BEASTLY || CHASE STEIN (EDITING)

chapter ten

The bathroom door creaked softly as he pushed it open, seeking refuge from the overwhelming chaos that had gripped his mind. The flickering fluorescent light overhead seemed to intensify the pounding in Garfield's chest as he stumbled toward the sink. His breaths came in short, uneven gasps, and the cold tiles beneath his fingertips offered a jarring contrast to the heat radiating through his body.

Garfield locked the door behind him, feeling an urgent need for solitude, a temporary escape from the suffocating weight of the world outside. Leaning against the sink, he gazed into the mirror, but the reflection staring back at him seemed distorted, eyes flashing a luminous green, a stranger trapped in the grip of invisible torment.

Garfield's throat constricted, and tears welled up, blurring his vision. It was as if an invisible hand clenched around his heart, squeezing tighter with each passing second. The relentless barrage of thoughts and worries collided in his mind like a storm, leaving him paralyzed in its wake.

With trembling hands, he fumbled for the faucet, the cool water a potential anchor to reality. The stream splashed into the basin, but he couldn't bring himself to cup the water and splash it on his face. Instead, Garfield stood there, watching the droplets collide and cascade down the drain, a silent witness to the chaos within.

The bathroom felt both too small and too vast, the walls closing in as the surroundings blurred into a haze. The sound of his erratic breathing reverberated off the tiles, each inhale was a struggle against an invisible force determined to steal the air from the boy's lungs.

He then sank to the floor, back against the wall, desperately trying to regain control. It was a battle against an enemy he couldn't see, a fight with an overwhelming force threatening to pull him into an abyss of fear and despair.

Time lost its meaning as he clung to the cold tile floor, the panic attack gripping him like a vice. The bathroom became a haven and a prison simultaneously, a place where he sought refuge from the external storm but found himself trapped in the tempest within.

Gradually, the intensity began to wane. The racing thoughts slowed, and the tightness in his chest eased. The air, once elusive, began to fill Garfield's lungs more steadily. With each passing minute, he felt the tentative emergence of calm, a fragile respite from the storm that had swept through him.

Exhausted, Garfield remained seated on the bathroom floor, acutely aware of the vulnerability that lingered in the air. The mirror reflected a face marked by the aftermath of the internal tempest-a face that had weathered the storm and emerged, for the moment, on the other side.

"Gar? You in here?" Garfield looked up, his head still spinning as he heard Chase's sweet voice. "B? I'm worried about you. Let me in okay, please," Chase stammered anxiously as Garfield was unable to bring himself to speak with the lump caught in his throat.

"C-Chase," Garfield stumbled between shaky breaths as Chase hummed loud but softly enough for him to hear. "I-I can't breathe," he mumbled, choking on his words as he unlocked the door, Chase pushed the door open, quickly rushing in and locking the door behind him.

"I'm so-sorry this h-happened," Garfield timidly shares as Chase shook his head whilst slowly combing through Garfield's locks to help calm him down, "I shouldn't have hit him," Garfield quickly added, angry at himself for getting carried away in the fight.

"Hey, don't worry about it, B..they deserved it after the way they treated Karolina, okay? So don't ever doubt yourself," Chase praised kindly as Garfield smiled timidly, still continuing to regulate his breathing whilst Chase wrapped his arm around the rapidly breathing brunette

Chase knew better than anyone how to deal with Garfield Logan and his panic attacks, he wasn't new to this. When Garfield was younger, he'd had multiple meltdowns and anxiety induced panics almost all the time when they were in elementary school, with the help from teachers and Garfield's mom he learnt how he could better help him. However, Chase hadn't seen a reaction as bad as this in years but he can't really compare as they haven't been as close as they used to in a long time.