told me to in hopes that I would copy him.

Why is he trying to help me? I think to myself. He doesn't even know me, why is he trying so hard? I decide to let him help me and start to do as he asked me. After a while I calmed down almost completely. There's only a few tears streaming down my face now and I'm only shaking as much as I normally do. Michael was just sitting in front of me just watching, waiting for me to fully calm down. Every once in a while he would tell me how good I was doing and that I was okay. I think while I was trying to calm down the classroom door opened and someone came out but I'm pretty sure Michael got them to go away.

"Good job love. Do you wanna talk about why you had a panic attack?" He asked gently.

I shook my head violently no. I didn't wanna talk to him about this, not here anyway and not until I got to know him better. "I wanna go home" I mumbled quietly not making eye contact with him in hopes he'll just drop it.

"Okay hang on. I'll be right back." He said while patting my arm before getting up and going back into the classroom. I wonder what he's doing. Why is he trying so hard to help me? Is this normal for people around here to do? What if he tries to hurt me.. What if this is all a prank? What if he actually wants to be my friend though? I mean it would be nice to have a friend for once and not be completely alone. I didn't have friends back in Wisconsin, I just had Wyatte and now that he's gone I have absolutely no one other than Stella but that's not the same as having a friend.

I'm disrupted from my train of thought by Michael coming out of the classroom. I look up to see him carrying mine and his stuff as well as four cookies. "Come on, let's get you to your locker to grab your bag." he says cherrily. I just look at him with shock and disbelief on my face. He just walks off knowing that I will follow him. I get my ass up off the floor and try to quickly catch up.

"Where are we going?" I question with suspicion laced in my voice as I catch up to him. I decide to walk behind him so he doesn't have to see my ugly tear stained face.

"I'm going to take you home. But first your locker to get your stuff." He stated with more cheer in his voice than before if that's even possible.

"W-w-what do you mean your t-t-taking me home? W-won't you get in trouble for leaving?" I can't believe he's just gonna take me home? He doesn't even know me though. Seriously, what's with this guy? Why is he trying to be so nice to me? Why can't he just leave me alone..

"I mean I'm taking you home. You seem so upset I don't think being here is gonna help you calm down and feel better. So I'm gonna taking you home so you can relax there." He simply stated as we turned the corner to the hallway with our lockers. "And as for getting in trouble I'm not too worried about that. The teachers stopped caring about me ditching because my grades are still pretty good." he shrugged as we got to the lockers. Michael looked down at me with a wide grin plastered on his face.