Jade put her car in reverse and twisted around to face the back of the car, bracing her left arm behind the headrest of the passenger seat. As she did so, she felt the light tickling sensation of a few strands of long, light brown hair brushing against her hand. Jade instinctively recoiled from the touch, withdrawing her hand and leaning toward her car door.

"Jade? Is something wrong?"

Jade glanced over at Tori but avoided eye contact; eye contact only shortened the distance between two people, and that was the exact opposite of what Jade needed right now. What she needed was to get away from Tori. End this terrible car ride that already felt too long, even though she hadn't pulled out of the parking space yet. But in order to get to the end, she had to actually begin the journey. So she again placed her hand behind the passenger headrest, trying hard to ignore just how close she was to Tori in this position. And she backed out of the space.

When Jade finally put the car back in forward drive and returned her left hand to the wheel, the space between her and Tori felt considerably larger. But the tension didn't fully dissipate from her shoulders and neck, and Jade knew she probably wouldn't feel at ease again until she was out of the car. Ah, the pleasures of driving, she thought bitterly.

"So… what are you going to be doing this evening?" Tori's voice spread throughout the car quickly, thickening the air and bringing the walls of the car a bit closer to Jade.

"Why should I tell you?" Jade spat, trying to bring any possible conversation to an end before it could make her any more uncomfortable.

"I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well, don't."

"Come on, Jade. I'm just being friendly."

"I promise you, you don't want to be my friend."

"I do!"

"You know nothing about me." Jade felt more tension creeping into her neck, shoulders, and arms, and she gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"I know you like scissors and coffee, and you hate ducks."

"Everyone knows that."

"Then tell me something people don't know about you."

"No," Jade said forcefully, trying to push away not only Tori's questions but also the thick air that was encroaching on Jade's space, suffocating her.

"Why can't you just share one thing?"

"Why can't you just stop talking?"

"I'm just trying to make this car ride more interesting!" As Tori raised her voice, it echoed in Jade's ears over and over again, leaving her head spinning. The space around Jade continued to close, and her chest tightened.

"Shut up."

"No! I have a right to talk! You can't just command me to be quiet if I don't want to!"

"Then I have a right to make you walk the rest of the way home."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Tori was silent for a few moments, and then she spoke again. "You know what? I don't care if you threaten me! You act like everyone else is the problem and should bend to what you want, but that's not how it works! If I want to talk during the car ride, I can, and you can't stop me."

Tori's voice was urgent, pushy, loud. An attack on Jade's personal space. The car was too small. The daylight was too bright. Jade's head filled with hazy but intense worried thoughts about being stuck, caught, trapped. Her stomach twisted into knots, and her entire body became chilled. Need to escape…

Jade gritted her teeth and pulled into the parking lot of a small park that they were passing. As she braked, she noted that her leg was twitching.

Jade abruptly turned to face Tori. "Get out."

Tori looked shocked. "What?"

"You heard me. Get out of my car."

Tori looked at Jade, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You're… serious?"

Some unrecognizable look passed across Jade's face—was it rage? panic?—and Jade repeated darkly, "Get out."

Tori scrambled to unbuckle her seatbelt, then flung open her car door and jumped away from the car quickly, anticipating that Jade would drive off as soon as she was out. But to Tori's surprise, Jade got out of the car as well.

Tori watched, confused, as Jade walked over a picnic table a few yards away and leaned against it, looking out at the empty park with a blank expression. What in the world is she doing…?

After a few moments, Tori tentatively walked toward Jade until she was standing just a few feet away. "Jade? Is everything okay?"

Jade's gaze flickered over to Tori, and anger flared in her eyes. "Back off," she said stonily. Troubled by the tone of Jade's voice, Tori complied, walking over to a different picnic table that was quite far away.

What's going on with Jade? I've never seen her like this before. She seems so… tense. And she's not normally this irritable or angry. Was it something I did?

