Imagine (A Short Story)

Fox News

The time has come.
The interview takes place in two hours. You're there now, on the set. Getting prepped, familiarizing yourself with the questions, preparing answers, getting a "makeover", they'd combed your unruly curls into a somewhat clean style, with gel. It'd take forever to wash out. Not that it mattered. You are here for one thing, and one thing only. To share your story.
The interviewer lady is a really kind woman. She tells you her name and shows you around where the interview will be. You can tell by the way she looks at you, like you might break, that she's just as nervous as you are. But for different reasons. She doesn't want to push you. She is scared, not of you, but rather for you. This interview will be seen by everyone. It'd the the topic of discussion for weeks. Until the next big "accident" anyways.
You forget her name almost immediately. It's nothing against her.. There is just too much in your head to remember names and simple things. Your mom was actually getting worried about that; you'd forgotten the dogs name, the day of the week, and the location of the shoes that you'd thrown in the fire.
Shoes. Fire.. Blood. Guns..
You break out in a sweat and start glancing around, trying to think of something else. Anything else. But its hard. Especially since you're here to talk about it. You remember something you read in a book once:
"Don't fight your emotions, they'll crash over you like waves and suffocated you. Rather, try riding over them. Feel them, but don't immerse yourself in them. Let them flow through you. Imagine riding a surfboard, the water is your emotions. You'll fall off the board, but that's part of learning. Part of growing."
You try to imagine your emotions like water. But it doesn't fit, water is too safe. Not.. Enough. So you imagine your emotions as lava. Red hot, burning, consuming. You imagine a rock, perched above all the lava. An anchor. A way to stay out of the fiery death.
You slowly see yourself climb the rock and sit on top. You're safe now. You can't be touched. You feel the heat, see the danger, but it no longer affects you the same way. You're safe now.
When you enter reality again, you realize you're fine. You actually feel good. Lighter. Like a huge weight has been relieved from your shoulders. You look down, your not sweaty anymore. Your mom is watching you, concerned. She obviously saw your mint panic attack. You smile, a real smile this time and give her a thumbs up.
She frowns and her eyes go wide. She pales a little. You can tell she's confused. One minute you were about to lose your shit, and the next your smiling again? Had you gone mad? She turns away briefly, to tell the woman to wait a moment and walks over.
She's slow with her steps, like approaching a hungry lion who could lash out at anything and anyone. You want to smile except.. You might scare her even more.
  When she reaches you, she watches you carefully without speaking for a second. She finally spoke, nervous, but pretending to be calm.
"Jake, sweetie, how are you doing?"
You think about it for a moment, truly searching your emotions before speaking.
"Mom, I feel much better. I feel.. Relieved. There's still pain, a lot of it. I don't know if it will ever go away. But I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. I might actually be able to get through this."
Your mom looks terrified. But after a moment she forces a small smile and ruffles your hair, walking away again.
  The nice news lady approaches you then. She smiles sympathetically and gestures towards the chairs on the camera platform.
  "Its time."