Don't Cover Me

Chapter 8

The next morning I awoke to my phone's ringtone blaring in my ears. I quickly pressed the talk button and heard Miranda on the other end.

"Sky!" She cried out. Oh no. She was having an attack. In ten second flat I was up out of bed and had whipped my clothes off. Another ten seconds had me in my jeans and tee that I was wearing yesterday and then I was trying to find paper and a pen to use to write a note for Sabrina explaining why I wasn't there.

"Hi Miranda" I said in what I hoped was a calm and soothing voice. I was always terrified that I wouldn't be there when she was having a panic attack and now my fear was coming true.

"Sky!" she said again, still in that small terrified voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Sabrina's house" I told her. "I'm heading home right now okay, I'll be there soon." I finally find some paper and tell her what's going on in the fewest words that I can. Then I grab my bag and sprint down the stairs and out the door.

When I get to the bottom of the stairs I see Sabrina's brother and feel horrible for asking but I need to get home so I do anyways. "Hey, Claude, can you drive me home, right now?" I ask, while still on the phone with Miranda.

"Right now?" He asks then looks at me and sees the panic visible on my face.

"Yes, please" I say. He gets off the couch and grabs his keys. We head out the door and I jump into the passenger seat of his car.

"What's got you so freaked?" He asked.

"My step-mom's having a panic attack" I tell him.

His eyes go really wide and I guess he knows how bad those can get since he guns the engine and we're driving down the empty roads at nearly twice the speed limit.

"I had a girlfriend with an anxiety disorder once, is that what she has?" he asked me.

"Yeah" I say, and then go back to talking to Miranda on the phone.

"Miranda" I say. "I'm going to be there any second. Do you know where your medication is?" I asked. She was working on another article so she probably didn't think to take her medicine and then panicked because she didn't take it.

"I didn't take it" she says in a hushed voice, thick with unshed tears of fear.

"It's okay Miranda," I say. "You can take them now." We're about two minutes from home and I keep hoping that the car will suddenly sprout rockets and we'll get there that second.

Another two minutes of calm talking later, we pull into my driveway and I hop out of my car. And nearly have a panic attack myself. Christian is standing on my driveway at nine in the morning. What is he doing here?

I didn't have time for that though, I got out my key and brushed past him saying a quick "I don't have time for you right now" and walked into my house.

Even though I didn't invite him in, he still entered and took off his shoes and sweater when I did.

"You said that we had to meet" he said.

"Not now" I say and then I hear a crash from upstairs. "Shit!" I whisper and race up the stairs with Christian hot on my heels.

I run straight to Miranda's room and see her looking scared on her bed with a lamp broken on the floor beside her.

"What's going on?" Christian asks me but I don't bother answering him, I just go over to Miranda and kneel on the bed in front of her.

"Hey Miranda" I say in a quiet voice. When her and my father had gotten married and I learned that since she gets such bad anxiety attacks, she has some coping methods that let her calm down enough so she can help herself.