“Oh fuck off, Max.She’llbe fine.”
He scrutinized her for a second, looked to me for a nod, and then left the bathroom.
I stayed quiet once the door shut, as Vivian shuffled around in the shower stall and found a comfortable place to sit. As soon as she did, she got up again. Trying a different spot in the tight space.
Nothing helped.
My attention fixed on her breathing.
It grew tighter. The pace quickening the longer she searched for comfort she knew she wouldn’t find.
I recognized it. I’d experienced it so many times, and it could only be one thing.
But I couldn’t pinpoint what had triggered her panic.
When a stifled moan escaped her, I sat up fully and searched for her outline in the shower stall, but it was too dark to see her from the bathtub in the middle of the room.
So, I climbed out of the tub slowly. Sliding my feet forward instead of taking steps. I moved with my arms extended until I bumped into where I’d guesstimated the shower stall should be against the back left wall.
Fumbling in the dark, I searched for the handle.
“What are you doing?” she croaked. “Go away, Quinn.”
She retreated to the far corner of the stall, the slide of cotton against the tile rustling as she sank down to the floor. When I stepped inside the shower, she snapped again.
“God, is this what you see in each other? Neither of you can hear when people speak?”
I ignored her jab because right now, she reminded me of a dog chained and snapping at anyone who came near it. Shewasn’ttrying to be a bitch. She was…protecting herself.
“Vivian, are you claustrophobic? Is that why this is freaking you out?”
She scoffed.
“Trade places with me. Take the tub.”
Her head snapped up so hard she hit the tile wall behind it. “Fuck.” She sniffled, and when I got closer to her, I sensed the movement as she shook her head. “I don’t want your help.”
Language mattered. Words had meaning. So I picked up on what she didn’t say.
“Yeah, but…I’m the only one here. And you need it.”
I held out my hand in front of her, sticking it out carefully so I didn’t smack her in the face. Accidentally.
I wasn’t a monster.
She didn’t take it, of course.
But she did resign herself to my insistence on helping her, and she pushed up to stand. “Fine. But I don’t owe you anything for this.”
My brow furrowed. “I never said you did.”
She stepped past me, moving carefully until she left the stall and slid into the tub. I didn’t expect a thank you, which was good because she didn’t give me one. And as we waited out the remainder of my time, I wondered what had happened to her.
Her breathing had slowed, but it still wasn’t normal.
Even in the tub, being in the dark bathroom was enough to trigger her. And the light blasting through the open door, as soon as Max came to get me, only made it worse.
She stared at the path to freedom like she’d been stuck in a desert for days and that was the first sign of water.
