I'm With You

1

Cover by: SxmplyMoxxi

TW's:
-Mentions bullying/abuse
-Tics (everywhere in the book)

George's POV

I was softly rocking in my chair as I felt the urge within me grow again. I really couldn't fight against it and suddenly hit my desk as I let out a high pitched scream. I sighed, started blinking with my eyes as I clicked my tongue.

Since I was around the age of three, I started getting random tics. My parents always just thought I was playing a bit, but it got more serious when I turned eleven. I got more tics, but also more serious ones.

I started hitting my knuckles against each other, throwing stuff and letting out high pitched screams as I squeezed my eyes a lot. My parents started wondering if something was wrong and went to a doctor with me. We figured out that I had Tourette's Syndrome and I started getting more and more tics.

I got a deep urge within me to scream out loud or any other tic I had. I felt so restless if I didn't do it that I genuinely had to tic to forget about the feeling. It was like having an itch on your body which you weren't allowed to itch. You always ended up itching it anyway to not feel the feeling inside.

My tics had changed often over the years. I was learning how to control them, but I wasn't that far yet. I did have therapy, but that started just a month ago. I was currently sixteen, almost seventeen, and they saw the most progress around the age of eighteen to twenty-two.

I had really supportive and sweet parents, they helped me as much as possible and made everything as safe for me as they could.

I had the urge to bang my head against the wall, so they put mattresses all around my room so I wouldn't bruise my head like I did before I had the mattresses.

I also had a tic where I hit myself, other people or random things which gave me a lot of problems. My parents didn't get mad at me when I hit them, because they knew I actually couldn't control it. They always tried to let me hit them instead of myself, but I often ended up hitting myself anyway.

Unfortunately my tics didn't go away when I was in school, causing me to yell throughout classes, hit tables, throw pencils and way more. I even hit and kicked people sometimes, but they weren't as helpful as my parents.

I got bullied in school and not a little too. They went close to me on purpose, waiting for me to hit them and then they would hit me back, but way harder and more painful. I got sworn at a lot, not only because of Tourette's Syndrome. I got bullied because I was shorter and thinner, even though I really tried to gain some weight.

The bullying was really harmful, not only mentally but also physically. My parents knew I got bullied and when I came home whilst crying, they always comforted me as they hugged me tightly.

I calmed down a lot when I was cuddling with people or when I was swimming. I loved swimming, but I didn't have a swimming pool anywhere near me so I mostly cuddled my parents.

I was really glad to have parents like I did and I stood up to walk downstairs. I let out a scream and hit the door, trying to open it. I opened it, kicked the wall, let out a high pitched scream as I clicked my tongue multiple times in a row.

One of my tics was to yell out things I saw, names of people or things I liked a lot. I looked at the wall, felt the urge within me grow again and yelled out the word "wall".

'WALL,' I yelled as I let out a high pitched scream again, making a water drop sound after that.

I walked down the stairs, kicked my leg in the air and had to hold myself so I wouldn't fall as I screamed again. I managed to walk down while blinking my eyes heavily and sat down next to my mum on the couch.

'Hi, sweetie. Are you having a bad tic attack?'

I nodded, hitting my leg as I screamed, hitting my fist against my chest afterwards. My mum grabbed my hand, I held her hand and hit it on her leg as she ran her hand through my hair and pulled me closer.

She started humming a song as she rocked softly while I was pulling my hair. My mother grabbed my hand and let me relax it so I could let go of my hair as she rocked softly.

I clicked my tongue, gave a high pitched scream and cleared my throat as I felt the urges within me go down a little bit.

'Calm down, honey. Calm down. Keep breathing slowly.'

I shrugged my shoulders and squeezed my eyes. My mother grabbed a pillow which was really soft and laid it down on my lap to let me rub my hand over it.

I still made some soft noises, clicking my tongue, shaking my head and clearing my throat, but I calmed down a lot.

'I hope I'll find a boy who wants to help me like this too,' I muttered as I shook my head again.

'I'm sure you'll find someone. Do you like a boy?'

'No, mum. I don't. You also ask this about a hundred times a day.'

My mum grinned. 'I'm just so excited that you like boys and I really want you to be happy with someone who accepts you. I'm sure you'll find someone, I promise you.'

I screamed again as I looked at my mother. 'MUM.'

'Calm down, George,' she said as she hugged me against her body. 'I love you, sweetheart.'

'Even with Tourette's?'

'You're not George without Tourette's and I don't even remember you without it. I love you more than anything, you're my son, George. Of course I love you.'

'That's not as common as it seems. A lot of parents don't like their children who have some struggles.'

'But we do, just as dad. I love you and dad more than anything in my life.'

'I love you too, mum.'

1054 words