Spy School: Codes, Moles, and saving the world

Flatline

WARNING: There is a mention of a small panic attack in this chapter. If you think it might trigger you, read until you see this, ###, then skip until you see this,+++.

Please enjoy!

Jan 12, 2019
School
2:30pm

The rest of the day was a pain. Literally. My shoulder was throbbing! It felt like it was about to burst open. How could a teenage boy have enough strength to break a shoulder? He must work out a lot. An average adult probably wouldn't be able to apply enough force with their bare hands to break a shoulder. It's almost impossible. Maybe.

I didn't pay attention in class at all. The incident that occurred only an hour ago was still playing in my head. Many things went on in my mind. How did Caleb see me? Why did he want to know what I saw if he already saw it? Would he have killed me if I told him?

Levi wasn't paying attention either. He was more focused on me. When the teacher called on one of us, we would just give him a random answer like everyone else. Eventually, giving the wrong answer every time we got called on was starting to grab the attention of many people. It was very rare for the both of us to get anything wrong. Especially if it was a simple question.

" What is the square root of 81, Levi?" Mr. Chad would ask. " Seven." Levi would reply. Then he would realize that he got the answer wrong, and he wouldn't care. It seemed as though my well-being was more important to him than anything else at the moment. Mr. Chad sighed. " This is how you know this school year needs to end. Even the smartest students can't answer a simple question correctly." He muttered.

" The answer is 9." I teased. Levi gave me a look. " I know what the answer is!" He snapped. I smiled. " Sure you did."

                                 XXX

When mom picked me up, she immediately saw that something was wrong. " Whose jacket is that?" She asked.  I forgot that I was still wearing Levi's jacket. " It's Levi's. He let me wear it because I got cold inside the classroom." I lied. I hoped she would buy it. " Ok. Just make sure you give it back to him tomorrow." She said.

We got into the car and headed back to the hospital. I could tell mom had a good day. She was talking for the entire ride. She told me about her day and how the customers were all doing fine and she didn't have any problems. I was happy for her. " That's great mom." I said. She looked at me and smiled. " How was your day, sweetheart?" She asked.

I thought a moment before answering. " It was awesome." Mom looked at me intrigued. " You never use the word 'awesome' to describe your day. How was it awesome?" I told her about my day. I started from the time she dropped me off to the time she picked me up. I left out the part with Caleb. She seemed really interested. She let out surprised gasps and she said, " Wow!" every now and then.

When I finished, she nodded approvingly and said, " That's great Jacie. I'm really glad that you had a great day."

" An awesome day." I corrected. Mom chuckled. " Right. An awesome day."

We pulled up to the parking lot at the hospital, and went inside. It wasn't packed and it wasn't empty. It was nice and quiet too. " Hm. Seems like everyone isn't busy today." Mom said. I nodded in agreement. We went to the elevator and went up five floors. We watched the floor monitor change. 1....2.....3.....4. Finally, we reached floor five.

When the doors opened, my heart dropped. I forgot about everything that happened today.

There were nurses everywhere! They were all rushing from one place to the other. They were yelling out orders to each other. They were all bustling around. They looked like ants scurrying around on an anthill. To make matters worse, they were all in my dad's room. One of the nurses brought out a... defibrillator? I looked at my dad's heart monitor.
                                 ###
It wasn't until then that I realized what a panic attack was. My breathing became rapid and my heart was thumping hard in my chest. I found it hard to breathe. My stomach was twisting and I started sweating all over. This felt much worse than my shattered shoulder.