“H-he never tr-tries to bother me at h-h-home,” she said, desperately trying and failing to suppress the trembling. “I d-d-d-don’t know wh-why.” She had to clench her jaw to keep her teeth from clicking together painfully. Almost all the major muscles in her body were jumping, nerves firing randomly with the overload of emotional energy. “I’ll be fine in just a minute,” she forced out through gritted teeth, and then made the mistake of looking him in the eye. Her spine bowed sharply as the convulsion took hold.
“Who is this guy?” Isaac was confused and he was starting to be concerned about her behavior. “D’you want me to call a doctor or something?” he asked, but then he saw her look up at him and she started convulsing. He found himself at a loss; was he going to make it worse, if he tried to help her? What was wrong with her? He decided to step in and try to calm her, but he could barely put his hands on her shoulders, for how strong she was shaking. “Hey, what’s going on? How do I help?”
It took all Summer’s concentration to keep from gasping in air and hyperventilating; there was none left to answer him. All she could do was hold on and ride it out, and every time she thought it was finally over it gripped her again. /Please, don’t let me start crying./ She had no idea how much time had passed when she finally had control back over her own body. Every muscle ached from the tension of it.
She laid flat on the floor, breathing rasping. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his face, afraid of what might be there, every wall in her mind shaped of rock. “That’s the cost.”