After my second breakdown in front of him.

"You good kiddo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" I replied

I released most of my stress unto that breakdown, so this is my honest and genuine reply.

"Well, I was about to say. doing that 2 times in 1 day is crazy. What are you gonna do next kiddo?"

His statement made me blush in embarrassment. As I did break down in front of him twice now.

"I'm not gonna do anything!" I replied

"Ehhh? Really?" He was teasing me

"Stop that!" I was beet red in embarrassment

He was raising the mood up, and it was for my sake.

"Hey...."

"What is it kiddo? You gonna cry again?" He smugly replied.

"No!" I was embarrassed.

"I just want to ask you questions."

This was the time to ask a lot of questions, as I was stopped earlier by the gunfight.

"Sure, but you only get one question a day"

"But why?" I asked

"Well... To be honest I don't have much free time. and I spent most of it taking care of you anyway" he replied.

"Oh..." It was the first time I felt sorry for him, as he used most of his free time on me. He saw me worrying about it and patted my head instead.

"Don't worry about it kiddo. I chose to take care of you anyway" as he scrambled my head more

"Stop that" I replied

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He laughed and sat down,

"Now shoot your shot"

"Can I ask multiple questions In a single question itself?" I asked

"Nope. And that's your question for today. Ask again tomorrow kiddo."

"Wha- that's just unfair!" I said, gasping at the unfairness of it.

"A question is a question." He replied.

It was like my earlier breakdown never happened. I was having fun with our conversations.

"Oh, I'm going to be late for the meeting!" He suddenly stood up and tried to run outside.

"Kiddo! I'll leave you to it!"

"Don't worry, I got it." I raised my hand and waved goodbye.

"Oh, and someone's gonna visit. Don't worry, you can trust her!" He added.

"I got yo- wait, What?"

He shut the door and ran.

"Why did he have to tell me like that?" I murmured to myself.

6.2

Bert went away to help the camp, while I stayed inside the house. During this time all I did was lay down the bed and think about many things.

A dangerous thing about being alone is you think about stuff that should never be thought about, especially to a teenager like myself back then.

One of the things I thought about was going out but as soon as I thought of it, I got cold sweat and my arms were shaking.

"Should I give up?" I thought to myself. I thought I was regressing to a coward. More questions then flood my head. Am I not going to improve? Will I stay a coward? Am I going to stay in this room forever?

My mind was once again going on a dangerous path mentally. My sanity was quickly spiraling down.

Knock knock.

Someone was knocking on the door.

"Ah, this must be the visitor" I thought.

"Wait a second!" I stood up and tried to open the door.

I was walking to the door. But as soon as I walked closer and closer, my legs moved Less and less. Until I came to a complete halt. The symptoms of earlier were happening once again. I tried to move with all my might. but alas, my body wouldn't follow. Another panic attack was starting.

"Why?" I thought to myself, tears started to befall my face.

"Why can't i move?" It was heartbreaking. It felt like drowning in water.

I hit my legs in vain, trying to make my legs move.

"Move..."

"I said move!" I screamed and hit my leg harder.

But It didn't move.

The memories of that hellish night was still stuck in my brain. And this only made me mentally worse.

Someone opened the door while I was still standing. All of a sudden an unknown woman held my shoulders and tried to calm me down.

"Calm down, Deep breaths." She curtly said.

I followed her instructions and breathed deeply.

"Breathe in, Breathe out."

"Breathe in, Breathe out."

This calmed me down. My panic attack weakened and I could move again. The mysterious person helped me sit and talked to me.

"Are you okay" she asked stiffly

I was still having difficulty speaking, but I could still answer.

"No" I replied

"I can't even do trivial things like opening a door" I laughed at myself as to downplay my feelings.

"I see" she brought out a book from her bag and started reading.

"Can you tell me about your symptoms."

"What do you mean by symptoms?" I asked

"I meant how does your body react when you try and go closer to the door?" She said while looking at the book.

I thought about it for a bit, then I answered.

"Um, it felt like I was drowning. I couldn't breathe, and my body was shaking all around" I said.

"I see" she skimmed the pages of the book. It seems like she was looking for something.

"Um,"

"What?"

"Are you a doctor?" I asked

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not" she curtly replied still skimming the book.

While she was skimming the book, Bert suddenly ran in and searched for something.

He looked like he ran a long way, as he was drowning in sweat. He looked around until he saw me. After he saw me, he ran to me and held my shoulders..

"Are you okay kiddo?"

I just nodded. It was all he needed to see.

"Thank god" he sighed in relief and hugged me.

"Good timing Bert." The mysterious woman said.

"I need to talk to you"

Bert released his hug and looked at her.

"Is it bad?"

What does he mean by that? Questions were popping in my head. Is it about me?

"Wait, We shouldn't talk about it here." He said.

"No!" I shouted, both of them looked at me.

"It's about me right? If it's about me, shouldn't I also know?"

"But-" Bert was about to reply

"Yes, she also needs to hear this" the woman seemed to agree with me.

"What's happening to me?" I asked

"Let me give it to you straight"

I readied myself. Bert also looked nervous.

"You have a severe case of post traumatic stress disorder."

"In short, you have PTSD"