Piper had classes the next day.

She woke up before her alarm clock, with the same nervous feeling as usual eating at her stomach.

She turned off her alarm and rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Yesterday came flooding back to her. She closed her eyes, and could still feel the water washing over her, feel her body tiring of its struggling, and picture the blackness that had encroached upon her vision as she drowned.

And she would have drowned...if not for Fear.

She opened her eyes once more. Fear. She wondered if she'd imagined it. If she'd been rescued, or made it to shore by some miracle on her own, passed out, and dreamed the entire encounter.

She remembered Fear taking her hand, taking her anxiety for himself. She frowned. I only work based on what you already have inside of you...So he'd really just confirmed what she'd already known. Some part of her mind was destroying her.

Her stomach lurched at the thought. She didn't cry. She had already cried enough. It hadn't helped. Nothing helped.

She sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She tried not to focus on the sickness as she moved robotically around the room, getting out her clothes and dressing, gathering her books.

You can make it to at least one class today, she told herself. At least do that. Just one. You'll make it. You won't throw up. You won't throw up.

She took a deep breath and looked herself up and down in front of the mirror. Now or never. If she didn't leave her apartment now, she'd never leave.

She grabbed her jumper from the hook by the door, her gaze moving to her desk chair where the jacket from yesterday was still laid neatly over the back. She hesitated. It was real. It was all real. She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around the facts.

She tossed her own jumper down onto her bed and picked up the jacket, putting it on and looking at herself in the mirror. It was a little big, but somehow comforting.

"Are you there, Fear?" she whispered, hesitantly, to the room that was empty of anyone but herself. "Because I'm really scared right now so...if what you said was true...You're here right? You just can't...let me see you..." She laughed, shortly, embarrassed at herself for talking to the empty air. She really was going crazy.

She shouldered her rucksack*, eyeing herself in the mirror one more time. Go, she commanded herself.

She exited the apartment, forcing herself to walk to her car. She always left early. If she didn't get in her morning drive, she wouldn't be as calm as she could be when she walked into her classroom at University of Westminster.

"You can do this," she told herself out loud. "You've got this. It's all you. It's all illogical...in your head. Just make it to school and walk in. You aren't sick; it's just the anxiety. And if you did throw up in class for some reason, people would understand. Everyone gets sick, after all."

She took deep breaths in and out, trying the calming technique she'd found online. Didn't really work for her, but at least she was trying.

She got to school and parked, exiting the vehicle. "Ok, Fear," she said, teeth gritted as a wave of nausea passed over her and her breathing quickened. "It would be really nice if you could just go easy on me today, you know?" No response. She didn't know what she'd been waiting for. He'd told her she wouldn't see him again.

She gulped, but forced her feet forward, one in front of the other, until she was inside and seated. She felt trapped at her desk, trapped in her classroom.

She watched the clock. One minute. She could make it through one minute.

And then after that one minute, she watched the clock as another minute passed. And then another. Until finally, the class was over.

She felt like crying in defeat as she rushed to pack her things and escaped the building. The trapped feeling slowly dissipated as she walked to her car and got in, backing out of her space and accelerating as she left the parking lot.

When will it end? She asked herself. Then, out loud, as if demanding an answer of Fear. "When will it end?!"

*rucksack is the same as a backpack