Floating in the Abyss ✔️

Chapter 62

I woke up to Ryan lying next to me, swiping on his phone.

"Hi." I mumbled, tucking in closer, gaining warmth from him.

"Hey baby." He wrapped his arm around me. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good so far."

"So far?" He laughed.

"I'm still sleeping. Shhhh." I smiled, closing my eyes again.

"What do you want to do today?"

"Shhhh. Sleeping, remember."

"Stuff that."

"Shhhh, Ryan. You're going to wake up the broccoli."

"What the fu-dge does that mean?" He caught himself. I couldn't be bothered to explain it to him, but one of the days I was at school, back where I used to live, we were learning about decibels and appropriate sound levels. There was a video they showed us on the TV, and it had a sleeping broccoli. A certain amount of sound would make him wake up, and then the higher it went, the bigger it grew, until it just exploded.

"Did you just say fu-,"

"Ay." He put his hand over my mouth. "I didn't say it so neither will you." I giggled. "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. I was pretty much fully awake now. "Is Elyse coming over?"

"Not until this afternoon. She messaged last night, after you'd fallen asleep, and told us she'd gotten a shift at work."

"What are you going to work as?" I asked, thinking about it.

"Not sure yet. I kind of want to train to become part of the police force. The system really needs some better officers and I'd like to be able to help people in situations like yours." I smiled at this, hugging him tight.

"Hey, I've got an idea! What if we book to go to the adventure and water park? There's one not too far from here and the weather's meant to be good."

"Um, Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't swim." I reminded him.

"You don't need to be able to swim! There are slides and baby pools. The water barely goes past your ankles. Plus, we'll all be there too."

"Are all of us going to go?"

"I don't see why not. Let's go ask Nick." He sat up.

"No, I'm warm." I snuggled under the covers, pretending to sleep again. He laughed at me before ripping the covers off and picking me up. "Cold." I shivered, losing all my heat from the bed.

"Here." He handed me a hoodie, which had been discarded over his desk chair. I slipped it on easily, enjoying the size. It looked more like a dress than a hoodie on me. I walked as we went down the stairs, not wanting an accident to happen.

"Hi Nick." I smiled sweetly, climbing into his lap. He was sitting at the table, still in his pyjamas, eating his breakfast.

"What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" I exclaimed, acting offended he'd thought I was doing something wrong.

"What do you think about going to the adventure and water park tomorrow?" Ryan suggested, getting himself breakfast.

"Has it reopened?"

"Yeah, it's been open for about a month. My mate works there."

"I guess we could." I was expecting him to say no and was surprised when that was his answer.

"Morning session or afternoon session?"

"Don't you get the whole day?" I asked.

"No, since they're only open for half the year, they run a morning and afternoon session because that way more people can visit without making the lines too long. One session from 7am-12pm and one from 12:30-5:30pm." Ryan explained.

"We'd have to do the morning session. Ash has training with Teddy in the afternoon." I had already done 4 sessions and was so excited for the day Teddy could come home with me for good. Today we were going to the shopping centre to test him in a situation like that.

I continued thinking about Teddy whilst Nick and Ryan worked out the logistics of going tomorrow. From the bits I heard, we need to wake up at about 5:30 in the morning, so that we could get there by 6:45. It was about an hours drive away.

"What're you gonna eat, missy?" Nick asked me, prying my head away from his chest so I would look at him.

"Watermelon?" I asked. Mum had bought some since I'd asked if we could have it again.

"Sorry, all gone." Ryan told me, sheepishly. We only got it yesterday!

"I'll make you something." Nick got up, taking me off his lap and sitting me on the seat, then went to make me food.

"Don't make it yucky." I told him. He rolled his eyes.

"It's really important Teddy doesn't get distracted whilst working with you in a public place, like this. You and him both need to ignore any comments made about him, whether it be good or bad." The trainer explained.

We went into a store, and she walked away slightly, turning her back so Teddy wouldn't instantly recognised her. I had been instructed to start scratching at my wrists, like I do in my bad panic attacks, and start to breath faster. Instantly, Teddy noticed my actions and pawed at my leg, alerting me of the panic attack. I sat down and acted as if I was having a bad panic attack, although I was silent. He applied the deep pressure therapy, as he'd been taught. The trainer tried to distract him, cooing about how cute of a dog he was, but he showed not interest in her.

We repeated similar exercises a few times, moving around the mall. Even though I was with the trainer, who had a vest, telling people she was training this dog, people still commented aloud about him. Once again, Teddy still showed no interest in them, and was solely focussed on me.

"Great job, Ashlyn. It'll be no time at all until Teddy can stay safe and sound with you. I'll see you tomorrow." She said, as we walked to the carpark. Ryan was there, sitting on the bonnet of his car, on his phone. I said goodbye to the trainer and walked to Ryan, making sure I wasn't going near any cars.

"How'd you go?" He asked.

"Good!" I exclaimed, before telling him every detail.

_____
So for anyone following me (@sydnie6624 btw, help a girl out and follow ;)  ) you would know that I don't have a laptop because I'm currently transitioning from middle to senior school within my high school and my 3 year lease for my laptop is up. I can pick up my new one on the 14th of January so I'll be fully back in action then. For now, I still have a few more chapters left to be published but I will warn they are not hugely dramatic or full of action. They are probably considered "fillers" but still have bonding events and I think they add to the story in a somewhat professional manner.
I do have my mums old laptop which I will try and use this week to finish writing for Floating in the Abyss and then I can move on to Rising to the Surface which is very exciting!!
I hope everyone is well and staying safe. I'm in Australia and we've got zero cases in my state so I'm doing very well! I'm also on summer holidays and very much looking forward to Christmas.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to
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And as always, feel free to message me and I'm always looking for any ideas you have!!