Found (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 13

***JACOB POV***

"Come to my room NOW!" Parisa ordered over the phone, just as bossy as ever.

Mother earth, I was in the middle of a video game. The last place I wanted to be was at Parisa's girls night. I'd told her, the way to make amends with River was not to invite half the girls soccer team over, but of course she didn't listen. In fact, if I didn't know that River as over, I wouldn't pause my game for that bullsh#t. A bunch of human girls gawking up at me in my own house. Yeah, no thanks.

I got up, and quickly checked my hair in the mirror. Not like I cared about how I looked in front of anyone in there since I was dating Candace... for now... Ugh, that's a frustration spiral for another time.

I made my way to Parisa's room carefully. When I walked to her room, I could hear my parents laughing with the Reeds. So River was totally here. Poor girl. I can't see her enjoying girls night at all.

Finally, I entered Parisa's room, and immediately heard commotion coming from the pedestal where Parisa and all her human friends were hanging out. I stepped closer and immediately saw some of the humans back up. Please. I live here!

"Jake! Get over here! I-it's River. She's freaking out!"

"I knelt down and saw River was crouched in a ball with her eyes closed. She kept repeatedly saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, let me out'".

"What did you do to her?!" I immediately snapped at Parisa. D@mnit. Parisa was turning into such a popularity obsessed mean girl.

"Nothing! I was doing her nails, and then the nail polish spilled on her fingers and then she started freaking out,"

I took in River's state once again. I think she's having a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) flashback. People who've experienced traumatic or dangerous events sometimes suffer from PTSD. Right now, it looks as though dropping the polish onto River's hands had triggered something. Something that was causing penetrating fear to take over RIver's mind.

"River. Hey, it's Jacob. You're okay,"

River cried harder. Sh#t.

"We should get her parents," I said to Parisa.

"No! Mom and Dad will just think it was me! This was supposed to be me making it better. A-and we were actually having a moment finally!"

Now Parisa was in tears. Great.

I thought, what could make someone feel protected, feel safe? Without thinking much, I carefully scooped River up and held her to my chest. When I was a kid and I'd get scared, I'd want to climb onto Joe and have him fix everything. Him, being my only parent here that could hold me... it brought me a feeling of security. So I tried to give River as much support as I could.

I got up, and went to the other side of the room that had a giant sized bed, so that I could sit. From the look of things, River seemed to be calming down a bit. Her breathing wasn't as ragged, and she wasn't fighting against being held. It was... nice.

River is so tiny. When I've seen her stand next to other humans I realize how tiny she is even from their perspective. Her curves make her body feel extra soft in my hand. It's not like when I hold my Mom or Parisa and Morgan. No, holding them is like holding a stem, whereas holding River is like holding a delicate flower with soft petals.

I looked down towards the bottom half of the bed and saw Parisa had used her walkway to make it over to us.

"What's happening? She's not crying now??! What'd you do?" Parisa asked.