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"Nai? Whats wrong?" he asked when he heard her gasping for air. He instantly sat back up , trying to get her attention, but they were stuck on the stack of paper in front of her, her face stained with tears.
He instantly categorized this as an anxiety attack. His sister used to have them when she was a kid, and he remembered how he was taught to help her down so he tried it on Nai.
"Baby, baby listen to me, look around, name five things you can see , mamas," he calmly said to her. He repeated himself and her eyes began to shift around the room.
"O-Omari," she spoke, referring to a picture of him on the wall. "My-my tv, laundry basket, my slippers, a water bottle," she said shakily and slowly between breaths.
"Good, good job baby. Can you tell me four things you can touch?" he continued, seeing as she wasn't at all any calmer than before. She nodded frantically, feeling around her.
"The sh-the sheets, my hair," she moved her hands into her hair, looking back at him, chest heaving.
"Good, mama. Just two more, tell me two more," he spoke, maintaining his calm tone, as to not shake her up more.
"My-my phone and-and my pillow," she said, beginning to take deeper breaths.
"Yes, good. What do you hear? Can you give me three?" he inched toward her, to see if she'd let him touch her, and she snatched back quickly, letting him know she was still panicking. After a short silence, she nodded and began to speak.
"Your voice," she said, eyes shifting back to his. "My voice, my-my heartbeat," she said slowly and clearly, breathing at a much more regular rate. It only took about five more minutes to get her breathing completely regular, which was good in his book. His sister used to have to go through that for ten, and he was sure Nai had experienced longer ones too.
"I'm gonna get you water, okay?" he told her, waiting a few seconds for her to respond before grabbing her a cold bottle from their mini fridge, as well as a small thing of grapes they had in there. He handed them both to her and she almost instantly drank half the bottle.
He wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and watched as she looked more spaced out than before.
"Nayeli, baby," he called softly, and she turned her head to him after a second. He smiled comfortingly at her, reaching out his hand to her. She didn't jump or flinch back, she just stared at his hand until he gently touched her face. She jumped a bit at the contact, but allowed it.
"You wanna tell me what happened?" he asked her. She looked back into his eyes, and there were still tears spilling over, now onto his hand. "You don't have to, mama. Only if you're comfortable," he assured her.
"My mother, she- she wrote me," she said, voice still trembling.
