Trigger warning: panic attack.





Alex

What was that? A sharp ringing sound hurt Alex’s ears. He groaned and forced his eyes open. He heaved himself out of bed and to the phone. Jack stayed in bed, he was probably still asleep.

“Gaskarth,” he mumbled sleepily and a tiny bit pissed.

“Alexander Gaskarth? This is the bishop’s office.”

“Um, yes? What can I help you with?” Alex said as he quickly got up and left the room. Suddenly, he was not that tired anymore.

“Mr. Gaskarth, we have been notified of you being seen with a man you seem to be very close to on multiple occasions,” the bishop’s secretary said. “We would like you to come to us so we can talk about that.”

Alex felt sick.

“Sure, when would you like me to come?” he asked, trying to sound as breezily as possible while his breathing started to get weird as he began to panic.

“Can you make it tomorrow?”

“Yes, I think so.” All alarms were ringing at once in his head.

“2 pm here in the office. It’s right next to the Baltimore seminary so you should know where to go,” she explained.

“Thank you. Should I bring anything with me?” Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“No, it’s not necessary.”

“Understood. Thanks, have a nice day,” Alex said, trying desperately to breathe properly.

“Goodbye, may the Lord be with you.”

Alex pressed the button to end the call and stumbled to a chair. He collapsed in it and everything started to flood his mind as the panic got worse and worse. He was breathing really quickly, hyperventilating really, so his air supply was getting bad and he started to feel lightheaded. But he didn’t even notice because the panic was worse than anything else.

He had worked so hard for this job. And now he might lose it. Sure, it was because of Jack which was at least not the worst thing to lose your job over but still. If he lost his job, all his studies would have been for nothing, he would maybe have to leave the city and maybe it would cost him Jack. He would have to get new qualifications to do anything and he already was really indebted so he probably wouldn’t be able to afford more college.

His vision started to get fuzzy because he didn’t stop hyperventilating. His arms were contracted to his body as well as his legs. Things started to tingle and then he blacked out. His body went slack and his breathing started to normalize.

Notes

Aw no, poor Alex :c

-Laura