Anxiety

She clutched the book in her arms as she ascended up the steps of the first floor to the next, the sinking feeling in her gut only got worse, almost as if she knew something bad was going to happen. She made it to the second floor, her stomach was doing flips. She wanted to turn and go back, back into the darkness where no one would see her. She got to the third floor, her legs stopped. She was half way there now.

She looked up the steps, they were as high as the heavens to her. People brushed past her, ascending up the stairs to the heavens. She was stuck, unable to move. Every part of her was telling her to run, to run far far away and never ever be found again. She should run, if she ran she wouldn’t have to deal with this. She knew they wouldn’t notice if she was there or not.

No one knew her after all. Yes, she could do it. But where would she go? She didn’t know where she was, she barely knew this building. She knew she wouldn’t get far. She took a deep breath and climbed the steps to the fourth floor. She tried to picture happy thoughts. She imagined her first time in the library.

Books and books as far as the eye could see. Each one holding someone’s precious imagination spilled out on every page. New characters, new words, and new adventures. She smiled, for the first time all day. Maybe there’s a library here I could get lost in, she thought. Now she’s on the fifth floor. She tried to think of other happy thoughts to put her mind and stomach at ease.

She thought of all the brave characters from every book she has ever read. She thought of Skullduggery and Valkyrie from Skullduggery Pleasant, and how brave they were, how the charged head first into any situation no matter how much danger there was. Skullduggery would bicker with over simple things, but was always witty. Valkyrie was determined to prove him wrong, and always a strong figure for her to follow. How they worked together and yet bickered like children. She thought of Charlotte and Scarlet from Ghost Girl, how even though Charlotte died, she still fund a friend in Scarlet. How they became such amazing friends, even in the afterlife.

She thought of Sweeney Todd, but she considered thinking of another character, seeing as how Sweeney was a sweet and loving man, turned mass murder and cannibal from being sent away from his wife for no reason and filled with hatred. Before she had a chance to think of another character she found herself standing before the door of the sixth and final floor. She took a deep breath and opened the door and walked slowly down the hall. Her breathing grew heavier. It’s not too late to turn and leave, she thought to herself.

But the words of Skullduggery, “Let’s get up close and then see what happens.” So she took another deep breath and walked quietly into the room. Nearly all the seats were taken so she took one mid row and looked at the blank board. A lady walked in and sat down at the large desk at the front and smiled at everyone, and said, “Welcome to Class everyone. I am your teacher.”