Adopted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Memories and Panic Attacks

I sat up with a gasp feeling the warm tears contrasting against the cold sweat that had formed on my face. I checked the time on my phone falling back against the couch when I saw it was midnight. I felt my chest begin to tighten and my breath picked up. I knew I was about to have a panic attack and there was no chance of me falling back to sleep so I stumbled to the glass sliding door that led out to the patio in the yard. I let out a high pitched whistle and a moment later I heard howls followed by the padding of paws.

Not too long after, I saw my four pups appear from the woods. They rushed towards me and tackled me to the ground, licking my face making me giggle and I pushed them back, "I missed you too guys." Slowly my breathing went back to normal and I ran my fingers through their coarse hair. I had raised them since they were newborns when I found their mother caught in a trap barely breathing. I gave her a proper burial and have raised the pups since then. I heard footsteps and they raised to a defensive position while growling, "heel."

They stopped growling but remained defensive, "he's good." they looked towards me as if assessing my body language, "he's okay." they approached him carefully, "why are there wolves in my backyard?" I shrugged, "I raised them, they're my pups." he ran his fingers through Blaze's fur, "how come?" I sighed, "I found their mother on the brink of death and I promised her I would take care of them, I've yet to break a promise in my life and I don't plan to anytime soon." he nodded, coming to sit next to me, "you wanna talk about it?"

I let my head rest against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "they say you don't remember anything when you're younger but that's a lie I remember everything she did to me." I gulped, "the worst thing was the lashes." That's why I refuse to show my back, "she used to be the loveliest person but that all changed one day." he nodded, "I'm sorry sweetheart but that will never happen again I promise you." I sniffed, "please don't break it." he kissed the top of my heart, "never." I felt myself relax as I realized for the first time in a long time I was safe, no harm was near, I could finally let my guard down.

I fell asleep on his shoulder wrapped in comfort by his warmth. I woke up a few hours later and saw Jeffery had moved me to the couch and I saw using his chest as a pillow his phone was buzzing on the table I grabbed it and saw it was an alarm so I shut it off and shook him but all I got in return was a snore making me chuckle. I unraveled myself from his embrace and headed to the kitchen deciding to make some breakfast burritos for him to take to set. I placed them in some aluminum foil so that they kept some heat on the car ride.

I placed them in a bag heading over to my dad who continued to snore on the couch making me giggle. I crouched beside him and gently shook him, "c'mon wake up, you need to go to the set, remember?" he kind of mumbled, "come on you'll be late wake up." he slowly cracked his eyes and opened and I smiled at him, "good morning sleepy head." I chuckled as he yawned, stretching. I let him wake up a bit first then leaned against the counter, "can I take a car to get to school?" He looked at me skeptically.

"Do you have your ID kiddo?" I nodded and pulled out my wallet showing him, "although we'll need to get it updated." I smiled at him and nodded, "alright you can take the truck then just be careful please." I nodded, "of course." I ran up the stairs and stopped at the top, "breakfast burritos are in the bag for you to take to set." I headed to get ready for the day. I settled on a Daryl shirt and some ripped black skinny jeans with the black and white converse I got yesterday.

I brushed my hair doing a side part and let part of my fringe cover my left eye. I quickly added a tad bit of eyeliner and mascara before taking a deep breath and staring at my reflection before nodding in approval. I headed back downstairs to see a set of keys on the counter so I picked them up and headed to the garage where a black truck sat and I ran my hand along it admiring it, "alright let's get this day over with."