Page 78 of Web of Lies
An arm circles around my shoulders, guiding me down the hallway. I rear back with every touch, pulling away from the warm body. But they don’t relent. They hold me tighter.
“It’s okay, Kaycee, we’ve got you,” Seger whispers in my ear with a soothing voice.
My eyes glaze over in a mind-numbing darkness. My feet still move. My body still feels. But I’m not here. I’m floating above my heaving body, being dragged by the twins and Chase down the hallway to safety. The only thing anchoring me to the world around me is them. Their warmth. Their soothing, musical voices.
A door squeaks open, hands pushing my back against a bitter icy wall, sending a gasp through my parted lips. I place my palms against the cool wall, trying to bring myself back to the present world. But it takes more than that to ease off the panic.
“She’s panicking,” Zepp’s distorted voice says from far away. His voice drowns in the depths of the water surrounding my hearing.
“How do we fix it?” It’s…it’s Chase this time, his voice laced in concern, border-lined panic. I can almost imagine the look on his handsome face.
“Just keep those fucking pricks away from her,” Seger growls from in front of me, pacing the floor with his hands roaming through his hair.
“Kaycee,” Zepp whispers from in front of me now, but his voice still sounds like he’s drowning in an ocean.
My body flinches when two hands cup my cheeks, turning my head so they can look me over. Back and forth, unlike the unwanted touches from the pupils of the school, Zepp’s touch is soothing. Not like the millions of ants crawling under my clothing, lining my skin in a sickening march of itches.
Scratch—I need to scratch them away.
I swallow hard, leaning into his touch. My heart slows its frantic drumbeat inside my chest, and my breaths come back down from the heaving I had to do.
“I’m okay,” I whisper hoarsely, not sounding like myself.
“Fucking clearly, you are,” Seger growls again from my right, running a finger through my wild hair.
“I told you, they’re going to kill her,” Chase whispers from over their shoulders. “They’re getting physical. What’s next?” His voice raises, his hand slaps down onto his thighs. “Talk sense into her. I mean, look at her!” he shouts, but there’s no anger in his words. It’s laced with frantic concern for me.
“You’re not fucking helping, Benoit. We see her. We have fucking eyes,” Seger shouts back, getting into Chase’s face, standing nose to nose. “We’re doing the best we can,” Seger growls again, stepping back, running a hand down his face.
“I’ll be fine,” I whisper again, my face still leaning into the warmth of Zepp’s hands. I peek my eyes open, adjusting to my blurry surroundings. “It’s just…. just an overload. I can’t….” I take a deep breath, holding it in my lungs for a few seconds and finally letting it go. Bringing the oxygen back to my brain and body seems to bring me back to the land of the living—at least a little bit.
I’m not fully recovered from this yet; that’ll take a while for me. Exhaustion will wear me down, my adrenaline will wear off, and my need for a nap will be overwhelming. But I’ll get to that when it happens. For now, I’m going to enjoy the feel of friendly hands and soothing voices.
“I understand,” Zepp whispers, so only I can hear him. I hum, blowing a breath from my lips.
“What happened?” Chase whispers, taking a step closer, brows dipping with confusion. His hands come out, and he takes one of mine in his. Gently squeezing his support, waiting for me to explain.
“I don’t do touching. It makes me feel like I’m blistering, I—” Chase tries to pull his hand away from mine, but my grip is too tight to let him go. I don’t want to let him go. His hand in mine feels right, comforting, and I’ll take anything I can get to feel better right now.
“And this?” Zepp asks, gesturing towards his own hands on my cheeks. “This is, okay?”
“Yes,” I whisper, nodding. “This is fine. It’s hard to explain.” My lips form a sad smile, but I revel in their touches. They’ll never understand how much their hands on me right now feel like heaven laced in gold.
“It’s because she wants us to touch her, ain’t that right, New Girl?” Seger asks through a laugh, lightly touching my loose hair again.
I snort in response, batting his hand away playfully. “You wish, Handsome.” I smile as the fog clears from my vision. They’re surrounding me like a support unit, eyes boring into me, checking to see if I’ll be okay.
“If you keep calling me handsome, I’m going to think you like me or something.” Seger jokes again, stepping back to fold his arms across his chest. His eyes continue to search me up and down, thoroughly looking me over.
“Or something.” I poke back, sticking my tongue out.
“So, you’re okay now?” Zepp asks, taking a step back too. His eyes examine every inch of my body, too, trying to find anything wrong with me.
“I’ll be okay,” I confirm, still clinging to Chase’s hand. “It’ll just take a minute for me to calm down. My skin…” I trail off, furrowing my eyebrows at the realization. Everything has subsided since they’ve talked me off the ledge. There’s no more tingling or ants crawling all over me. It’s just normal.
“What?” Chase asks, squeezing my hand again, pulling me back into the conversation.
“Usually, I get—when I’m touched…my skin gets…. irritated.” I tilt my head.
