C3 PANIC ATTACK

She shook her head as two men dressed in black shoved her in the car. Sasha screamed for help but there was no one to hear her screams. They tied her hand behind her back and muffled her screams with a piece of cloth. Fresh track of tears stained her cheek as she sobbed and sobbed, crying for help but there was no one to save her. She felt the car halting as someone pulled her by arm, trying to drag her out of the car. She fought back, trying to yell.

"Sasha!" Sasha!"s he felt a familiar sound calling her and someone shaking her vigorously.

"Sasha!" She jolted up, shooting her eyes open. her hair was a mess as she looked like she just saw a ghost.

"Nurse!" he yelled.

"They are kidnapping me Alex. Help me, he will take me in a dungeon or sell me to another country." she blabbered as her pulse dropped. She felt there is no air in the room.

Nurses emerged into the room, Injecting a needle into her IV drip, but she was too numb to realize.

"It was just a bad dream Sasha." he said cupping her face and wiped her tears with his thumb and mumbled, "Breathe baby doll.. Breathe."

She looked in his green eyes and breathed. Placing her hand on his chest, he guided her to take few deep breaths until she was stable enough.

"Are you feeling alright?"

She gave him a nod, mumbling to herself that it was just a bad dream but usually she don't get nightmares. After Alex left her she used to get up crying and weeping for her but something like this never hit her.

Alex lay her down gently and walked across the room to fetch a glass of water.

Sasha could feel her head extremely heavy as if whole world's burden was placed on his head. She felt her vision getting blurred.

Alex returned with a glass of water. Placing a hand behind his neck, he touched the rim of the glass on her now pale lips, helping her to drink from it. Sasha didn't realized how parched her throat was until he offered the liquid to her.

Rummaging around she scanned her surroundings . White ceilings, white walls, a pungent smell of sterile and antiseptics hit her nostrils. She was lying on a bed with white sheets and a weird stale pink colored blanket. She looked at her side as her IV monitor beeps. Her hand ached because of the needles attached to her nerves.

"What is happening? Why am in the hospital? And...and why are you here? weren't you with your.. with your girl last night?" The air thickened between them as she felt a remorse of hurt striking her heart.

"You had a panic attack."

"What a panic attack? Damn why does my head ache so much, my eyes, my eyes are drooping, I felt tired." She mumbled as the darkness engulfed her once again.

-----

"How are you feeling sweat heart?" Asked a middle aged woman bandaging her feet.

Sasha smiled at her before saying, "Better. My head feels lighter but I am unable to remember the events from yesterday."

She smiled and said, "Don't worry sweat heart just give sometime and you will be absolutely fine."

Before she could interrogate my nurse further, Alex emerged. "Hey finally you are awake. How are you feeling?"

She furrowed her brows at him, last thing she remember was, she broke all ties with him and moved in with Shelly. More than a year had passed since she saw him and closed herself into a bubble of dejection and hurt. Until last night when she was out to party with her friends and... and yes, she saw him dancing with a girl. Then how did she landed in the hospital? And why is he here? Why is he being so sweet? she felt a shot of pain gripping her skull and she pressed her temples, groaning.

"Calm down Sasha. You are still unwell, don't pressurize your little brain."

"What is going on? I can't remember anything."

"Chill out baby doll." Alex said gripping her shoulder.

But she jerked him away and yelled, "Just stay away from me and tell me what's going on or else my mind will just explode. Why can't I remember anything? Tell me Alex, weren't you dancing there with that blue-eyed girl? I don't remember talking to you. Then why am I here with the guy who is acting as if I am his life but in reality he don't care for me at all."

Hers words sliced his heart in two. Holding back his rage he whispered-yelled, "Yes I was with Daisy and you was with that brown eyed bastard. Who looked at you as a piece of meat. Don't you remember how you kicked him and ran out of the club on isolated streets like a crazy girl. Don't you remember how..how cheap you were dressed? oh what am I asking, you were so freaking high just like a girl who entered the club to be lost in a man's arm, just for fun."

