Panic Attacks // Ruel // English

Chapter 6

I'm pacing the room while I read the message completely.
Yasmine: "Fuck!" I scream.
Ruel looks at me anxiously and stops writing.

Yasmine: "Sir I really have to go." I say with a vibration in my voice.
Teacher: "Nobody's going to leave here until we are done."
I feel my head slowly getting lighter again and all kinds of unpleasant events fly by again. I know how to hold back my tears or to turn over a table, but it takes a lot of effort.
I crouch down with my hands to my ears and close my eyes.
I feel the world revolve around me and slowly I feel increasingly weaker.

Ruel: "Sir, I am ready, she can go."
I can see he wasn't ready at all, but he is just pretending.
The teacher nods and looks at the clock. I get up quickly, jerk the paper from Ruel's table and run out of the room.

I immediately stop when I arrive at the parking lot and realize that I have to walk home. With my hands in my hair, I look at the empty parking lot and I try to calm down.

Ruel: "Do you want a ride home?" He asks when he comes to stand next to me.
Yasmine: "Please, but you will not drop me off in front of my house."
He shrugs and we walk to his car.

Ruel: "Why can't I drop you all the way home?"
I am a bit shocked by his question, because it was just as quiet and it made it easier for me to keep calm.
Yasmine: "I don't trust you."
And when I said that, my vision becomes blurred. The feeling of the past takes over my entire body. There is a soft ringing in my ears and pain shoots go through my body. I hit my head against the headrest and grasp it with my hands.
Ruel: "Yas you okay?" He asks startled.

(Ruel's pov)
I have no idea what to do. But she seems to be in pain. Her muscles are so tense that they are shaking. She narrowed her eyes, but that doesn't mean tears don't escape.
Yasmine: "No." She says softly.

I park the car on the side of the road and turn towards her.
Ruel: "I'm not going to let you walk home like this."
Yasmine: "I'll be fine." She says moaning from the pain that goes through her body.
Me: "I don't know what's going on, but I do know you are not doing well."
Yasmine: "I will be alright." She says when she shrinks back in pain.
I don't believe it at all. She just doesn't cry out yet.

Ruel: "Give me your phone." I recommend her.
Yasmine: "No way."
Ruel: "Yas come on, you are not going to tell me where you live so I will just ask."

After a while I get her phone and she tells me to call her sister.
Nola would wait for us outside and see what could be going on.

I drive up the driveway and park the car.
The door flies open and a concerned sister goes to her sister.
Nola: "Thank you."
I nod and look anxiously at Yasmine bent over. Every time she breathes in and out I see her trembling again.

Nola: "Yas? How big is your view? Can you still hear me?"
Yasmine: "It's blurry, and yes with a high beep." She says in a trembling voice.

I have never experienced this. And would rather not have experienced it. But I couldn't let her walk home, I was going to blame myself for that.

Nola: "Mom get her medicine now!" She screams.

All kinds of questions come to mind. Why does she need medicines?
What exactly is going on? What did she see?

To be honest, I think it's really scary. I don't like it when people are in pain because I just want them to be all right. But I can do no more than watch. As much as I would like to do something.

Her mother runs out of the house and has a plastic jar in her hand.
Nola: "Ruel can you pick up some water?"
I nod and turn to my bag in the back seat.
Nola helps Yasmine sit up and gives her the medicines.
I unscrew the bottle cap and give it to her. She brings it to her mouth with trembling hands. Swallowing is difficult, but eventually they are gone.

I feel so powerless. If only I could take over the pain from her.

Nola walks over to her mother and it seems that she is a bit angry.
Nola: "You sent it, didn't you? Even though I told you to wait."
Mother: "She had to know."
Nola: "You should have waited, you know this can happen."

I place my fingers against my bridge of the nose, close my eyes and try to process it a bit.

But then I hear a loud bang and my eyes open. It doesn't take long to figure out what happened.

Ruel: "Yasmine!" I shout when I run out of the car to the other side.
She is passed out and is now on the ground next to the car.

I sit on the ground next to her, but I get a shock when I want to put her on her side. She fell on her head and now blood flows out.

I put Yasmine on her back and sit on my legs behind her head.
I take her head and put it on my lap so that it is higher. I keep one hand on the wound and the other on the other side of her head to apply pressure.

Mother: "So what are you doing here with Yasmine?" She says with a confident tone.
I roll my eyes at her. I don't feel like answering her questions right now.
Ruel: "I brought her home."
Mother: "But why were you with her?" She says as she crosses her arms and looks at me bossily.
Ruel: "We had to stay after school and then she panicked."
Mother: "So you think you can just bring her home?"

I get very anxious from this woman. The tone she sets at me makes me feel bad.

Mother: "I asked you something young man." Makes she clear.
Ruel: "I help your daughter because you don't do anything at all! So please shut your fucking mouth."
She looks at me in shock. Probably from the confrontation of her behavior.

It doesn't take long for my whole hand to get covered in blood. And pieces are already starting to dry up.
Ruel: "Nola, would you please get a towel and a bowl of water?"
She nods and walks in.

Her mother has already gone inside so I'm left alone.

I'm panicking and have to fight not to sit here crying now.

Nola puts the bowl next to me and wets the towel. I take my hand away and put the towel against her head. After which I clean my hand a little.

Yasmine keeps shaking and it scares me. I have no idea what to do. So I start stroking her face. It seems to help a bit, but it doesn't stop completely.

I've been sitting on my legs with Yasmine for 10 minutes and she still hasn't recovered.
I place two fingers on Yasmine's neck to measure her heart rate. But it is quite high.

Ruel: "We really need to call the ambulance now." I say with panic in my voice.
Nola nods and takes her phone.

When the ambulance drives into the driveway I can finally breathe a little better again. The pressure on my shoulders slowly decreases.

Nola: "Aren't you coming?"
Ruel: "No, I was not allowed to come here anyways. She certainly doesn't want me next to her bed in the hospital."
It hurts to say that, but it is true. I had to beg for her phone and a hospital visit goes very far for her.

Ruel: "Nola wait!" I call before she disappears into the ambulance.
Ruel: "Call Blake, she would actually call him back when she got back."
Nola: "I'll do it, thanks for everything." She says before closing the ambulance door behind her.

Watch the ambulance for a moment and then get in my car to drive home. Every now and then I look at the chair next to me and I see Yasmine all over again. The way she shrinks from the pain, the tears escaping from her eyes and the trembling muscles.