Tori looked over again to Jade. As she watched, Jade slowly moved away from the table and walked toward a piece of playground equipment in the park; it was a plastic "pile" of boulders that kids could climb, and it was somewhere around ten feet tall. When Jade reached the base, she looked over it, and it seemed to Tori like she was appraising the best way to climb. Eventually, Jade ascended, moving as though she was unsure of what she was doing, but moving nonetheless. When Jade reached the top, she turned so she was facing away from the parking lot. Tori looked in that direction; there was an open field, covered with grass and dotted with a few trees, but there was nothing more. Why is she looking there? There's so much more to see in all the other directions… Tori looked back up at Jade, wondering if she was going to do anything else, but she simply sat there, looking out at the world. We had to stop for this…?

When it became clear that Jade had no intentions of leaving any time soon, Tori sighed and pulled a book out of her backpack. If she's just trying to make me get home late to get on my nerves, I won't give her the satisfaction of getting angry. Whatever. It's a nice day, anyway. It's always nice to read outside.

Jade gazed out at the openness in front of her: the empty field, the refreshing lack of buildings, the clear blue sky. She let her eyes settle on a point in the middle of the sky, where no clouds could be seen, then she began to inhale deeply. One. Two. Three. Four. Five, she counted. Then she held her breath in for a few beats, then let it out slowly. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Then another breath in.

The air was cool and fresh as it entered Jade's nose and filled her chest, but it didn't make her feel cold; the fake boulders beneath her were still vaguely warm, after a day of sitting in the sun. Even as Jade continued to take deep breaths, her mind and body still acted as though they didn't understand this was supposed to be relaxing; she still felt tense and anxious. And trapped.

But I just have to look out at the empty field and the endless sky. There's nothing there. And there's nothing around me anymore. A breath in. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Hold… And out. One. Two. Three—

Jade's counting was interrupted by the joyful sound of a child laughing. She scowled in frustration. Looking around for the source of the noise, Jade was dismayed to see two young kids approaching the base of her boulder pile. They'd better not come up here.

Just as she thought that, the older of the two kids (maybe she was seven? Jade really wasn't good with guessing kids' ages) began to climb. Fuck. As she saw the girl getting closer, all the anxiety that had finally left her from the deep breaths came flooding back. Shit shit shit shit shit this is bad this is bad this is bad…

The little girl called out to her companion—"Come on!"—and consequently, the younger kid (maybe he was five? he looked like he could be her brother) began to climb as well. No no no no no please I can't deal with them coming up here and I can't just curse them out to get them to go away…

Suddenly, a familiar voice cut in: "Hi there. What are your names?" The voice was sweet and friendlyThe two kids stopped in their climb to look over at Tori, clearly confused as to where she had come from.

After a moment, the young girl seemingly decided that stranger danger did not apply to pretty high school girls, and she answered, "I'm Evie. He's Matt."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tori. Do you come here often?"

Why in the world does she have to engage them in a conversation right below me? Jade wondered. What does she not understand about "back off"? I need silence, not this!

But the kids were the opposite of silent. "Uh huh, every day after school! We like the rock the most!"

"That's very fun. But do you think you could use a different part of the park today? Maybe the swings or monkey bars over there?" Tori gestured to the opposite end of the park. "I think the girl up there is already using the rock." Wait… did she just say what I think she said?

The young girl considered Tori's question, clearly torn. "Well… We really like the rock. But I guess we could use the swings today… Okay, Matt, let's go to the swings!" And they were off, with Evie skipping across the playground and her younger pal struggling to keep up.

Jade breathed a short sigh of relief. Then she looked down at Tori, who offered a slight smile, then turned to leave. Wait… Jade felt an inexplicable desire for Tori to stay, perhaps to explain how she had known Jade needed her help in getting the kids to go away. But she couldn't bring herself to say that one word. Or anything at all. So she just watched as Tori walked away and sat back down at her picnic table on the other side of the park. Tori quickly became absorbed in her book again and didn't look up, but Jade continued to gaze at her from afar, wondering if maybe Tori was not just a cause for panic, but also a remedy.

A/N: I wasn't planning on ending the chapter here, but that just felt like such a sweet place to end, so here we are. In writing this chapter I learned that, even while knowing exactly what feelings I intended to convey, it is still incredibly hard to put into words how anxiety feels. Who'd've thought.

Anyways! I hope you enjoyed. Thank you so, so much for reading!