More Than This - n.r.

Chapter 12

The police told me I was a hero. The principal of Greenfield cried when he thanked me for risking my life to save everyone in the building. I was flattered, sure, but honestly, what I did was pretty dumb, even if I was the only one who thought so.

It's stupid to run through the school during a lockdown. In every orientation ever they tell not to do exactly what I did. I guess in my case, I was lucky it worked out. But that didn't mean I could ever forget standing at gunpoint and literally running for my life through the hallways of the one place that was supposed to be safe.

The therapist I was sent to told me I was experiencing extreme PTSD. She said it was normal but I could be dealing with it for a very long time. That talk didn't help at all. I hadn't even wanted to go see a therapist in the first place. Sorry, but something about having to relive the whole thing was not appealing to me.

School was shut down for a week after. I got 2 weeks. "To help you heal", the school councillor had explained. But I didn't want the extra week off. All I wanted to do was move on. And if that meant going to school and finishing my senior year with everyone else, then that's what I was going to do.

Today was my first day back. My mother had pleaded with me to stay home but I told her that being cooped up in the house day after day wasn't helping anything. That shut her up.

The hallways were much quiter than they used to be. Clearly everyone was still on edge. Not to mention that my fellow classmates looked at me like I was a bomb that would explode any second.

Daphne and Ava spent all the time they could with me. I think they felt a little guilty for not being around during the lockdown. They had been safe in a classroom together, along with 50 other kids. Either way, they didn't leave my side all day.

They didn't have a choice for 3rd period though which is when I have physics. Neither of them have that class with me so I had to suffer it alone which sucks even more considering it's physics and no one likes physics as it is. I got to class and sat down in my normal seat, ready to get this class, and this day, over with.

As the teacher took attendance, a boy walked into class, clearly late. He rushed to his desk and dumped an armful of textbooks on top of it. He'd obviously been in a hurry because there was paper spilling out of every textbook. He went to sit down but in the process, he knocked one of the textbooks on the floor.

It hit the ground with a bang that I wasn't expecting and the sound immediately took me back to my face off with Charlie in the deserted hallway. The memory of the gunshot flashed in my mind and I couldn't take it, it felt so real.

Before I knew what I was doing, I rose from my seat and fled the classroom, ignoring the teacher who was calling my name. I ran through the hallways, not sure where I was going, but heading as far from the physics classroom as I could get.

I eventually stopped outside a closed classroom door that I didn't recognize and sat down with my back against the wall. I sat there with my eyes closed and tried to focus on regulating my breath like the therapist told me to do during a PTSD attack which I guess this must be. Inhale for 3 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds. Over and over and over until I was calmed down.

While I was sitting there, breathing mechanically, the classroom door to my left opened and a student came out. Nick.

"Haven?", he said when he spotted me on the floor. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"I just needed a break", I said. My voice sounded breathless even though I'd been breathing quite meticulously for a while now.

"Are you okay?", he asked as he took a seat beside me on the floor.

"Do I look okay?", I said harshly. "Cause I'm not. I'm not okay. I cannot get Charlie out of my head. Sudden sounds set me off, apparently." I went on, ranting, and Nick just sat there and listened because maybe, like Daphne and Ava, he felt guilty too. Not because he wasn't there but because he was and he watched the whole thing happen.

"You know, it should have been me who ran for help", Nick said, cutting off my rant.

"No, you had someone waiting for you", I answered. A tear fell from my cheek onto my knee. I hadn't even noticed I was crying.

"I'm sorry I let you go through that alone."

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have gone at all."

"Haven, it is my fault because I could have kept you safe but I didn't and now you're not okay", Nick said as he rested a hand on mine. Our hands were in a pile on the floor between us and even though things were crazy and the timing was bad, my skin still tingled where he was touching it.

"Look around", I said. "No one is okay. Everyone is shaken up, Nick. But just because I was the one held at gunpoint, people seem to think that I'm the most fragile."

"That's because you are", Nick said gently. "And that's not a bad thing. Being fragile just means more people are looking out for you."

"No one's looking out for me, people are just making sure they don't set me off."

"I'm looking out for you", Nick whispered. He gently touched my cheek and turned my face towards him. Even though my face was wet with tears and the timing was still bad, Nick kissed me. No, he hadn't saved me during the lockdown, but here he was, saving me now, looking after me just like he said he would.

In my science class last year, we learned that the middle of a hurricane is the safest part. They call it the eye of the hurricane. Here, in the middle of my hurricane was Nick who just so happened to be the safest part.

Sitting in the empty hallway with Nick's hand on my cheek and his lips on mine, the hurricane seemed manageable. At least for a moment. But when you're as desperate as I was for some peace, you take all the moments you can get. So I took this one and vowed to never let it go. Even after the hurricane was over and everything was calm, I would not let this moment go. 

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Hey readers, 

Hope you liked this chapter! Nick and Haven are finally a thing! 

The Movie Recommendation Time!
Now You See Me (2013) - This is a pretty popular movie, but let me tell you, it is popular for a reason. It's so good and you will not be bored and the cast is AMAZING. Seriously, so good. Basically a whole bunch of street magicians come together to be this awesome team who are taking orders from a stranger while running from the cops. It's so cool. Watch it. [Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Daniel Franco]

Book Recommendation Time!

A Soft Place to Land - Susan Rebecca White: Beautiful story about 2 sisters who's parents are killed when they are kids and how they are separated because of the will. Story follows them as they grow up and the trials they face while always finding a way to come back to each other. I really loved it. Check it out!

Thanks for reading everyone!

That_Epiphany

P.S. Shoutout to my new follower JazminMiron ==> Thanks so much for following me and commenting on my story, you are by far the most supportive follower I've ever had. Thanks so much!