Twenty Four Seven || Adam Park

thirty three

When we demorphed and gathered in a circle to talk about what happened, I found myself jumping right into a panic attack and there was nothing I could do to stop it from coming on. I quickly turned away from the others and clutched my chest as I tried to inhale any air that I could get. It felt like I couldn't breath and everything around me seemed like it was spinning. I let myself fall onto my knees as I closed my eyes tightly, trying to grasp the reality around me. Just thinking about going back to my grandmother's house and never seeing Adam again – or even the others was terrifying. Without any of them, I don't know what would have happened to me.

Just as I hoped, Adam was the first to try and comfort me. I recognized the feel of his arms snaking around me and holding me against him as he encouraged me to try and breathe. It was hard. I felt like there were weights on my chest and they were holding me down. I wasn't crying though – just shaking uncontrollably at all the thoughts.

It only took a few minutes to calm down from the panic attack but then I started crying when the words cracked out of my mouth to tell Adam and the others who I was sure were listening, the truth.

"They didn't believe me." My voice broke as I tried to relax back into Adam who was still holding me.

"Who didn't believe you?" Adam asked.

"The police. I told them everything. I TOLD THEM EVERYTHING AND THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME!" That last part came out as a scream and I was angry at them.

"Wait. What do you mean you told the police everything and they didn't believe you?" I heard Rocky ask. Adam hadn't moved from behind me or even loosened his grip on me.

"She reported me missing again – so they pulled me out of school and took me to the police station this morning. They made me go back home with her. I tried to tell them. I told them everything but they didn't believe me. They made it seem like I was just running away because there was no evidence. They told me if this happened again that I would be sent to juvey. They believed her!" I sobbed while screaming at the same time.

"Who reported you missing?" Billy asked.

"My grandmother!" I choked out.

"I'm really confused." Kimberly muttered.

I looked up at all of them and finally told them all the truth. Even if it broke me into a thousand pieces. I didn't care anymore because life was just screwing me every which way I went about things. So what did it matter anyways? I no longer was caring about a single thing.

"My grandmother has done nothing but abuse me since my parents died. Since I moved here to Angel Grove... and they didn't even believe me because they said I had no proof. They are forcing me to stay with her. She's only going to continue to hurt me!" I told them all.

"Your grandmother? I always knew there was something I didn't like about her!" Aisha commented.

"There has been plenty of proof though!" Tommy added, "You always have marks and bruises on you. We've all seen it!"

"But what they're saying now, is because there's no proof right this moment... right?" Billy asked.

"Ms. Maria was trying to get me out of this – but that's not going to help now. She's an actress and plays the perfect grandmother role well." I shook my head.

"She is still trying to get you out of this. She's not going to like this and you can't go back there. We won't let you go back there!" Adam said.

"I don't have a choice Adam! They said I'd go to juvey." I felt defeated.

"We'll figure something out. Don't worry." Rocky said.

"I'm never going to escape this..." I whispered.