It seems she’s reached her breaking point

“Tick tock tick tock goes the clock!” Keera whispered, stands of her hair tangled around her fingers tightly. She was sitting on the floor in the center of Wilson’s office, singing in order to distract herself from the searing pain that she felt in her skull, but every now and then a shout would escape her lips, one that echoed off of the office’s walls and stung Keera’s own ears, “I am not crazy!”

James’ large clock was in the same room, ticking away, the large pendulum swinging back and forth, and all Keera did was watch it, her dead blue eyes fallowing it as she continued, “Tick tock!” she sang, though it sounded much more pained than it had before. Keera tugged at her hair, savoring the moment when the pain beneath her skull was replaced with the pain of several strands of her hair sliding out of her head. She dropped the wad of brown hair on the carpeted floor and did it again… and again until she could feel small droplets of blood forming where the strands of hair had once been.

Opening the door, he saw her on the ground. He drew his wand and pointed it rapidly at the clock, transforming it into a small wooden owl. He quickly ran to Keera, lifting her and removing her hands from her head. He took his wand and healed her wounds using Vulnera Sanentur. It was easy because her wounds weren't deep or serious. ''My dear, what happened? Are you alright?'', he asked.

It took Keera a few moments for her to even realize that Wilson had entered the room, or healed the small injury she had caused from pulling strands of her hair out, for that matter.

She sat there, arms tight to her sides, hands held out a few inches in front of her with her fingers extended. She grounded, her fingers twitching violently for a moment, as if she wanted to rip all of her brown hair from her skull. “I swear, James, I’m peachy- just- perfectly fine!” Keera replied, restating something she had said at the graduation ceremony only a few hours previously. “I’m not crazy, James- that’s a lie…” she croaked, her voice breaking.

Something had clearly snapped within her, or exploded for that matter; it was clear in her dead eyes as she stared up at Wilson, giving him a look that was so deranged it was almost as if she wasn’t in control of her own mind at all.

And so it should have been expected from her behavior and that ill look in her eyes when she lashed out at the man quickly, only to miss his face by a few inches, and dig her jagged nails into his shoulder.

Wilson opened his eyes widely as she dug her nails into his shoulder. ''Bloody hell'', he ejaculated, but he did not remove them. Yes, it was painful, even he wasn't that resistant, but it was nothing he could not with stand. ''No, you are not crazy Keera, you are not crazy''. he said putting her head on his chest. ''My dear, please calm down, I am here, I will be here, you are safe, you are fine. You are not crazy, you need to calm down, Keera. Don't worry. Just... do not hurt yourself anymore, the clock is gone, I am the only one left and that is how it will be'', he said, reassuringly.

Upon hearing those words- the sentence she had been dying to hear, proof that she wasn’t in fact crazy- Keera inhaled sharply and extracted her nails from Wilson’s shoulder, rocking slightly where she sat. “It hurts- wont stop- stop the ticking please!” she begged him, completely unaware of how pitiful she seemed, or how broken her voice sounded. What had set her off in such a way? A simple question had been asked, a question that had- well- questioned Keera’s sanity. From that point on it had been nothing but hell inside of the female’s brain.

[OK, excuse me for breaking the rules, admins, but I feel that writing this half of this post in 1st person POV will work best while describing what exactly was going through Keera’s mind. Thanks]

I couldn’t see my surroundings as they were- in fact, had I not walked to Wilson’s office myself, I wouldn’t of had any way of knowing where I was; my vision was blurred around the sides, and the room shook with every fast-paced beat of my heart, which was thudding so rapidly beneath my chest it felt as if it could break my ribcage at any given moment.

Someone was shouting in my head- someone who I recognized as myself, my own judgmental mind- but I didn’t recognize the voice or even the words the person was howling; I could only hear how loud the words were, unable to understand what was actually being said.

Add on the deafeningly loud TICK TICK T-I-C-K that I could feel in my pulsing brain, like a bug crawling around, squeezed tight between my brain and my hard skull, and you’ve got the worst feeling of desperation to make it all just go quiet, that you would kill anyone. It was too much for me to handle. The thread that had once held my sanity in place, had snapped, I could feel the worthless piece of string dangling there from the roof of my mind.

Where was I? No, I knew I was sitting on the floor in James’ office, but where was I- because I certantly wasn’t present in my body. Could James see me, or had I sunk into the carpeted floors? “H-help,” I whispered, but my voice was too far away for me to hear.

[ There, now I will continue in 3rd person as the rules require =) ]

Wilson observed her carefully. Bloody hell, what was he supposed to do now? She had obviously reached a breaking point, but that did not bother him, what bothered him is how to get her back to normal. His father is a doctor. He remembered, when he was very little, still wearing his white lab coats he got from his father, when they talked about the human brain and psychiatry. Medications were not an option, nor any long-term treatment. There had to be one one more thing, one more solution - and yes there was. His father calls it 'The Medical Slap'. It does tend to help people in a state of frenzy to get a grasp of reality. He did not know if it would help Keera, but he certainly hoped it would. He could not diagnose the level of her breakdown, but he did hope she was not too deep down. He took her head, kissing her on the forehead once, and then stroking her left cheek with his right arm. Quickly and surprisingly, he slapped her on that same cheek with his right palm, hoping the surprise would help. He took her once again and directed him towards him. ''Keera, are you alright? Are you feeling better? I am here, there is no one or nothing that will harm you while I am here, you know that'', he said, looking at her.

It definitely took Keera by surprise. She hadn’t been expecting such an action from Wilson at all, and so she was still and silent, her face still turned in the direction she had been slapped, her mouth open to say something, but no words came out. It was a while before she closed her mouth and moved her eyes back in the man’s direction.

She allowed him to pull her near him; her vision was clearing as her heartbeat slowed- how fast had it been going? Way faster than the average rate, that was for sure. The female listened to the sound of Wilson’s breathing with her head rested against his chest, she could hear something other than what was going on in her frazzled mind, and that was a great relief.

“It snapped…. It snapped and I can’t put it back together,” Keera whimpered, speaking of the figurative thread that had once held her sanity in place. There was fear burning beneath Keera’s ribcage, and it made her feel like clinging to James, begging him to keep her safe from herself- such dependency made the fear spread further throughout her body, like setting fire to piece of paper and watching the flame climb slowly up it until it reached your hand and licked your fingertips.

''Nothing snapped... it just got lost, like a quill or a piece of parchment'', he whispered, holding her. ''And now that you are here, with me, we have found it again. Just calm down my dear, that is all you need to do, calm down. You are not crazy, you are fine... you have just... it was temporary, it will be fine, Keera'', he said, holding her even firmer that a moment ago.