Piece By Piece

Chapter 15

Knowing she had to finish the song, she quickly diverted her attention to Ivey and scurried through the end of the song.

Ivey could clearly see something was wrong with her best friend. She noticed her presence change the second Carrie had seen him.

Carrie shouted a quick "thank you everybody!" Before exiting off stage as Ivey took off from her seat to get backstage.

"That was-" Mike started to exclaim before immediately being interrupted by a panicked Carrie.

"He's here." She panted.

"He's here, I saw him, he-" she went into into a full blown panic attack as she spoke.

She couldn't get out complete sentences. Her throat was closing up and the room was spinning. She couldn't breathe.

"Carrie Carrie calm down, take a deep breath." Mike tried to calm her down, but failed miserably.

"Carrie. Carrie look at me." Ivey said, pulling her best friend towards her.

"Breathe. In, out, in, out, in, out." Ivey coached her, Carrie mimicking her slow and steady breathing for a few minutes. Tears were running down her face as she tried to catch her breath.

"Now tell me what happened." Ivey said very calmly.

"Drake, he's here. He's in the audience." She stated, her voice cracking through her shaky breaths. "He's gonna hurt me."

"Carrie no he's not. He's in jail, you know that. He must have just looked like him." Mike rubbed her arm as she panted.

Shaking her head vigorously, she started crying again. "No, no. It was him I know it was him. I know it was him."

"Call the prison and ask if he escaped." Mike told Ivey, enclosing Carrie in for a tight hug.

"Please don't let him hurt me again." She mumbled into his chest in the most pitiful voice Mike had ever heard.

"He won't ever lay a hand on you again I promise, I'm right here, I've got you" Mike whispered, stroking her hair as she clutched his shirt and cried. 

"Let's go sit down." Mike said, leading Carrie through the people and back to her dressing room.

There, she sat down on the couch and Mike grabbed her a bottle of water. She was still taking deep breaths, coaching herself in her mind to breathe in and out.

Mike sat down beside her, putting his arm around her small body as she rested her head against him.

The two sat in silence, the only sounds able to be heard were Carrie's deep shaky breaths.

Five minutes later, Ivey came back in, sitting down in the chair beside them. "He's still in jail Carrie, the guard went and laid eyes on him while I was on the phone. You're safe, it wasn't him."

"But-but." She started crying again.

"Shh. Don't fight yourself. It's okay, sometimes people remind us of other people and our brain can convince us that it's that person." Mike assured her.