ANXIETY

Anxiety is mainly caused by terrible life events. Sadly, Charlotte knows all about having a horrible life while dealing with anxiety.It all commenced when she was 2 years old. Her parents Gustavo and Rosaly argued massively because of money problems. She vaguely recalls the arguments from when she was approximately 6 years old. But only because her dad used to deat her mom. Which made Rosaly extremely angry at Charlotte as though it was her fault that a child costs a lot of money
because of its needs. As the years passed things got worse to Charlotte a month before her eighth birthday, her parents divorced and the only person that understood her left forever 2 months later. Devastated that her grandma had passed away, Charlotte was only 8 years old and already felt alone. Fast forward to when Charlotte was 11 she went to live with her uncle for the summer. His house was astonishingly beautiful with a lot of rooms. Therefore, Charlotte had her own bedroom. Uncle John treated her as though she was his own child, he had 2 other male friends that would come over ever so often and often and even spend the night when the alcohol took control of them. One night, one of John's friends went in Charlotte's room and took advantage of the fact that John was asleep to do things that were not of god to Charlotte. Being 11, Charlotte was very confused by what had just occurred, she decided to keep it a secret. Fast forward 2 years to her thirteenth birthday, she only has a few friends and had very limited communication with other people. She was a very fun girl, but only her 3 friends had witnessed that side of her. She never let people in and refused to tell people about her life. Although, she is now 15 years old, she is still despised by her mother. She tries to speak to her mother as a friend but all her mother does is scream at her for "bothering" her. Her father hasn't made any contact with her since the divorce. Even though it's been years since their divorce her mother hasn't loved another man. Atleast, i mean in marriage senses. She goes from man to man and has no self respect what so ever. Since Rosely, her mother, has been doing this for years, it makes Charlotte believe that it's ok and completely normal to be this way. So one day, Charlotte came home to Rosely having a meal at the dinner table with a man she thought she had seen before. Charlotte then blurted out "Oh hello Richard" it was then, when Charlotte realized that she had made what ,may have been the biggest mistake of her life. Her mother didn't respond so politely. Because Charlotte had called the guy she was cheating on Richard with well "Richard." Things got so bad that Charlotte ran away to her uncle John's house with a black eye, bruised arms and red face. He let her in with his arms wide open. Her life had converted to the positive for once. She was there for about 2 weeks which lead to her moving to the school that was just 2 blocks away from her new home. She was afraid to meet new people. Her first day consisted of sitting alone in class as well as in lunch. She was just trying to avoid drama. Since she went on Thursday, her second day was on a Friday so it seemed like a relief to her. She went to the same classes but chose to actually look around for once to see if anyone noticed her, or saw her as a bother. As soon as she looked to her right side, an extremely attractive guy caught her eye. Boom eye contact. "Eric" she noticed on his notebook. As the class went on, she felt a stare, she couldn't concentrate on her work because just the thought of someone staring at her freaked her out. 5 minutes before the class ended, the teacher asked Charlotte "Did you have problems finding your classes yesterday" "yes this school is like a huge maze to me" Charlotte responded. "Is anyone willing to escort Charlotte to her next classroom" Not even a half second after the teacher asked this, as in, hardly even enough time to think something through, a hand shoots straight up. Charlotte couldn't tell who's hand it was because so many people were in the way, she just hoped it wasn't someone weird or anything of that sort. "Thank you for volunteering Eric!" the teacher shouts, happily that someone was willing to do this for the new student. "ERIC" Charlotte thinks to herself, why him... "I'm just going to regret accepting his assistance" she says under her breath. When she was on her way to her seat, she remembered that Eric had the seat right next to her. Her palms were sweating, her stomach was in knots, and her mouth was feeling extremely dry. "Hello Miss Chartlotte" says Eric. Charlotte tries to speak back but she can't get anything out. What is happening, this has never ocurred to her before. She wouldn't even let a smile out because she was overwhelmed by the nervousness. The bell rings. "Come on" Eric says putting his arm out as a signal for Charlotte to grab onto it. Charlotte just looks away, as though rejecting his what may have been act of kindness. He just puts his arm down and continues to walk down the hallway. "This is your class" Eric tells Charlotte. Charlotte even tries to say thank you but she can't let anything out. She just starts blushing and breathing abnormally. What is going on, she thinks to herself, so she decided to skip that class period and just tell them she got lost in the hallways the next day, She made her way to the restroom which was just a new classrooms away from her own. She googled all the symptoms she had gotten and a what looked like a simple 6 letter word "anxiety" kept popping up, as though it could explain everything she went through today. Out of frustration, Charlotte decides to call her uncle and ask him if he was informed about anxiety because her phone kept telling her that she had it. He just responded with an "don't worry darling, I'll pick you up early and we'll go to the doctor. "Doctor? I'm not sick..." Charlotte thinks to herself. She keeps researching and as she's researching, she finds out that there are different types of anxiety and gets confused so she decides to wait until later on that day. She spoke to the doctor about this and the doctor diagnosed her with social anxiety. He explained the symptoms to her and she didn't know exactly how to take it. When the doctor brought up a psychologist, she took that offensive, but Charlotte, being who she is couldn't say anything about it even if she tried. The day she went back she had to go in with her uncle so he could speak to the nurse and teachers about taking her medication in the middle of certain class periods. She was hoping they'd be the first ones there, since it was still extremely early. Sure enough, like 3 other students were there, Eric looked up and smiled at her when she came in and all he got in return was a normal, no emotion face from Charlotte. They were talking loud enough for Charlotte to hear, and Charlotte was next to Eric, she felt massively embarrassed. Now Eric knew that she had issues, he was never gonna talk to her for being abnormal. At least, that's what Charlotte kept telling herself. When they were done going around to the classes, Charlotte went back to class, and like approximately 5 minutes later the class, it was time for Charlotte to go to the nurse and consume her medication. She raises her hand and points to the door, as a signal to telling the teacher that she had to go, for hey had agreed on that she shouldn't have to ask for permission. As she was reaching towards the door, a girl asks the teacher "um, where is she going?" with what seemed to be an attitude. The teacher responds with a simple "it's personal." and the student responds with "i asked to go to the restroom 20 minutes ago and you didn't allow me to go that's not fair how come she gets to go out and about in the hallways, she should be forced to stay in class since she's new and is behind on our studies" Charlotte runs out crying and sits just next to the door with her legs up and her head on her knees, she felt useless, just like she used to feel, she felt as if nothing had changed since she left her mom's house. Someone came out of the room, it must be the teacher reminding her that she had to go to the nurse. "Charlotte..." she heard in a male's voice, it's Eric. She looks up to signal that she heard him. He sits next to her and says "I know what you're going through, I have anxiety too, so you shouldn't feel nervous to talk to me, mostly because I've been trying to get to know you since your first day here because you're beautiful and you caught my eye faster than anyone or anything had before, there's nothing to be ashamed of, this is a terrible mental illness and if you let it take control of you, it really does have the power to ruin your life, but just keep your chin up and your eyes dry, and save your tears for a time when you're really going to need them princess." Eric tells Charlotte, and just like that Charlotte stops crying, she's still sobbing a bit, but she's stopped crying. This whole time she's been sitting there her heart had felt as though it been beating out of her chest, she felt shy, she was blushing uncontrollably, her hands were trembling and sweating, and she didn't wanna say anything, not so much that she couldn't, but more so because she was embarrassed to say something then regret it. These aren't the symptoms of social anxiety... these are the symptoms of having a crush. She tries her best to let something out, even the smallest phrase would do her good "Well hello Mr. Eric" Charlotte says with a big smile. Could this be the start of a new friendship, or even more...