01 | Intro
*tap tap tap*
The sound of Mackenzie's shoe tapping against the concrete floor echoed in the empty locker room. Her elbows rested on her knees as her head stayed buried in her hands.
*tap tap tap*
She leaned back with a sigh, opening her eyes and immediately closing them after being met with the same fuzzy feeling she was trying to get rid of.
Her heart pounded against her chest as she listened to the sounds of the cheering crowd and the squeaks of sneakers against the court.
Today's the 6th game of her basketball team's 18 game season. It's halftime and they're up 28-16, she should be out on the court, helping her team.
But instead she's sitting in an empty locker room, sweat running down her skin as her breathing matched the rhythm of her forever tapping foot.
She's slipping.
This had never happened before, her headspace was a voluntary lifestyle she chose to indulge in. So why does it now feel like she has no choice in the matter?
It had been months since she last slipped into the comforting headspace, convinced she had never needed it and no longer wanted it she chased it away and buried it deep inside of her.
She thought it was really behind her, but of course, after a stressful month and vigorous training it was back. After relying on it for so long, in order to cope her mind now fell back on it without her permission.
The loud sound of a buzzer sounded, signifying the end of halftime. The loud sound frightened her out her thoughts, her eyes wide and her body frozen in place as she looked towards the entrance of the locker room.
I don't want to go out there. She thought, her mind racing as fast as her heart. She stood from the bench, giving herself one more deep breath. Don't be scared.
She harshly shook her head, another failed attempt at shaking away the warm feeling she could feel steadily taking over her mind. Before she could think of changing her mind she closed her eyes and left the locker room, running as fast as she could down the hall and towards the gym.
Suddenly, as she was running she felt herself hit a wall, the force causing her to fall flat down on her back. "Owie.." she whimpered softly, rubbing the part of her forehead that had come into direct contact with the wall.
"Are you okay?" Her eyes instantly went up at the sound of the deep voice, widening when she realized that she hadn't actually ran into a wall but a giant man.
The man towered over her floored figure, his dirty blonde hair was slightly pushed back and his silver eyes met hers with worry. Kenzie found herself dumbfounded as she stared up at the man, his figure only causing her to feel even more small.
"M'kay.." she answered in a daze, causing the man to let out a deep chuckle. He tilted his head as he crouched down to her, the innocent glint swimming in her blue eyes causing a warm smile to appear on his stubbled face.
The teen gawked at him in pure innocence, the fuzziness in her mind preventing her from doing anything else. Thankfully, the man was quick to reach under her arms and lift her onto her feet.
"Don't you have a game to get to?" He questioned amusingly, when the girl didn't immediately run off after being set on her feet.
The question seemed to knock her out her child-like daze as she flinched, blinking a few times before running off, mumbling a sorry as she went.
When she finally made it to the court the game was nearing the end of the third quarter and the other team had caught up, tying the game. "Gonzalez! Where have you been?!" Her coach questioned angrily, causing the tall teen to momentarily flinch back.
"Sor-sorry coach, I had to go to the bathroom.. sto-stomach issues." She responded, stammering out a lie as she sat in one of the chairs beside the court reserved for her team.
The coach rolled her eyes but let it go, deciding to focus on more important matters like barking orders at the other girls on the court.
*tap tap tap*
Even through the raging crowd of people she could still hear her tapping foot, somehow it seemed even louder than it did in the locker room. She ran her sweaty palms over her bouncing legs, her eyes dashing over everything in the stadium.
Trash, floor, ceiling, hoop, crowd, Trash, floor, ceiling, hoop, crowd, Trash, floor, ceiling, hoop, crowd, Trash, flo- "Mackenzie!" She's broken out of her nervous pattern at the sound of her coach yelling her name, "You're up!" She shouted, gesturing for her to go to the refs table.
She got up with shaky legs, jogging to the refs table before kneeling down beside it. Her pounding heart grew harsher as she shook her head, once again failing to get rid of the fuzzy feeling that refused to leave no matter how hard she tried.
