Panic Attack

In hindsight, Samara could not remember how exactly she found out about the war. The news about the attack of the Corrupt Court against the Verdant Kingdom were suddenly everywhere within an instant. Radios which had lied dormant for decades were suddenly turned on, TV screens that were only used to display interesting background images now displayed newsrooms and very worried reporters. Messages upon messages and notifications were flooding all the mobile devices.

Samsara felt as if she was being choked. Tears filled her eyes, and her thoughts and emotions were in turmoil. Somehow, she managed to get home, moving as if she was in trance, only marginally noticing the people around her. As soon as her apartment door closed behind, she began to sob uncontrollably, sinking to her knees, back arched forward. Her small menagerie of pets approached her, and she could feel Titan wrapping his elongated body around her shoulders, as if he was a living scarf. This attempt at comfort caused the frequency of her sobs to increase even more. She could not even breathe anymore. She couldn't breathe! Panic ensued, resulting in the sobs evolving into a peculiar form of hiccups. Frightened by these strange sounds, Titan uncoiled and joined her other pets watching helplessly from a cautious distance.

“I'm… sorry”, she manged to tell them, interrupted by her body desperately gasping for air. Yet somehow, these two words managed to calm her panicking mind, at least to a degree. She realized that she was not suffocating, she was having a panic attack! This was good, in a way. She knew what she would tell patients. With her body refusing to get up, she rolled over until she was laying flat on the floor, facing the ceiling. Her breathing was still rapid and shallow, but at least it was breathes and no more of these hiccups. Her face was wet with tears.

“Breathe in… 1… 2… 3… 4... 5... ”, she told herself. “Hold. 1... 2… 3... 4… 5… Breathe out… 1… 2… 3… 4… 5…”

Her breathing slowed down, and she could feel air streaming into the furthest region of her lungs.

After a while, she turned her head around and gave her pets a weak smile.

“I'm sorry I scared you.”

Still cautiously, they began to approach her, lead by Pandora. She sniffed at Samsara and the tickling sensation let her give out a weak laugh. Rhea was next, seemingly checking on her breathing and when she was satisfied with the result, she let out a huff and laid down next to Samsara. One by one, the others either curled up next to her to climbed onto her. She petted them as much as she could without moving her torso. This was good. This was peaceful. Almost as if there wasn't a war raging outside. She felt sick as this thought appeared in her mind. Deep breaths. She had to force herself to continue to focus on this for now. She had to calm down first. Everything else had to wait for now.