Chapter 6: Echoes of the Trauma
Midterms approached, bringing a crushing wave of stress. One evening in the campus library, Lily couldn't find her laptop charger. Panic, irrational and violent, seized her throat. Her breathing grew shallow, and the library walls seemed to close in. She didn't just feel like she had lost a charger; her brain tricked her into feeling like she was being set up again.
She ran out into the cool night air, gasping, and dialed Vincent. He answered on the first ring. "Lily? What’s wrong?"
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"I can't find it, Vincent. I swear I didn't lose it, someone took it, they’re going to blame me—" she babbled, trapped in an emotional flashback.
"Lily, listen to my voice," Vincent said firmly, yet softly. "Breathe. You are at UCLA. You are safe. No one is framing you. You just misplaced a wire." It took ten minutes, but his steady, fatherly patience brought her back to reality. The trauma wasn't gone, but she was learning how to carry it.
