Lycan Obsessed

CHAPTER TWO: PANIC ATTACKS AND DAYDREAMING

The rest of the day was a blur because the next thing Cassandra felt was her small body on the bed as she opened her eyes trying to figure out where the alarm blaring without stopping was coming from.

The small ray of light escaping through her curtains pissed her off, she didn’t need to be reminded that it was already 6:00 am. The alarm was necessary anyways, if she wanted to get productive today she needed to get her s**t together.

Cassandra finally found the alarm and turned it off. Great psychology, she’d read in an article that keeping your alarm buzzing far away from your bed or room would propel you to get up to turn it off and most of the time, you wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep.

“It works,” she said to herself out loud. Except what the article didn’t state was that you’d be in a mood.

Sighing, she walked back to her room only to see Phoenix, her black cat looking comfortable in her bed.

Cassandra grimaced as she tried to remember why she had a cat in the first place. She wasn’t a fan.

Oh, it was Patricia Highsmith. That was why she had a cat, she was a big fan of her work and when Highsmith mentioned in an interview that she wrote next to her cats, Cassandra had gotten one, except now Phoenix was just an emotional support animal, to say the least.

Bending over, she picked her up and even though she purred and meowed, Cassandra turned her back to the cat, watching her walk out of the door, before reluctantly closing the door.

Walking past the stained mirror in her room, she picked up her phone and dialed Sage’s number. Sage owned Cassandra’s favorite coffee shop and she was calling to know if she was open, so she could stop by, as usual.

She was sure, Sage could hear her phone ringing, so she incessantly dialed her number. Cassandra smiled to herself knowing that Sage’s ringtone was, “Don’t call my phone leave me alone” by Kari.

Cassandra took a little delight in taunting Sage that morning. Sage picked up the phone after the fourth ring

“Damn it’s 6:15 Cass, at this point, you could run the business for me because I don’t see myself getting up from bed. I kid you not, I have Jimmy’s homework to finish before opening”. Sage ranted over the phone, yawning at intervals.

“I could babysit Jimmy later Sage, but please I gotta start drafting for my new book today, pretty pleaseeeee, I can’t go somewhere else. You’re my insp…” Before Cass could finish, Sage cut her off.

In between chuckles, she said, "I know what you're about to say Cass, I'm not your inspiration c'mon."

Sage's smug expression was already clear to Cassandra: "You'd say anything to have your way, wouldn't you?"

“Agreed”, Cassandra replied, faking a smile, even though Sage couldn’t see her.

"I'll be directly over in… " Sage stopped and afterward after momentarily moving around as Cassandra could hear, she proceeded, "I’ll see you in 20". The line dropped dead very quickly.

While waiting, She thought back to the first time she met Sage and remembered why she loved her aura.

It was her ebony skin and thick black hair, Cassandra remembered how Sage lowered her eyebrows when she caught Cass staring at her.

She’d walked up to her, and stood face to face,up close Cassandra was sure Sage could see her tiny red freckles. She wasn’t so comfortable with it but when Sage said: “ Hey, you look like princess Ursula from ‘The little mermaid’ girl, own it” Sage said with a funny sassy tone.

Cassandra remembered laughing and accidentally spilling droplets of spittle on Sage’s face and even though she didn’t look too pleased with that, she shrugged and told Cass she owned the coffee shop down the street.

After a short while, her phone dinged, interrupting her flashback.

Hey girl, the shop’s open right now, I made muffins too. Come quickly before they all get sold out. People are really loving it today *wink* — Sage

Cassandra didn’t know what exactly she felt. She was happy about the muffins though, at least Sage was being a good host today.

Phoenix strolled into the room again, Cass knew that this time it wasn’t for hugs. Her cat was actually hungry. She walked into the kitchen to get some left over cookies and tried to untangle her three day old ponytail.

Whisking away Phoenix as she poured some milk into her bowl, Cassandra felt her heart rate increasing and her head thumping. Her hands started to shake a little but she controlled it— at least she thought she did until she spilled the milk and almost stepped on her already frightened cat.

Her first instinct was to call Cynthia to come over but her heavy body hit the floor before she could make any move. The heavy thud of her body made Phoenix scurry away, Cass knew what this was and it wasn’t the first time.

The pain she felt was nothing compared to the realization that she was powerless to save herself. As they came in shudders, she struggled to breathe.

She couldn't stop crying when she realized she was having an episode—a panic attack—after a long time as she lay on her carpet, sore and shaken.