Claustrophobia

Chapter I

"I'll come back home at around 12-ish, okay?" I bellowed down the spacious hallways. Not waiting for a reply, I made my way towards my car and clambered inside, roaring it into ignition. As I waited for the car to warm up, I clicked my seat belt in and at exhaled deeply on to the palms of my hands, rubbing them together slightly. Today is most certainly not my morning, I thought, waiting at a traffic light. I'm already half an hour late. I pulled out a chapstick from my jean pocket and rolled it on to my dry, chapped lips. I grabbed a hair band and pulled the wisps of my cascading waves into a high ponytail. The perks of over-sleeping.

It was fairly easy to find a parking spot, at least one good thing has come out of this long morning. I jumped out my car, locking it as I made my way through the revolving doors. A burst of heat spread through my body as I entered the building. I shot a smile and wave to the receptionist because why the hell not? I quickly shot through the doors of the lift before they shut which would lead to me having to waste another ten minutes doing nothing.

A couple of seconds before the doors slid closed, I came face to face with a pair of tender green eyes, piercing their line of sight directly at me. I looked up a little to realize the pair of startling eyes gleamed in comparison to the mop of unruly curls tucked into a grey beanie. I recognised his face almost instantly, it was Harry Styles. His eyes were still blazing holes into the back of my skull so I coughed a little to get his attention. He suddenly looked up, grinning sheepishly. "Uhh, hi, what floor do you want to get off at?" I asked, undoubtedly uncomfortable from the previous happenings.

"I need to get off at eight, but you were here fist so you can go first," he smiled, motioning towards the buttons on the right-hand side of the lift. My heart fluttered at his gentleman ways, by the smirk on his face and the increase in temperature, I figured that I was indeed, blushing very hard.

"Thanks," I muttered, pressing the button indicating floor 7, "Why are you here, you know, since hospitals aren't really cheerful places, apart from the aftermath of the maturity wards." I giggled slightly, but when I got no reaction, I turned around to see him with a cold expression, carved on to his face.

"Uhh, I'm sorry, did I say something wrong? Did I offend you?" By now I was panicking a lot as his face still held the stone expression. I could his tattoos peeking out from under his shirt, on his biceps. His fists were clenched and planted to his side as his jaw was tightened.

"Look, just mind your own businesses and get on with your own fucking life, okay? I don't need anybody else in mine." He snapped, still glaring at me. I flinched a bit as I realised, once again that looks were deceiving.

I watched him slide his beanie off and run a hand through his chestnut curls. I was still shaken up by what he had just said. Suddenly, the lift starting making a low humming sound which sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. I watched with wide eyes as in a blink of an eye, the lights switched off, leaving me and a dick, Harry Styles in a constricted, dark, muggy lift. Wasn't today going great I thought.

As I was running my hands across the the side of the lift to find a possible emergency button, I was brought to a halt when I heard quiet whimpers coming from the corner of the lift. My first reaction was to turn around and face the person it was coming from but as I couldn't see him, I flailed by arms around trying to find him. The whimpers were followed by heavy breathing and by now I was getting very anxious. I vaugly saw the outline of his muscular body cowering on the floor so I tried to comfort him. Although he was a bit of a jerk to me, I'm sure he had his reasoning. But at the moment, he was in need of help and I was the only one around so I tried to help him.

He flinched as I rubbed his back and whispered soothing words into his ear. I could see the glistening beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. As well as that, he was shaking in my arms. "It's okay, keep breathing," I mumbled near his ear. I could hear him trying to speak. "No, it will be okay, focus on your breathing." I tried to reassure him, but, yet again, he tried to utter a few words, this must be important. "Claus- claust-t-tro, I'm cluastr," He breathing starting to uneven more, coming out in even shorter pants, I became even more apprehensive. I understood what he was saying now, he had claustrophobia, no wonder he was having an anxiety attack as this lift was so dark and compact. "Okay, calm down Harry, take deep breaths," I said, watching him struggle to breathe, "In and out, In and out" I said slowly, hoping his breathing pace would calm down.