Overlap

Chapter 32-B: UAD (Part 2)

<11/12/2010 - 13:25 | Saffrin Middle School (Nurse Office), Austell, GA, USA>

Without knowing what happened or how much time passed, I struggled as I tried to open my eyes again, though the world above me was shrouded in the blinding light of their fluorescence. Already, I knew that I was not at home in my bed. Whatever I was laying on below me was soft, but the texture just wasn't the same, and I was exhausted from head to toe.

It felt like I had been swimming in the ocean for ten solid hours without a break. Every nerve and muscle inside ached of soreness, but at least the pins and needles were gone now.

Pins and needles... I instantly recalled feeling that horrific pain all around me, and by extension, remembered what happened to me before I passed out. Even so, not a whole lot was making sense right now. I could only guess how I wound up in the nurse's office. If I lost consciousness, it must not have been pretty...

How embarrassing too. This is the first time in my whole life I think I've ever had to be forcibly dragged to the nurse's office, let alone passing out like that. I flushed the thought away and tried to sit up, realizing my own mistake thereafter, as the soreness throughout my chest and back forced me back down. I managed to move myself that time, though barely. Everything was still too sore to move properly, but I wasn't paralyzed anymore either, nor was I trembling.

"Your father is on his way, but it could take an hour before he arrives. Try not to move if you can help it."

I ignored her last request, using my left arm to hold my head, wondering where this flush feeling of being underwater came from in the first place. It was still here with me now, despite being weaker than before. I realized by chance that I had far more control over my body now than before, and I used that opportunity to drill my nurse for questions. "What happened?" Even my physical voice was hoarse and sore, like I had been screaming for half an hour straight or something.

"That's what we would like to know. You gave some of us a scare in gym class. Maybe you got too dehydrated or something?"

"I doubt it." It's not as if I'm drinking up to a gallon of water a day, but I'm still drinking more than I used to. It's an unintended consequence of always being connected to Lumina, a symptom I'm forced to endure. I still can't remember what happened between starting gym class and the moment I felt pins and needles everywhere; it's all a blur! But I know dehydration is not the cause of it.

Though my realization to something else was as sluggish as my chain of thoughts, I struggled to sit up slightly, looking at the nurse with a surprised look over me. "I can speak... I can move again."

"So then, you were unable to move before?"

"The pain is gone now." My memory, at least of the paralysis and the pain came back at full force while everything else made less sense. "I couldn't move or talk before... But how did I get here?"

"You had to be brought here of course. Just relax for now. You're still too weak to try moving."

I knew that she was mostly correct in that assumption. I had a strong attempt to sit straight up, but the weight against my muscles pushed me back down at double the force, while the dizziness crippling my balance deterred me from trying again... Did I also disconnect from Lumina too? "Lumina?"

"Who?" She reacted as anyone would, hearing a name unfamiliar to her own. "I'm the school nurse sweetie, and that isn't my name."

Since I was capable of taking deeper longer breaths, that's what I forced myself to do while the stress of my situation shot up some more. I heard no response from Lumina, which must mean that we were disconnected by my loss of consciousness. Lumina... My mind drifted onto her again, while my few remaining thoughts swam to the assumptions that she would currently be worried sick for me by now. I didn't want her to worry about me like that. I don't want my friends to panic themselves over me, especially when I'm okay now. But if she isn't here, she won't know what my status is, not until I call her again. My father comes in an hour, she said? It sounds like he must have talked everyone out of taking me to the emergency room, which I too preferred to stay away from at this point.