The Academy: Uncaged

7. Loving Apart

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Anxiety/Panic attacks, trauma.

You know how this story is, guys. If you've made it this far, this shouldn't be much of a surprise how heavy it is.

Idea Man Reacts: my feet hurt. And so does my heart. 🥲

Amelia

The ache in Amelia's lower back was the first sign that something was wrong. It was low and tender and definitely not supposed to be there. Her period had come just last week. She wasn't due for it again for several more weeks. That wasn't her issue. Her eyes cracked open only to be met with the slate grey coloring of early morning. Immediately, her brows furrowed. She was expecting to see the bedroom she shared with Christopher - not the living room she had passed out in the night before. She was on the couch.

Why the hell was she on the couch? Christopher almost always brought her to bed if she knocked out there unless he, too, passed out on the couch with her. But he was nowhere to be seen. It was sufficient to say that their shared apartment actually felt... Unnaturally quiet.

Panic spiked inside of Amelia. She couldn't be alone, right? Chris would never leave her alone without telling her where he was going. He'd said it so many times over after the incident. He almost always called someone over to sit with her just in case. But still. He would have told her. He had to be in the bathroom or something, right?

Amelia stood, tugging her blanket up with her. She wrapped it tightly around her shoulders as she padded through the house. But she found that it was empty. He wasn't in the bedrooms. He wasn't in the Red Room. And he wasn't in the bathroom. It left one last room. The kitchen. She made her way there as panic continued to roil inside of her. She stopped in her tracks just as she was about to cross the threshold.

A man sat at the table. A man that was no Christopher. She inhaled sharply. Who was in her apartment? Who was sitting at her table? Where was Chris? What the hell was going on? She was panicking. The feelings of anxiety and fear that she was very much acquainted with at this point bubbled up and clawed at the inside of her chest. Her heart raced. Her legs refused to move. Her hands shook.

The rational part of her brain tried to tell her that this man meant no harm. If he had, he would have done something whilst she was asleep. He couldn't mean any harm. Her brain also tried to tell her she recognized him. She recognized that shock of ginger hair that sat atop his head and the freckles that literally covered almost every inch of his visible skin. She knew him. She knew him. She knew him.

Jonah.

It was just Jonah. Christopher's closest friend here at the Academy. His best friend. Jonah was safe. Jonah wouldn't hurt her. Jonah was likely here because Chris had asked him to be. But why wouldn't he tell Amelia? Where the hell was Christopher?

Amelia steeled her nerves and padded quietly into the kitchen. She rounded the table where Jonah sat and looked at him curiously. He didn't seem to notice her. He simply sat at the table with his head in his hands. A piece of folded paper sat in front of him. It looked as though he was just staring at that piece of paper... But he didn't seem happy about it. His lips were curved downward into a frown. His brows were furrowed over his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they had dark circles beneath them. His hair was messy and disheveled now that she was looking at him from the front. He looked like he'd been up for a while, which was really uncharacteristic for him. He was always put together. She'd never seen him in any other way than smiling and charming and perfect.

His appearance made the anxiety she had only just managed to quell rear its ugly head once more.

"Jonah?" she asked quietly as she twisted her hands in her blanket.