Therian Shifters

Chapter 21: Akira's Journey:

As Akira had come home after a hard day of humiliation, fear, and anxiety, she flopped back onto her bed as she sighed loudly in relief. The comfort of the quilts and pillows immediately relieved her as she snuggled into the mattress. A few minutes later, both Chase and Akira had gotten changed into their normal clothing.

But as Chase came out of his room, he heard something from Akira's room. He opened the door to see her hugging her knees in fear. Her eyes were widened and she hyperventilated with fright. "Akira, look at me, ok? Just take deep breaths." Chase said calmly as he looked at Akira, who appeared worried and afraid. She trembled in terror as she looked up at Chase slowly. "It's just a mild panic attack, you're ok."

Chase sat down opposite Akira on her bed, as they both took deep breaths together. With each deep breath, Akira felt calmer. After eating dinner, they both went to bed.

The next morning, once again, Akira had thrown up. She breathed heavily as she grappled onto the sink and pulled herself up, washing her face over and swilling the sicky taste out of her mouth. Chase was already awake on his phone so he went to check on Akira. He saw that she had once again thrown up, so he helped her up so she could sit on the edge of the bathtub. He carefully got a piece of toilet paper for her as she wiped her mouth off.

"Did you want to have breakfast at school?" Chase asked as he guided her downstairs. She nodded, as they both sat at the table. "I'll get you some water."

So Chase retrieved a cup from the cabinet and proceeded to fill it halfway and put it on a coaster in front of Akira, as she carefully sipped from the cup. Akira and Chase then got changed in their bedrooms as Akira's father had woken up.

A couple of minutes later, Akira's father was ready as both Akira and Chase followed him to the car. An hour later, Akira and Chase hopped out of the car, as Akira's father drove to work. Akira's stomach then proceeded to rumble from sensitivity and hunger. "I can't tell if that's from earlier or if I'm just hungry."

Chase laughed with Akira as they both went to the forest room, as they both sat with Mr Tolfree and Mr Ruddle.

"How has Akira been, Chase?" Mr Ruddle asked.

Chase did a thumbs-up, but as he did, Mr Tolfree noticed Akira was having trouble eating. She had a small bite of toast, but when she tried to swallow it, it was like her throat was refusing it, as she tapped the side of her fist on her thigh continuously until it had gone down as she gasped lightly for air and sighed in relief. "One." She sighed, as the same thing happened over and over with each bite until she finally finished it.

"Are you sure, Chase?" Mr Tolfree asked as he put his gaze on Akira, who sighed once again as she took a small sip of water from the plastic cup in front of her. "It must be from all the stress and anxiety. Has she thrown up at all?"

Chase nodded. "This morning and yesterday."

Mr Tolfree sighed pitifully at Akira, who seemed ok, but still felt tired and sensitive.

But as the bell rang, Akira looked at her timetable. She had tech. As she saw the lesson on her timetable, a flashback from when she got mad and threw the bully Dylan across the room and almost shifted sent shivers down her spine. "Aha... I-I'm not going in there! Nope!" Akira ran to the corner of the room as Tyler accompanied her. He hugged her as he felt her trembling. He remembered what happened 2 days ago with Dylan and remembered how scared and afraid Akira was after she lashed out and proceeded to get beaten by most of her classmates.

"Oh, Akira..." Tyler hugged his best friend tightly with a warm and friendly embrace as she cried into his shoulder.

As they got to the classroom, Akira was just inches away from the classroom when she froze in one spot. She couldn't move. She wanted to try and at least go in for about 5-10 minutes to make her friends and teachers proud, but her legs refused to move.