Soon one of the refs blew their whistle, giving her the okay to go in. She instantly got up, going onto the court and tapping one of her teammates' hands to let her know that she could go out.
Once the ref blew his whistle again the other team wasted no time in passing the ball in. After a few minutes of back and forth the other team eventually scored and a girl from Mackenzie's team ran out to pass the ball back in.
She ran towards her teammate, waiting in front of her teammate who stood out of bounds with the ball in hand. Once the ref blew his whistle again her teammate threw the ball into her and she caught it, instantly taking it down the court.
She only slowed down once she was close enough to their basket, going up for a layup as one of the girls from the other team, in a dirty attempt at blocking her shot, pushed her to the ground.
She landed right on her bum, the force of her fall forced the fuzziness she had been trying so hard to fight off all day to take over her mind.
Her bottom lip wobbled as her eyes started to well up with tears, but right before they could fall, she was suddenly lifted off the ground and carried out the gym.
As soon as they made it to the hall the man set her down on her feet, and that's when she realized the person who had picked her up was the same blonde giant from before.
The man pulled her into a warm hug just as she started to sob, "Hush little one, you're okay." He whispered, stroking his fingers through her sweaty hair in a slow comforting manner.
His words seemed to help a little bit as she slightly calmed down but still continued to cry, "Kenzie!" The sound of her moms voice causes her to immediately turn around, just in time to see her frantically looking around the hall.
Eventually her eyes landed on Kenzie and she breathed a sigh of relief, "Mo-mommy!" The brunette replied, reaching her hand out for her as she quickly rushed over to her, crouching down and pulling her into a hug.
Her mom is 5 '10 and one of the few people taller than her, though not by much. Despite her height she still didn't have the strength to pick her up.
"Oh my sweet little girl, don't cry." She whispered, gently sliding back strands of hair from her daughter's face, pulling a tissue from her purse as she used it to clean her wet tear-stained face and snotty nose.
When she's done she grabs hold of her hand, finally looking at the man that had brought her to the hallway. "Thank you so much for taking her out of there, she's a little which means sometimes she can act more.. um.. kiddish? Then you'd expect." She tried to explain in a worried ramble.
Her thumb softly ran over the back of her daughter's hand as she glanced down at the sound of a soft yawn, a smile coming to her face as Mackenzie started to suck on her thumb.
"It's no problem, I'm actually a caregiver so you don't need to worry about trying to explain anything." He replied, his voice soothing as he gave her mom a reassuring smile.
He then looked down at Mackenzie and gently pulled her thumb from her mouth, sending the girl a silly face and causing her to let out a tired giggle as she made one back.
The man lets out a laugh, giving a small wave before turning and walking away. As she watched the man walk away a frown spread across her face as tears suddenly started to once again stream down her face.
Her mom looked down at her when she started to cry, quickly rushing them away into the girls locker room as she gently moved her daughter so that she was sitting on one of the benches.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" She questioned, trying to calm her down.
"Wa-want mister!" She cried out, frantically looking around the empty locker room as if he'd just magically show up inside.
"Oh I'm sorry baby, you can't go with him." She replied, checking for any injuries she may have gotten from when she was pushed.
Mackenzie starts to cry harder at her words, the sound being muffled by her mom as she pulled her into a hug, "Don't cry sweetie, you're a big girl remember? Big girls don't cry." She said watching as the teen reached her hand up to wipe at her tears, trying to calm herself down.
Once she has fully calmed down she looked up to see her mom giving her a big smile, giggling in reply. "Look at you, you're such a good girl." She complimented, "I think someone deserves a reward for being such a good listener, maybe ice cream?" She questioned teasingly, already knowing the answer.
The little girl beamed at her moms words, "Yesh pwease!" She answered almost instantly, a huge grin on her face as she watched her mother take her gym bag and put it over her shoulder. "Let's go." She said, grabbing Mackenzie's hand before finally leaving the locker room.
