In only thirty minutes, I felt fully charged from my morning grogginess, as I easily powered my way through all the educational classes with my good mood alone. I felt the tug of Christmas around the corner from the freezing weather, and combined my desires to dance by occasional groovy hip shakes and bobbing. Without fail, I let everyone know that I was at the absolute peak of my own happiness; many told me I had this incredible aura about me today, whatever that meant.

"I'm so loving this." Lumina was a bit vague on her context, though I understood her anyway. The excitement and happiness I've been accumulating and letting out was building to critical levels now, and because of the colder chill of the afternoon, the stronger connection allowed my high spirit mood to seep through Lumina as if it were injected into her veins. Lumina had her own shared reasons to be excited herself, but our current overlap of serendipity amplified our own feelings three times over.

It went without saying that nothing in the entire world could get me down right now. I've never been this happy before, and I wasn't about to stop. I let out a fairly intense chain of laughter as I stood distant from a large assigned group of boys and girls I was part of. All of them were desperately rubbing their cold gloves and mittens together for friction, hovering their warm breaths close to their noses and faces. As for me, I stood tall with my closed hands on my hips, feeling like a hero. "It's so incredibly cold today! Look at them all complaining. The cold weather is my weather!"

"Easy now. You don't have to pretend not to freeze like the others."

Even though goose bumps covered my arms and legs underneath my outfit, I didn't need the same frictional comfort the others needed, nor did I need to lie to myself about how wonderful this feels. If only the whole planet could be blanketed in a craze of blizzard and snow! "It's going to be in the thirties all day long! I don't have to worry about a thing. And soon, I can start dancing like I mean it. Oh yeah!" I couldn't help myself next, for I started jumping and bending my knees while twirling my connected arms and hands around from left to right. I wanted to skip to the dance so badly, I began practicing some of my moves in front of the others, though they were only surprised by the invisible mystery to my excitement.

At least Lumina thought it was hilarious. I'm glad she doesn't yet realize that when it's my time to shine, I'm going to force her to synchronize her movements with mine. If I get to dance like an idiot all night, then she has to dance with me too! I already know that I can't really dance professionally to save my life. Even without a dress, I might end up becoming the laughing stock of the entire school, but I'd have it no other way today!

Throughout the next few hours of the day, the chaperone threw us into a few more events, such as fishing in that river we went by yesterday, and searching for specific plants and such. Between our next transition, I met up with Zero right on that bridge we weren't allowed to cross, as an agreed rendezvous to hand deliver this special outfit I would be wearing.

She sealed in in opaque plastic so that it would not spoil our preliminary surprise, but I got to see some of the composition from up close before hiding the thing back into my bag in the boy's cabin. The outfit was basically a full corset hot pink dress that zipped up in the back. So once I go to put it on, it's only one big item to change into.

Next, we all gathered outside into the recreational field for another mixed event, the teachers' idea of our daily physical education. Everyone gathered behind the towering wooden rock wall, standing at about 80 meters tall. Students and even some of the chaperones started taking their turns mounting into the safety harnesses as they climbed the rock wall, though the stones were just made of plastic bolted in tight enough to hold anybody's weight.

I was just fine trying this myself, since I wasn't absurdly afraid of heights; the trick is, don't look down. While I had to wait my turn, I psyched myself up to meet the challenge of heading all the way to the top. It did bother me a little though that one would have to let go on purpose just to safely get down from those harnesses attached on rope, a mechanism my mind still has not understood yet.

"And this teaches what exactly?"

No way! Hasn't Lumina ever seen a rock-climbing event before? "I think the idea is, if you fall, you would realize that you'd be dead, without that safety harness." I don't know the real reason they set this up. Every single event except for the dance was supposed to have some educational aspect to it while tied in with nature at the same time. So, if something didn't meet that criteria, then the theme of Wahsega would be ruined, or something.

"I think I actually like this idea; it teaches kids a valuable lesson, like how not to climb up a slippery wall if it's unstable."

"Where did you get that idea from? You and your fears... Also, who are you calling a kid?"

"I don't have a fear of heights. I'll prove it by not panicking when you start your turn."

"Sure you will." Though I can't always tell whether Lumina focuses in on my world in a particular instance, I'll be able to sense her fears from within if she does start to get scared. My only hope is that it won't override how brave I am in the process. After all, I have a few people to impress nearby. "Raaagh!"