She stared at him dumbfounded trying to comprehend each word he said. Slowly she could see flashes of Jane and the club. Yes he was right, she ran out of the club. And it was dark there and... and what? she put some more pressure on her veins and muttered to herself, and there was no network and a black car crashed in. But then.. she jolted her eyes open as her head started thumping wildly. God! she groaned pressing her temples and slumping her head behind.

Nurses immediately gushed to her side, inserting needles on her neck, sedating her to sleep.

----

Sasha woke up to the beep of her IV monitor. Her head was a little stable now but she was as feeble as before. She wanted to know everything that led her here, that hurt her feet but she is deprived of energy. Whenever she pressurizes her brain, she feels miserable.

“Oh dear there is nothing important, why are you torturing your little brain so much.” Said her nurse with the most sweetest smile as the wrinkles around her eyes deepened.

“I understand but that doesn’t explain how I am with him and why I feel so sick. Alcohol don’t make you feel like this. It wasn’t the first time I got drunk.” Sasha frowned and cried, “Plus those bruises down my feet and...and on Alex’s face.”

The nurse looked at her horrified before waving of the question. “Umm..I .” She stuttered, “Never mind it's time for your medicine now.”

Sasha held her arm and stopped the woman from moving around. “I know you know a lot about me. Please tell me.” She pleaded.

The woman sighed and muttered, “Fine but promise me, you won’t panic?” Sasha nodded signaling her to continue.

“Saturday night he brought you in a critical condition. Your breathing was shallow and we had to shift you in an intensive care unit, immediately. You had a panic attack and yes an injured foot. He too had a bloody nose and several bruises.” She swallowed a lump in her throat and continued, “ It looked like he had a fight. And from the test results that arrived yesterday, we found streaks of drug in your blood. I think that explains the sickness you are feeling now?”

Sasha tried to soak in the information she just got. And as promised she kept herself as calm as she could.

“I knew that rascal Jane would drug me.” She grunted a bunch of incoherent words for Jane.

“Oh dear, you should be extra cautious. Anything bad could have happened or had happened.” She whispered the last part too slow for Sasha to hear. “I am glad Alex was with you.”

“He didn’t saved me from Jane. I kicked him and ran whilst he was enjoying the show like others.” Sasha said, looking down at her fingers. She wiped the tear that just left her cheek and asked, “but that doesn’t explain the bruises and panic attack. I was sad but not so much to go through a panic attack.”

The nurse tried her best to come up with something acceptable for her because the truth of Saturday night won’t be digested by her. She was scared that will push Sasha deeper into the dark hole they are all trying to remove her from.

“Oh sweetheart! You think so much. You were drugged you might have stumbled on rocks. And about Alex he might have fought with the guy that drug you and brought him black and blue on your feet? It is possible that because of the reaction of drugs you took it seriously and had a panic attack.” She said to make it as normal as possible.

Sasha soaked in the information and found no reason to disbelieve it.

“I don’t know why I am getting flashes of a black car and it feels like.. like I am running from someone. As if someone is after me. I don’t understand why am I feel that something bad is going to happen? Like I did a grave mistake that is going to hunt me down and turn my already tangled world upside down.”

The color from the nurse’s face drained.

“No. You are just.. just over thinking.” She stammered, “Now that you know everything, take your medicines.”

Sasha gave a nod feeling like there is more to her Saturday night story but she pushed it at the back of her mind, gulping down the medicines.

The nurse that was her mom’s age, caressed her head and helped her to lie. Sasha smiled at her and instantly felt a motherly love spreading from her. Mom. She missed her mom. Can anyone call her mom please? She thought but instantly shook the idea because if her mom witnessed her like this she will be packing her bags and moving to her village with her mom next day. Though she would love to cling to her mom and sleep on her lap for eternity, she wanted to stay here away from her. So that she could earn money and well up a hefty amount for her father’s operation. An amount that wouldn’t be mustered even if she worked for hundreds of years in this restaurant. Maybe it's time to find a high-paying job now. She thought before drifting in a deep slumber.

Alex stopped mid-way as he saw her sleeping like a baby. She clutched her pillow close to her chest as she took deep breaths. She looked serene after a long time. He smiled at her before pecking her forehead lightly.

He turned out of the room to complete the paperwork after all he is going to take her back to his house soon.