Atlas Grove, once a dancer with dreams of dancing under the stars, now lives petrified in the shadows of abuse. To escape her living nightmare she must keep her head down and work hard, being her senior year this is her last chance to get out. Altho...
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"Momma!" I scream, shaking her body for any signs of consciousness, "Come on momma wake up! Please! Wake up!" My voice is hoarse, ripping through my throat as the tears fall rapidly dripping into the red ocean around her body, darkening the carpet. "I need you! You can't leave me!" I rest my forehead against hers, cold, well aware of the wetness seeping through my clothes.
If you don't look. It's not real.
My hand's tremor on her body, pushing with as much force as I can. Fear coursing through me, attacking my senses.
"You don't quit momma! That's what you always tell me. You can fight this. We need you!" I cry.
"Atty. Is mommy going to be alright?" Lucy stands in front of us, cheeks streaked with tears, more bruises forming on her cheeks.
"Mommy's going to be-"
And that was it.
My body jolts up with a scream, convulsing, crying. I feel sick. Sweat pervades my body, I can't catch my breath, my lungs closed and tight. Hot wet tears run down my cheeks onto my arms. I ball myself up. It was a dream. It was a dream.
But it wasn't was it.
"Atlas?! Atlas!" I can hear someone screaming my name but my mind's too fogged and disoriented trying to shut everything away again I can't put a face to the voice. I don't lift my head from my arms letting numbness pull me under, which is when I feel someone engulfing me in a hug.
His minty scent hits me first.
Blaze.
His arms settle around me and I push my head into his chest, listening to the panicked rhythm of his heart. My pulse won't calm down, it keeps getting faster at faster.
My lungs are too tight! I can't get any oxygen.
I'm going to die.
It's dark and hot.
"Atlas. Listen to me, you need to breathe honey." A soft warm voice floats in the air and I concentrate so hard but my lungs won't open. Muffled voices around me, drowned out by the franticness of my heartbeat, Blaze and his mom whispering but I can hear the worry in their tone.
"Blondie. Can you hear me? Please. I need you to listen to me." His voice sounds calm but desperate, soothing and safe. I... I can listen to Blaze... trust Blaze. I pull my head up from my arms, only slightly, to see his dishevelled hair and sleep ridden eyes, "Good. Take deep slow breaths." He starts to breathe with me slowly but surely my breath begins to even out and I can feel the thumping quieten.
"What's happening? Why wouldn't she breathe." He mummers over to his mom, he looks scared and my chest pulses again. He's usually so unfazed, nothing scares him but... I do?
"She's having a panic attack love, give her a few minutes to come around." She then turns to me, a soft smile on her face, "You're okay Atlas. Keep breathing deep and slow. You're doing great. Focus on one thing" His mom's voice is authoritative, she doesn't seem phased by the manic mess I've become. So I focus on one thing... Blaze.