Without warning, I reacted and shrieked on instinct, sinking to the ground with my hand glued to my forehead. I could already hear everybody around me asking what happened, including Lumina. The agonizing pain and pressure around my skull stunned me for a few seconds before I could speak or move, and I kept my eyes shut for a bit longer to try and reset myself from this sudden nightmare.

"Talk to me! What is it?!"

I sucked in what air I could through my clenched teeth, and the incredible pain inside only got stronger as a result. Despite my denial, I knew exactly what this was and what it meant. "Noooo! It's my head... It hurts so much!" My voice wheezed in distortion as I was already on the edge of tears. I held both sides of my head with both hands, as I curled closer to the ground in a duck-and-cover position.

Lumina was almost as quick to freak out. "No! Not another headache again! You promised!"

I felt the few hands and pats from the others around me, assured by sound that one of them was Banarus. But I cared not for any of their sympathy, since nothing they did eased this intense suffering even a little. It was rare for me to have a headache start from zero and jump to eight, but such occurrences were possible. As I became more aware of the future consequences of this issue, I nodded, begged, and pleaded to God that this would not happen tonight! I only get one Wahsega! I only get one chance to have fun at this dance! Don't take that away from me! "Dammit!"

"The biggest event is only two hours away Reed. You have to fight it! You have to be strong!"

I felt even worse hearing how desperate Lumina was to stay with me. She knew from experience that my headaches make it impossible to keep an existing connection alive if it gets too bad, yet another reason I was immediately thrown into the abyss of growing despair. My voice was caught dead, and the only thing I could let out was the mumbling, grumbling groans of throe. I was doing my absolute best to fight through the pain, but the shock to my system was so intense, I had enough trouble trying to move from my current position.

"Come on. Why isn't anyone helping you?!"

I didn't answer her, even though I've long since known the reason why. Almost everybody around me had the helpless form of bystander syndrome. They didn't fully understand what was going on beyond my acute display of suffering, and the few who did understand didn't have any solution or idea to offer up. What could they really do anyway? "Not again... Not now!" My hands tensed and squeezed against my scalp, as if adding more pressure would somehow help, but it didn't. By entire body began to tense up on its own, and soon enough, I felt all that excitement and energy I held so dearly drain out of me.

"Don't you have ~ny~~~ine~~~own~~~one?"

"Lumina..." Her voice is breaking up among the noise of my nervous system in its chaotic state. It sounded like someone was turning up and down the volume nob on some kind of device, and I was certain this connection would not survive this for much longer. Whatever specifically caused this headache was unknown to me, though it deep-sixed my entire body, ravaged by the one thing I could never handle.

After another second, I felt the sensation I've associated with the connection being shut down, or in this instance, forcefully terminated. Damn! That fast? It only took seconds for this headache to mess up our link. Then again, I've only ever known our telepathy to bail out when my pain level reaches a six. This headache was something else.

"Alright, break it up! Give him some space." At last, Ms. Quaker lead by some of the others dug themselves into the crowd of teenagers, as it was a rather large cluster of bodies. Having enough people stare at me in confusion was enough to get the attention of the chaperones over to me, the one crying out in excruciating pain. "Reed. Come on, why are you on the ground like that? Where does it hurt?"

"Aspirin..." I could barely speak, as my jaw was tightly shut from the stress.

"Pardon?"

"I need the Aspirin I brought over." I know Ms. Quaker will understand what I'm talking about, and she better not tell me I can't have them. When I got onto the bus for this field trip, all of the teachers did full bag checks for contraband. Medications, including any that were over the counter were allowed only with written permission from the parents. But on top of that constraint, the chaperones also acted as our personal medicine cabinets, keeping the medications with them instead of trusting them to the students. I didn't care one way or another, just so long as I got to use them when I needed to. I brought Aspirin just in case something like this were to happen... But why did it have to happen now?

"Oh, right! I'll go get it for you."

"Thank you." I couldn't even turn my face up towards anyone to directly address my response, nor did I want to let my eyes be exposed to any more light. They were already pulsing with red veins of torture. As soon as I take the painkillers, I'll have no choice but to crawl my way back to the cabins to lay down and rest, having no miracle cure for this condition.

