As soon as I got to the cottage house I went straight to my room, dropped my bad on the floor, and plopped on my bed. I turned on my back and looked up into the night sky through my skylight. It was dark and there were several stars. I stayed like that for a while when I decided to take out my iPod. I put in my ear buds and started listening to my Pandora. As I stared into the night sky and listened to music, my eye lids kept getting heavier and heavier. The next thing I new, I opened my eyes to see that the sun was out.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I looked down at my iPod and saw that it was seven o’clock. School starts at eight and the bus gets here at seven-twenty. I practically jumped up and off of my bed and began to throw on my clothes. I then put on my makeup faster than I ever have before in my entire life. I brushed my hair and threw on my hat. Fifteen after seven. Running was now necessary.

I ran down the stairs and almost fell in the process. I quickly recovered though, and was out the front door and now on my way down the long driveway. Oh my gosh, why did we have to have such a long driveway? I was starting to sweat when I finally got to my destination.

I tried catching my breath, but I didn’t get long. A few seconds later the bus was pulling up. So, sweaty and out of breath I got on the bus. Great. The fun begins. I began to scan the bus for a place to sit, and as usual I ended up picking a seat by myself in the very back. I looked out the window and watched the trees that quickly passed by. Our house is actually pretty close to other houses, but it doesn’t feel like it. That’s one thing I love about it.

Oh no. Here comes the anxiety. After all that rushing around I’ve done, I haven’t had time to think about it. But now that I did have time, I couldn’t think about anything else. Breathe. I just needed to breathe. But I couldn’t. The closer we got to school, the harder it was for me to breathe.

Slowly my throat began to feel like it was getting smaller and like there was a giant lump in it. I couldn’t swallow. There was a tightness in my chest and my heart began to pound ridiculously fast. My hands began to shake as I felt my forehead. I was hot and still sweating. Why am I still sweating? I began to feel extremely nauseous as well.

Calm down. I have to calm down.

But I can’t. I can’t calm down. Suddenly, I felt claustrophobic; as if the bus was getting smaller. I need out. I want off this bus. Right now. I can’t stand to be on here a second longer. Air. I need air. I need open space. Oh, no. Dizzy. Lightheaded. Everything around me began to spin. Suddenly, the bus stopped and people started getting up. I must look crazy. But I didn’t have time to look around at people looking at me. I needed air. I needed space.

I waited a bit for the crowd to die down and slowly stood up. I was a bit off-balanced at first, but I quickly got comfortable enough to begin to slowly walk. As I slowly made my way to the front of the bus, I began to see people staring at me. They were indeed looking at me like I was some kind of psycho. Just like my mother does.

I finally made it to the front and began to slowly make my way down the steps. I had a death grip on the handle next to the steps and felt ridiculous. I still had all the symptoms from earlier, just less dizzy and barely able to walk. But I’ll be fine. I’d have to be fine.

I took a deep breath of fresh air. Or so I tried. It was as if I’d lost all ability to breathe properly. The light, cold breeze felt pretty nice but wasn’t helping much. I wanted to stay out here longer, but I knew I couldn’t. Homeroom was about to begin and I didn’t want to be late on the first day. Besides, all I had to do was make it to the room, and put my head down. If I could do that, I would be fine.

It was time to go, but I couldn’t move. I realized I was standing completely still and with my knees locked, making it hard for me to move. But, eventually I did. As I slowly made my way towards the school, I kept feeling worse, and worse. And the worse I felt, the slower I had to walk. When I finally got inside, I felt so bad I had to just stop right in the middle of the lobby.

I stood there and tried to calm down. Breathe. I had to breathe. I still couldn’t, but I kept trying anyways. Soon, I began to feel like I was hyperventilating. My heart started to beat faster, I began sweating again, the dizziness was becoming overwhelming.

I couldn’t see properly. I couldn’t hear properly. I couldn’t speak properly. I couldn’t think properly.
And right when I was about to try to get up enough strength to scream for help, everything went black.