She had a panic attack over a pop quiz that didn’t exist. I found her on the bathroom tiles, hyperventilating about a math test she hadn’t even been assigned. Her brain was inventing threats.
Lena, fifteen, had always been the quiet one. Not shy, but watchful . She read books like other people breathed. But somewhere between the start of tenth grade and October, something had cracked. She stopped doing homework. She stopped eating breakfast. Then she stopped leaving her room.
:
She had a panic attack over a pop quiz that didn’t exist. I found her on the bathroom tiles, hyperventilating about a math test she hadn’t even been assigned. Her brain was inventing threats.
Lena, fifteen, had always been the quiet one. Not shy, but watchful . She read books like other people breathed. But somewhere between the start of tenth grade and October, something had cracked. She stopped doing homework. She stopped eating breakfast. Then she stopped leaving her room.
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