While my body and brain fought over control of the thermostat, I rested in the bed all by myself, noticing one or two guys come and go from the cabin only occasionally. The minutes ticked by in my own agony and suffering. Some part of me calmed down just enough to stop trembling from the pain, but I estimated doom ahead of me.

In these situations, I try to fall asleep regardless of the time of day, so that some kind of nap can cure me. I've lost the ability to nap naturally, but if one is induced by a headache, there lies the exception. I knew I was already drained enough to pull it off. All I would have to do is shut my eyes and try to relax.

I of course did no such thing. I would rather stand out of bed, spit on the floor, and shout to the sky than succumb to the side effects of my own medical condition. I refused sleep! I denied this pain, over and over despite my lack of physical success. The dance is going to start in a little over an hour. I don't have time to sleep! I don't have time to deal with this headache today!

Knowing Aspirin alone would be no match for this all-powerful demon, I decided to try even harder to eliminate the source of my own pain. I've been wanting to have my fun today for so long now, that all of that excitement I built had turned to pure desperation and willpower. I combined that with another interesting sensory ability, one I still had not totally understood. Each time I would lay under a bright fluorescent light with one of these pain sandwiches, there was the chance of something amazing happening.

I still wasn't certain if the light itself was required, and if it was, I would be fighting in vain, since these cabins have no fluorescents. However, when I dug back into my own memory, back into every instance of strange healing rituals or an activated instance of my rare emergency mode, there was always this strange period of altered consciousness. I could never fully remember in detail what happened during those moments; it was more like I was dreaming during them, dreaming while awake. I somehow had the ability to send my mind away, separating the consciousness that reacted to pain from the rest of my brain, which would try to heal everything without those reactions, or without my body moving an inch. Forsooth, I remained still as a stone, until my very own breaths became too shallow to detect.

My eyes dilated with my back to the bed and my face to the dark ceiling, as I let my mind wander. It was no use trying to understand or figure out exactly what I would do each time to activate this unknown healing mechanism, so I tried instead to let it happen on its own, as it would in the past. Despite the suffering I entered, I momentarily conditioned myself not to care about it anymore. The bludgeoning pressure beating me with my own pulse soon faded into the background, becoming as natural to me as inhaling and exhaling. I became so calm, the essence of my own body felt as if it were floating softly through a pond. All absence of noise around me, the silence that filled the room, turned into a soothing imaginary static that washed into me.

I didn't control a single thought. I dared not interrupt the difficult state of meditation my body somehow entered on its own. My mind, my thoughts, all of what I was aware of segregated itself off through day dreams; the kind that would playback without any of my own mental input, until I was carried away through the irrational waves. At the same time, I noticed, but never registered or considered the surroundings of my physical body. The ceiling, the bed I was laying on, and the faint light from the sun coming in from outdoors were all just there. I didn't let myself interlope a single thought with my environment; I remained asleep with my eyes open, my mind split into two.

In the most stunning, accidental flow of altered reverie, I eventually came to, uncertain what happened in the ten minutes I felt pass me by. I tried to remember what had all gone through my mind, or if I had somehow slept. I don't think I fell asleep, though I wasn't able to recall anything direct. I considered that the only action I took was staring at the dark ceiling for some time. Then, the amazing aspect of it all finally hit me...

The pain... It's gone! Did the Aspirin work? Aspirin never works on me anymore. I figured it would only have a one percent chance of success. Or was it something else? I wasn't so far out of it that I couldn't recall that I felt something similar to how I did shortly after a fluorescent healing session.

I tried to take things very slowly. For while my headache was finally driven out entirely, I wasn't completely recovered just yet. My energy was sapped away, just sitting up made me lightheaded. Even the speed of my own thoughts were slightly reduced. I'm certain if I didn't take it easy for the next twenty minutes, I was going to undo all the progress I miraculously made.

Seriously, I have no idea what happened or how I managed to cure this headache. I mean, I wanted it to disappear this time more than anything. Maybe my willpower was just strong enough this time to cure me? Or maybe, there's something more to my body I don't yet realize. While I wanted answers, I chose to throw the subject out the window upon checking my clock. I was sure that only ten minutes had gone by, but I was wrong! It's already six-o-clock!

That means nearly a full hour went by when I was laying down. Maybe I did fall asleep. But none of that matters now. I have to get my energy back quickly. I need to wake myself up, get a grip, and restore the connection with Lumina before the dance starts! I can't afford to miss it.