Still Here

Chapter Nine

Aubrey couldn't drive fast enough. Keanna was already making death threats and they hadn't even arrived at the school. He was upset as any other parent would be, but all he wanted to know is why the police were called.

He finally pulled up at the school and parked in the "No Parking" zone. They could tow his car if they really wanted to. It's not like he didn't have the money to buy another one.

There were two police cars outside the school and that made Aubrey incredibly upset. But he had to control Keanna's anger before he worried about himself.

Keanna basically sprinted to the front office. Aubrey struggled to keep up. He didn't want her to get herself in any trouble.

"Where is my daughter?!" she screamed as she burst through the door.

"Are you Keanna Miller?" the secretary asked.

"Yes. Where is Shiloh?" Keanna demanded, her voice cracking from the stress.

"Follow me, please."

Keanna didn't hesitate in following the secretary through the main office and into the principal's office. Shiloh was still screaming and crying as the principal, some staff members, and a couple cops struggled to keep her under control.

"My baby!" Keanna cried immediately swiping Shiloh away from their grasp.

"Mommy!" Shiloh sobbed, holding onto her mother as tight as she could.

"How dare you treat my baby like this!" she hollered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I would kill all of you but my daughter's traumatized enough!"

"Keanna, calm down, please," Aubrey said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Then you say something!"

Aubrey looked at the terrorized faculty and then back at his daughter. He didn't know what to say.

"What happened?"

"Right after you left, she was saying that she couldn't breathe and that she was scared so at recess, I took her to the office. After that, all I know is that I was called back to the office and the police were there. I would never call the police on your daughter, I swear," Miss Keating claimed.

"Your daughter was disrupting her classmates and endangering the staff," a man in a suit declared.

"And who might you be?" Aubrey asked, not impressed.

"I'm Principal Nash."

"And that means that you can call the police on a five year old?"

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm the Sheriff of the Brooklyn Police Department," one of the men in a police uniform announced. "And if he felt like he was endangered, he had every right to call us."

"If he had a problem, he should've called me or my girlfriend, not the police! I would sue y'all but you probably need the money!" Aubrey yelled, turning back toward the principal.

"We didn't do anything wrong," Principal Nash argued.

"You did everything wrong. We will not be coming back here."

"That's totally fine with me. Your daughter won't be trying to kill us!"

"You wanna fight me?! You actin' like you wanna fight!" Aubrey yelled, forcefully shoving the short and stubby principal.

"I'm not fighting you. I'll press charges if you touch me," Principal Nash snapped.

"You were about to press charges on a five year old!" Aubrey hollered. "I'll fight you. I really will!"

"You wouldn't," Principal Nash chuckled sarcastically.

"Oh, he would. And I would too the way you're talking," Keanna commented.

"Come on, Principal Nash. You scared?" Aubrey asked invading the principal's space.

"Okay, okay, break it up," the sheriff ordered, pushing Aubrey away from Principal Nash.

"What are you gonna do about this? You're sitting here telling me it was okay for him to treat my daughter like a threat and won't give us any closure," Aubrey ranted, ready to fight the police officers if he really needed to.

"Sir, I'm just gonna suggest that you get your daughter checked out," the sheriff said, simply.

"What?!" Keanna half-screamed.

"That's ridiculous. My daughter is fine," Aubrey said, looking back at Shiloh.

"I would go just in case. It may be psychological."

"Whatever. Let's go." Aubrey grabbed Keanna and led his family out of the school.

Shiloh still cried throughout the entire car ride. Keanna sat in the backseat to keep her calm and assure her that everything would be okay. Shiloh didn't buy it.

Aubrey didn't like it, but he took the sheriff's advice and drove to the hospital. Maybe it was something psychological.

Luckily, there was a doctor available in the psychology ward. Aubrey tried to tell himself that everything would be okay. Shiloh couldn't possibly have anything psychological.

"I'm Doctor Moore."

The doctor gave Aubrey and Keanna a smile as he went to the sink to sanitize. He glanced at little Shiloh who was really trying to stop the tears from falling but it was no use.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked, clicking his pen.

Seeing that Shiloh wasn't going to answer, Keanna took initiative. "This is Shiloh."

"Alright, Shiloh. Tell me what's wrong."

After explaining the situation, Doctor Moore came up with a diagnosis. A diagnosis Aubrey and Keanna weren't ready for.

"Well, Shiloh was having a panic attack," he concluded. "And from the way you describe it, it sounds like this wasn't the first one. During a panic attack, one might feel like they can't breathe or that they might be dying. Some symptoms include nausea, sweating, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, and many others which I will write down for you."

"That's why she said she couldn't breathe," Aubrey observed, stroking his daughter's face.

"And I also think she has a disorder called agoraphobia," Doctor Moore added.

"What?" Keanna gasped.

"It's a social anxiety that is usually linked to panic attacks. It means she's afraid of not being able to escape situations if she has a panic attack or being afraid of certain locations where panic attacks have occurred in the past," Doctor Moore explained.

"So she's afraid of being afraid?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, sort of like that. My diagnosis is panic disorder with agoraphobia," Doctor Moore said. "I'm gonna give you some referrals for child psychologists and you can go from there, okay?"

"I guess," Keanna mumbled, looking very unsure.

"She'll be fine. You might want to find another schooling method until she's ready to return to public school. It's not life threatening, I promise. She might grow out of it. Just take it easy and listen to her, okay?"

Aubrey and Keanna agreed. Anything for their little girl.

Shiloh fell asleep before they walked out of the hospital. The crying must have worn her out. It was now Keanna's turn to cry. She cried all the way home.

A/N: Finally an update!!! More soon❤️