Drake woke with a pounding headache.

Sitting up blearily and holding a hand to his head, he looked around and realized he was still in his room where he had fallen asleep.

What’s going on? he thought. Drake was certain nothing he had done yesterday would have left him feeling like he had been hit over the head with a club – unless that is what happened, and it had been done so hard he had forgotten.

Pushing the nonsensical thought from his mind he decided to get up and drink some water as well as get some fresh air.

The village had several wells throughout, one of which was in the center of the lane of houses that Drakes abode belonged to. Bringing a small cup with him, Drake walked over to the well enjoying the cool night air as he felt his headache begin to recede.

Two cups of water and a few minutes later he decided to enjoy the softly glittering stars in the sky from his favorite spot on the roof. By climbing the fence between his house and the next he was able to reach the edge of the low roof on his house, from there he just needed to pull himself up.

Drake knew his father hated it when he climbed using the fence; the last warm season had a lot of rainfall and after one storm Drake had decided to use the fence to again reach the roof. Unfortunately, the heavy rain had reduced the structural integrity of the wood such that Drakes weight was enough to collapse a good five feet of fencing.

His father had used this as a learning moment and made Drake perform all the repairs, which had cost him a full day, a small chunk of his savings, and several splinters trying to tear down the broken pieces.

Drake smiled while reminiscing, having successfully made it to the roof without collapsing anything.

He loved this spot for a few reasons: it had a great view of the rest of the village as well as a small view over the wall surrounding it, and it allowed him to recline while looking at the sky - which Drake thoroughly enjoyed.

Leaning back to make himself more comfortable, his headache gone, Drake closed his eyes and prepared himself for a small rest on the roof.

With the comfort of a delicate warm breeze it didn’t take long.

…

The second time Drake woke was because of a noise.

Specifically, the noise of the bucket in the well being pulled up and poured.

Cracking both eyes Drake waited a moment to adjust to the low light level of the early morning before looking to see who was mirroring his earlier actions.

He then sat up grinning upon see Liz, short for Elizabeth, his neighbor and long-time friend. They had been born just a few days apart and began getting into mischief together just as soon as they could walk.

Sliding off the roof, Drake landed nimbly on his feet and walked over to where Liz was finishing another cup of water.

“What’s got you up so early?” he asked.

“Not sure…I woke up a few minutes ago with a headache like you wouldn’t believe”

“I think I might, the same thing woke me up a few hours ago. Felt like someone clubbed me over the head”

“Looks like they hit your face by accident!”

Drake hardly reacted, he was used to it. Seeing as she was capable of joking meant her headache was beginning to fade as well.

“I’m going back to sleep after this, I wasn’t made to be up at this ungodly hour”

Saying their goodbyes Drake and Liz parted ways, each to their own homes.

Realizing he was now wide awake after his nap, Drake decided he would get a head start on some of his work for the day.

It wasn’t for another four hours that Drake realized something was wrong.

Normally the first one in his house to wake up, Drake still didn’t hear the creaking of the floorboards from his father walking into the main room of the house. Perplexed but not worried, Drake decided to be the good son and wake him up.

Of course, the method might be a little more…creative.

Drake thought for a minute before deciding on his dastardly method of morning mayhem.

Grabbing two extra planks from the fence episode, Drake positioned them on the side of the bed next to where his father slept making sure they were secure and wouldn’t fall during what came next.

Grinning ear to ear in expectation, he swiftly grabbed by his father’s shoulder and knee and pulled him onto the makeshift ramp made of wood. The blanket covering his fathers form came with him and rolled him into a burrito of fabric as he spun down to the floor.

Laughing hysterically Drake ran from the room to get a head start on the whupping his father would give him upon realization of his antics.

Again, it took longer than Drake would have liked to admit before realizing something was wrong.

Now in front of Liz’s house, he still didn’t hear any of the telltale signs that his father was up a chasing after him – something that happened all too often.

Walking cautiously back into his father’s room Drake found his father in the same position he had been in as he was running out of the house.

Finally, Drake began to panic.

He began to lightly shake his father, shaking harder as his attempts failed.

As his heart fell into his stomach to stew in fear, he got up and sprinted towards the village center. His thoughts were so frantic that he hardly registered the lack of other villagers.

Finally he reached the town apothecary and began banging on the door. After just a few seconds the door swung open, and while panting Drake pleaded-

“My father won’t wake up; please can you help!?”

“Calm down” a pleasant female voice responded “He’s not the only one in town who isn’t waking up; something seems to have knocked everyone out cold overnight”

“Wha-!” Drake responded, still breathing heavily.

“I’m sure you noticed a bad headache upon first waking today, how long ago was it that you woke up?”

“Umm – 6..no, maybe 8 hours by now?” He stammered.

“…Interesting. Do you know of anyone else who is awake?”

“I saw my neighbor Liz – Elizabeth a few hours after I woke up and she was complaining of a headache as well”

“Would you mind bringing her here? A few of those who are awake have gathered here to try and decide what to do.”

“O-okay” Drake managed to get out before shuffling backwards and beginning to jog back towards his house.

…

The adrenaline wore off as he was heading back, and his jog slowed to a walk as he began to think about what was going on.

Everyone got knocked out by something last night, some sort of gas? What could possibly infect an entire village so quickly? I doubt it was bandits as the wall would have slowed them and the watch seen them. Besides, I doubt they’d aim for every person in the village. Anyway, it seems like there is no danger since a few people have already awoken. I hope I didn’t hurt Dad’s head with that stunt…

As his thoughts trailed off he arrived in front of Liz’s house, not even pausing to knock he let himself in, only stopping once he reached the door to Liz’s room. He had learned his lesson before upon walking straight into the den of the lioness, the only time he could remember having a headache worse than this mornings.

He knocked gently, waited a minute, then increases the power behind his knock again repeating the process until he heard some noise from inside. Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding Drake began to think about how he was going to broach the subject of a village wide blackout.

When the door swung open he was met with a mess of tangled hair rather than a face. Shoulder length and brown with golden strands the curtain was finally parted by two hands and he saw the brown eyes of his partner in crime.

“whazzit??”

“…”

“…”

“Well…I need you to follow me to the village center”

“…why?”

“Nobody in the village is waking up”

“There’s two people awake right here”

“The majority is not waking up – I was scared when my Dad wouldn’t wake up, so I ran to the apothecary. Seems it’s a widespread issue and those who are awake have gathered in the village center”

“…you’re pranking me, right?”

“…”

“One sec, I need to get changed”

After a few minutes Liz finished changing and they headed towards the village center.