Forever and Always

9. Panic Attacks and Hangovers

Kaleb's POV:

"Kitten? What's wrong? You're scaring me." I come closer but before I even touch her, she starts screaming.

"No stop! Don't come any closer! Please! Just leave me alone!" 

Her voice is cracking and hysterical. It hurts me to see her like this. I shake my head and whisper soothingly to her, in an effort to get her to quiet down. 

"No. no. no." 

My kitten is muttering the same word and shaking her head frantically while trying to pull my shirt over her legs. She's trying to make herself look smaller. Her eyes are glassy and her cheeks are tear stained. 

My heart starts pounding. Now I'm slightly scared. I lunge for her and hold her tightly in my arms. She immediately starts kicking and screaming. 

"Shhh...Shh kitten. It's me. It's Kaleb. I won't let anyone hurt you. Just focus on my voice. There you go. Just calm down. Just breath." 

I caress her hair lovingly while whispering my name over again in her ear. I press her hand to my chest and tell her to match my heartbeat. Slowly but surely, she starts to calm down. 

"Are you okay? Do you need some water? I'll get you some water?" 

I'm flustered and very unsure of what to do next so I run downstairs to get her a glass of water. My mom's parties have turned into a college frat party and adults are all over the place. Everyone is shit faced drunk and staggering all over the place. 

I quickly locate Maddie's parents and inform them that Maddie is already asleep in the guest room. A little white lie never hurt anyone. 

My conscious pipes up on my way to get the water. Except Maddie didn't just fall asleep in another room. She's in your room and with what you were about to do, I doubt you would have slept at all tonight. 

A red flush blossoms on my face at the direction my thoughts are taking me. Suddenly I feel guilty. Maddie's upstairs, all alone and here I am thinking about sex.  

I quickly grab a water bottle and sprint upstairs. 

Maddie is still in the same fetal position as when I left her. I approach her quietly and softly and carefully hand her the glass of water. She reaches out, almost robotically, and drinks everything in one gulp. 

Almost immediately, she starts shivering and full out sobbing. It breaks my heart in two to see her like this. Never once in the 3 years and 2 months that I've known her, has she broken down like this. 

Sure she'd cry if she got a bad grade on her science test but never like this. Like...her heart was breaking. I held her tight against me. I rocked us back and forth as sobs racked her tiny little body.

I felt a tear slip down my face. Oh god. Please make it stop. I can't bear this. Internally I was praying that I could do something, anything to help her.  I looked down at the strong and stubborn girl who lay broken in my arms. Suddenly her cries stopped and she went limp. 

I shook her shoulders, thinking she fell asleep but when she didn't stir, I started panicking. God, when I said make it stop, I didn't mean, kill her!

Her head dropped on my chest and I realized that she had passed out. Maybe from crying, maybe from...the physical...ahem exercise from before. I lifted her effortlessly in my arms and crept towards the bed. 

I lay her down on the right side gently. Making sure her shirt was pulled as low as can be to cover her underwear, I slipped in on the left and tucked her in my side. As the noises got dimmer, my eyes started closing. 

Unconsciously, I tightened my hold on Maddie to make sure she wouldn't sneak out without me. Everything faded into black as I too lost consciousness and succumbed to sleep. 

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Another chapter in Kaleb's POV. What do you think? Sorry, it's a little short but it's hard writing in a male POV.  Vote, leave a comment. Thanks for reading!