Troubled Souls // 5SOS

IX ∞ Panic

• Beth •

Two chairs remain empty in our usual meeting place. The tension in the room is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Sophie's voice shatters the silence. "Does anyone know where Jade and Ashton are?" She asks. Her voice betrays exasperation and even a bit of worry. We're all worried. No one has heard anything from either of them.

The door finally swings open, allowing us all to release the breath we had been holding. Jade comes in, moving quickly to the open chair next to me and crossing her arms in front of her body. The shadows under her eyes are unusually dark today and her eyes are bloodshot. To be perfectly honest, she looks like hell.

"Sorry I'm late," she says, her voice quiet and hoarse. She runs a hand through her hair and I notice that her fingers are shaking.

"It's perfectly fine, Jade," Sophie replies. "Do you have any idea where Ashton is?"

A sound chokes its way out of Jade's throat, a stifled sob, and her eyes begin to water. She rubs them quickly and tries to shake it off, attempting to breathe deeply.

"He's downstairs," she replies, her voice quivering, "in emergency care."

She leans her elbows on her knees, covering her mouth with her hands, and closes her eyes, her breaths becoming more shallow and rapid. I reach over to put my hand on her back and rub in circles, attempting to calm her down, but she tenses up under my touch and I pull away slowly.

"Jade, what's happening to him?" Calum asks.

"He passed out the last time I saw him a-and they had to take him to the hospital and n-now they said that in his weakened state he might not be able to defend himself and they said that he m-might not ... they can't let him d-die, they can't!"

She's wrapped her arms around her stomach and tears are streaming down her face. Her entire body is shaking violently and the top half of her body is bent over her arms like she has a stomach ache.

Sophie snaps into action quickly, rushing over to Jade's side as she lets out tiny whimpering noises and beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. "Jade, please just try to calm down, it's going to be okay," she whispers. She glances at the rest of us, silently begging for help. We know about as much as she does in the situation.

"I-I can't lose him ... " Jade says, her voice quick and breathy and shaking with her body. "Not l-like this ... they're just going to sit there while he d-dies ... "

"What's happening?" I ask. I'm trying to stay calm on the outside, but on the inside I'm panicking and my voice betrays it.

"Is she having a seizure?" Calum asks.

"She's having a panic attack," Luke's voice cuts in. We all turn to look at him, shocked that he's speaking.

He gets up from his chair and approaches Jade, putting his hand on Sophie's shoulder so that she moves back to her seat. Luke kneels in front of Jade's chair and takes her hands by the wrists, cupping them in front of her mouth. "Take a deep breath, Jade," he says, staring at her intently and keeping incredibly calm. "You're in control, you know that."

"W-What am I supposed to do?" she asks desperately, pulling her hands away from her mouth. Luke places them back where they were and she takes a few deep, shaky breaths. 

"There's nothing you can do at this point, Jade, and panicking is only going to make it worse. I need you to just breathe and try to relax. The shaking isn't good for your body."