Therian Shifters

Chapter 20: Back to School Part 2:

Akira jolted awake to see her hands trembling. Not from shifting but from fear and shock. Her eyes widened as she hugged her knees under the table, the other kids laughing.

"Enough! Dylan. Detention! How dare you hurt Akira!" The teacher boomed as the boy stormed out.

Akira still hugged her knees and hyperventilated as she sobbed quietly. The students that saw Akira partly shift stared at her in horror. She then went onto her knees on the floor and held her head. "Akira, please calm down for me, sweetheart." The teacher said calmly. "Tyler, can you get Mr Tolfree for me, please? He should be next door in Mr Furlow's class."

Tyler nodded, as he moved the broken table out of the way slowly as he carefully opened the door.

He then knocked on the door. "Come in!" Mr Furlow said calmly. As he saw Tyler, he noticed Tyler had a worried expression on his face as Mr Tolfree also came over to him as well. "Is everything ok, Tyler?"

Tyler shook his head. "It's Akira.." Both teachers listened to Tyler as they heard Akira's name. "A kid provoked her to almost shift and she threw him across the room... She's freaking out. She needs you guys."

They both nodded. "Ok, class dismissed 10 minutes early. You may all go to lunch. This is a one-off." Mr Furlow announced as he followed Mr Tolfree and Tyler into the class as the class Akira was in was also allowed to leave early.

Akira sat under the table in fear. The other teacher had left the classroom too. Akira sat under the table in her form as she whimpered. "Oh, Akira..." Mr Tolfree bent down to her. "What happened here-"

Before Mr Tolfree could finish his sentence, he jolted backwards as Akira almost bit his hand in aggression as she growled. Her pupils had shrunk and she salivated. Mr Tolfree went to go in front of them, but he already turned to his Demon wolf-fox hybrid form. He may have been the size of an average wolf, but he stood his ground. Mr Furlow was astonished. Tyler was like Akira too? He shook the questions off as he watched Tyler get up onto a table to be face-to-face with Akira. He could only hear growls and barks, but he knew Tyler was communicating with Akira.

"You need to calm down, Akira." Tyler looked into Akira's eyes with his blood-red eyes. "Just calm it. You can do-"

Akira then thrust Tyler across the room, as he whimpered, holding his eye. "I don't need your pity! Just leave me alone! I'm already stressed and you're making it worse!"

Akira roared, shaking the room slightly for a few seconds as she slowly approached Tyler, who led on the floor with his paw over his eye, which bled. Before Tyler could do anything else, Mr Tolfree came over to Akira and stared into her eyes. He couldn't believe what he could see. They were like fire. Even her blind eye had a glint of fury hidden within. She panted with aggression as she growled at Mr Tolfree, her claws unsheathed. "Enough." His stare spooked her as she backed into a corner with a fearful bellow. Tyler undercovered his eye for him to see blood trickle down his right eye. Akira had struck him in her wild state. "Look what you did! You need to control it."

Tyler whimpered. Mr Furlow ran over to the teacher's desk and got the first-aid kit, tending to Tyler's slash. Akira's pupils enlarged again to normal as she shook in fear. She turned back to her human self and cried out. "I'M SORRY!"

Tyler looked up to Akira. But before he could go to her, the pain from the slash shocked him as he trembled and passed out, his legs feeling like jelly as he collapsed. As he was asleep, Mr Furlow used the opportunity to put a bandage-like eyepatch over Tyler's eye so it could heal.

In Tutor, Akira and Mr Tolfree sat down in the forest room opposite each other at a table.

"Right. I've discussed with your parents and we have come to an agreement that we can have 1 to 1's at tutor time. This will be an opportunity for you to vent a bit and reset before you go to your last lesson, ok?" Mr Tolfree said in a calm, soft tone. "I understand everything has been hard for you. The trauma, the sudden shifts, and being diagnosed as a wild Therian Shifter. But, we can get through that by pulling up that anchor together and getting you through this, ok?"

Akira nodded patiently as she sat in her chair. "Is Tyler gonna be ok?"

Mr Tolfree nodded. "You didn't blind his eye, fortunately. He's just recovering in the nurse's office."

Akira then suddenly froze. She started trembling and staring down at the table. Flashbacks started appearing and she started to go into a tight position. The pain, the manipulative laughter, swirled through her mind.

"Are you alright, Akira? Speak to me or just nod and shake your head, alright? Just give me a sign you can understand me."

Akira shook her head in disagreement. She could feel the spider of her nightmares making another cobweb of past trauma in her mind, each string of silk made the web grow, each string of trauma connecting with another as she sat there shaking.

"You're having a panic attack, ok? Just take deep breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth as Mr Ruddle taught you, ok?"

So Akira started her breathing method. But just as she became calm, flashbacks of the students hurting her, her falling from the tree as Shade had struck her, the stick in her hip, everything came to her and she felt her head started to ache with overstimulation as she suddenly froze once more. She trembled still and stared at the table. She couldn't move. Her arms, her legs, her head were all still. Mr Tolfree tried calling her and waving his hand in front of her face but she just sat there, frozen still.

It was then she snapped out of it finally. Her head felt light and her eyes were slightly dry as she blinked to moisten them again. She looked at Mr Tolfree, who sat in front of her with a relieved expression.

"Phew!" Mr Tolfree whispered in relief so Akira couldn't hear.

When Akira came home, Chase came up to her. Akira then widened her eyes. She flashed back to when he stabbed into her with his football boot and hurt her. She then hid behind her mother, as she quivered with fear.

"Hey, is everything ok Akira?" Chase looked concerned.

"Chase, Akira was diagnosed with Anxiety yesterday. She must have gotten flashbacks from your past of bullying her. Poor thing."

Chase widened his eyes. Poor Akira... He thought as he went up to his bedroom and led in bed with a sigh.

The next day, Akira awoke. As she got up, she retched, her cheeks puffing as she ran to the toilet, bringing up food from the night before. Chase heard her retch and rushed to check up on her. "Akira, what happened?! Why are you vomiting?" Akira looked at Chase with glazed eyes from the sickness. She looked weak and stressed. Her forehead dripped with sweat as she sat on the floor in her pyjamas, her back soaked with sweat. Chase had never seen Akira so weak. And so afraid. "I-I'll get you some water, just stay there!"

So Chase got a cup from the kitchen and filled it with some water, as he carefully took it up to Akira. "M-my throat hurts. W-why am I so w-weak..."

Chase gave Akira the cup of water as she shakily brought it to her lips and drank a bit at a time. She didn't look ill. Her face still had colour in it and it wasn't pale as if she was sick because of illness. 

"Are you sure you want to go into school, Akira? You don't have to, you know." Chase suggested as he looked at Akira with a concerned expression.

"N-no no... I'll go in... I-It's from the nerves r-right..?" Akira stumbled on her words, as she got up, her legs like jelly as she stumbled towards Chase. She went to fall, but Chase quickly caught her.

A few minutes later, Akira tried to eat her breakfast, but it was making her retch. She wasn't sick again but hated the feeling of retching. After breakfast, Akira's father dropped Chase and Akira off at school. Chase helped Akira out of the car carefully as she took a deep breath, following Chase to the forest room at a steady pace.

Akira looked a little bit weak but she overall seemed fine.

What happened to Akira?