Try {Emerson Barrett}

6

You knew this song would happen didn't you?

Forgive me for being very annoying with the amount of detail i go into with Codie's movement, it's purposeful in order to slow the speed of the story and just essentially make it feel like every second and action takes multiple minutes.

"What the hell?" Codie looked at the man before her, his arms were making her nauseous with the amount of blood pouring out of them. She wanted to yell and scream at him for making stupid decisions but guilt surged through her when she saw the look on his face, it was just pure pain.

She took a wary step forward but he moved backwards in small steps until his back was pressed straight against the bathroom wall. He held his bloody arms across his lower abdomen keeping the cuts out of her sight, however she could still see the blood trickling down his stomach. Codie continued to walk towards him, her arm was slightly reached out in front of her, to show that she wasn't a threat. It almost seemed like she was trying to approach a wild animal.

"Please... no" His voice was small and fragile that it almost didn't sound like him. The overall fatigue and exhaustion were evident in the 21 year old's voice, and her heart broke once again. Despite her not knowing the man for that long, she had still grown close to him and seeing him so broken and in such a state of vulnerability was painful for her also.

She stopped moving and stood looking at him. His breathing was becoming shallow as he became increasingly panicked. "Emerson, breathe. Focus on my voice. Breathe in. Breathe out" her attempts to soothe him were to no avail and she only had one idea left. "Okay Emerson, I'm just going to try something, don't panic"

Slowly and tentatively she ­­reached her hands out and placed them on his shoulders. She felt the muscles tense under her touch and she tried to ignore the nauseating feel of the cuts which were now under her palms on his skin. Her hands pulled the man forward slowly, and manoeuvred him so he was now facing the wall and not her. "Emerson, what I want you to do is look at the drawing, your drawing. Now take a finger, it doesn't matter which and I want you to trace the lines in the picture. Focus on the lines and ignore your surroundings"

Moving away from him, she watched as he took his right hand and placed his index finger on the lines of the castle and slowly traced each and every line. Her eyes flickered to his shoulders and watched as his breathing became slower, yet she couldn't help but stare at the lines crowded on his delicate skin. She knew that each line signified a time when he felt he couldn't talk to anyone, and could only gain control on his own.

Ten minutes had passed before she heard the man in front of her speak, "Thank you" he was still facing the wall and was very intent on not turning around, fearing he would lose control once again when he saw that she was real and not a figment of his imagination.

"Emerson?" her voice was soft and quiet so that it would not be audible to anyone outside of the door. She had already begun forming reasons as to why he hadn't turned around and was trying to think of a way she could do what was needed whilst also keeping him calm. "Emerson, I'm going to need you to turn around"

She saw how his shoulders began to shake in panic at the mere concept of it. "How about you close your eyes, that way you can't see me?" She had no idea what she was doing, she didn't even know if her presumptions about why he didn't want to turn around were right. Codie had never had to do this.

Hope became a more acceptable feeling to her when she saw the man's body turn around, both of his eyes squeezed shut trying to keep out reality as it was coming at him full speed. She saw the pain on his face. She also saw his body twitch as he fought the urge to turn back around to face the wall and block out reality.