When Lines Blur

Chapter Nineteen

Micheal didn't pay attention to anything in class, he couldn't if he had tried. Usually his lack of attention showed in doodles in his notebook, but this time his lack of attention showed in just mindless staring more often than not. Adrian couldn't help but notice how comparable to how Micheal was today to Ryan's usual aloofness, and Adrian knew it would be mentioned at lunch. At the end of first hour, Adrian double checked that Micheal would be okay and told Micheal to text him if he needed to for any reason. Micheal reassured Adrian that he would be okay and agreed to text if he needed to.

The rest of his morning classes were foggy and Micheal couldn't remember them as he sat down at lunch. Ending up in between Adrian and Braxton. Braxton smiled at him softly, and upon noticing Micheal smiled back softly. "You okay Mike?" Ryan asked softly. 

"Yeah... I think..." Micheal said softly. 

Ryan smiled softly, "Alright." 

"Ryan, can we..." Micheal looked around some, "can we go talk?"

"Yeah. We can sit in the hall and talk," Ryan said, "Just us?" Micheal nodded and then checked to make sure Adrian and Braxton were okay with it. Of course, neither minded and wanted Micheal to talk with Ryan as Ryan likely had the best idea of what was going on. Ryan carefully led Micheal out and got Micheal to sit down in the hallway. 

"Ryan... I feel... odd."

"Can you explain more?" Ryan asked, "I don't want to lead you to an incorrect answer."

Micheal nodded softly, "I don't remember much of my first few hours. I don't feel... anything. I don't feel real." 

"Micheal, you trust me right?" Ryan asked. Micheal nodded. "Alright, I'm going to pinch your arm okay? It won't hurt that bad but if you think it should hurt more than it should, let me know okay?" Micheal nodded again. Ryan pinched Micheal's arm. 

"I feel it..."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really no," Micheal said.

Ryan looked at Micheal, "You're okay, don't think you're sick. You're probably dissociating is all. Derealization I think. The lack of feeling and feeling fact tend to be derealization. We can probably work you out of it if you'd like." Micheal nodded some. Ryan smiled very softly. "We're going to try some grounding techniques. I don't know what ones will work well for you, but we can try a few okay?"

Micheal nodded again. "Alright," Ryan said, "I'll need my bag though. Want me to have Braxton bring it or someone else?"

"Gabe... please?" Micheal asks quietly. 

Ryan smiled, "Alright." Ryan texted Gabe to bring his bag and waited. Gabe walked over and set Ryan's bag by him.

"You guys are okay right?" Gabe asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said, "Dissociation most likely. Go back to Salem okay?"

"Okay," Gabe said. He smiles softly at Micheal before walking back into the lunch room. 

Ryan unzipped his backpack and started looking for something. He eventually pulled out a fidget cube, but it wasn't normal. Ryan had modified it in some ways, adding some different textures on some of the things. "Is that Adrian's hoodie?"

"Yeah," Micheal said softly, "Why?"

"Focus on the scent of it, focusing on senses helps with grounding," Ryan said, he handed the fidget cube to Micheal. "And mess with this. The different textures should help. If that doesn't work we can try something else okay Mikey?" Micheal smiled softly and nodded. The nickname Mikey was one that hadn't been used in a while. When they were younger, it was what all of his friends called him. As they got older everyone switched to Mike, but Ryan would occasionally use Mikey in a teasing way or to comfort Micheal.