Evan and Connor were in Connor's room, comfortable lying on Connor's bed. They were both scrolling on their phone, trying to figure out how they managed to hallucinate.

Evan tried his luck, typing in exactly what he saw into the search bar. 'A bunch of roses in my boyfriend's hair and I'm the only one who can see them.' he waited, watching the little spiral of blue spin over and over as the page loaded.

Finally the page loaded. He lit up, noticing that there was actually many different searches that popped up for him to view. However, that excitement quickly vanished and was replaced by irritation. The first result was lyrics to some song he did not care about. The next search was 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'. He had heard of that title, actually. Was it a book or something?

Irritated, he continued scrolling down, trying to find something to explain it. Something about Twitter, something about someone imagining what their boyfriend's ex-girlfriends were doing, which he added was quite a strange thing to wonder.

He scrolled to the bottom, scanning the last few results, which were articles about exes. This annoyed Evan, as he clicked over to the second page, trying to hope for a result remotely relevant to what he had searched for.

Again, there were more stuff about exes, Scott Pilgrim, and other annoying things that did not matter to Evan. That is, until he came across a specific article.

The Aphrofloric Hallucination Di… -

Curious, Evan tapped on it. Once again, the screen was loading the image, the little blue bar on top reaching from left to right, before a page popped up. It had a teal background, with vines of roses growing out. In front of this background was a white page, with a whole paragraph worth of information.

That title immediately caught his eye. He had never heard of such a fancy name for a disease before. That intrigued him, guiding him to scroll downward to read the information presented to him.

The Aphrofloric Hallucination Disease, also known as the Longing Illusion Disease, is a strange disease that is contracted by inhaling the odourless fumes naturally emitted by the Aphrofloria plant. The disease will cause the infect to hallucinate based on strong emotions, most commonly love, hate and anger.

Evan read the paragraph stated below the title, feeling the idea of this disease solve the many different puzzles that had been impossible to figure out. He felt that this disease was the correct answer to their hallucinations.

Intrigued, he scrolled further, a sense of excitement to learn more about this.

The Aphrofloric plant is a very strange looking plant. It is very small, thus it blends into its environment nicely. The chances of coming into contact with these plants are quite rare, however.

This was quite the relief to Evan. He was expecting these types of plants to be interacting with him quite frequently. They were small, so they could have grown anywhere. Inside the cracks of the wooden floor or the little garden he had outside his home.

The first and most obvious way would be to have come in contact with one of these plants and inhaled the fumes. They usually grow in places such as the trunk of a tree, or inside the remains of a tree, such as a tree stump.

Evan was getting excited. He was finally solving the puzzle. They went to an orchard together, and they set up their picnic near the base of a tree. It made sense that they had been near one of these types of plants.

Another way is to have this passed through genetically, a hereditarily transmitted disease. Now, the reason why this could be transmitted hereditarily, is because your parents may have contracted the disease, but it did not run its course and has been passed onto you. This disease is in no way a gene mutation. Your family must have been infected in the past, otherwise it is impossible for it to be hereditary.

That seemed like a very interesting trait. It is not a gene mutation, and the person who wrote this seem to be very adamant about that fact.

The last and final way is for a victim to have been near a person who has been infected with the disease themselves for longer than ten hours. Note that the person who is already infected must already have the disease running its course for it to be able to affect others.

Evan nodded to himself, basically investigating every aspect of this disease.

Evan felt his excitement rise as his eyes scanned that sentence. It wasn't as if the disease was troublesome. He just wanted to know if it's curable, or if it had any side effects that could prove dangerous to his health.

Easy!

All you have to do, is let it run its course. The disease in itself is not harmful in any way. All it does is it causes you to hallucinate, associating the infected with whatever their emotion is towards the target affiliated with the infected. For example, if you love someone, you see hearts. If you hate them, then there will be broken hearts ; something of that aspect.

Evan sighed with relief. The disease cannot harm any of them. It was simply a mirage show, dancing in their eyes. It would not cause them anymore trouble after they let it run it's course.

【】

Evan was skeptical, still unsure if this disease was supposed to be this harmless. It seemed strange that there was close to no harmful effects, which would lead people to just let the disease run its course.

This disease can start running its course when there is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present. However, only a small amount is required to activate it.

Now it made more sense. Connor activated his by smoking pot. It was starting to click together, which was wonderful. If Evan had had to search through Google only to find that it was yielding more results about Scott Pilgrim and exes, he would literally be angry enough to through his phone into oblivion.

Another way that it can be activated is through extreme emotions. For example, pining for someone you love can also cause the disease to start running its course, although that is quite a rare event.

Extreme emotions? That is quite a strange way for a disease to start.

The effect of the disease will last from anywhere between two weeks to two years.

Oh dear.

Yes, there are side effects.

Evan groaned. He hated seeing any side effects, mostly an automatic response from glancing at his pill bottles. Those always came with negative side effects, to the point he hated anything associated with the phrase. However, driven by the intrigue of this newly discovered disease, he pressed on.

During the effects of the disease, the infected is known to hallucinate. Their energy level will also be higher, whether conspicuously or not differs from case to case.

After the effects, the infected will often be lethargic after the disease has taken place. This is because the disease increases the energy level of the infected during its course, so the energy level will be lower by the end. The negative emotions of the infected will also be heightened, so please be careful.

That warning made Evan shudder. The fact that it was even mentioned made Evan shudder. He quietly glanced over at Connor, his worried expression quickly fading and replaced with a smile.

Connor was sleeping. His chest rising and falling ever so relaxed, as he had the most calmed look that Evan had ever had the pleasure of seeing. His hands were on either sides, his phone gripped loosely on his right hand which was placed on his chest. Evan smiled, looking back to his phone to continue his research.

The next few paragraphs were about its brief history. How it was discovered, when, and how it was still being researched, so there may be many changes to the information about the plant.

By the time Evan finished his reading, Connor had awoken. He glanced over to his right, gazing at Evan's face lovingly. Evan, noticing the motion beside him, turned towards Connor, earning a smile.

"O-oh, Connor! You're awake! Did you have a good sleep?" Evan asked, genuinely curious. Connor usually did not have the required amount of sleep, which was making Evan worry.

"Yeah, I feel more refreshed, actually," he responded, sitting up. He stretched his arms, letting out a yawn and hearing the cracks from his joints.

He leaned over to Evan, right in front of his face. This made Evan blush, leaning back slightly out of shock. Connor then quietly muttered out a question.

"Can I kiss you?"

Evan giggled and nodded, Connor taking the consent and kissing Evan on the lips, leaning back with a bright smile.

"So, whatcha reading?"

Evan then described the story of the plant to Connor, showing him the website's URL and letting him read the website's contents on his own.

】

The Aphrofloric Hallucination Disease, also known as the Longing Illusion Disease, is a strange disease that is contracted by inhaling the odourless fumes naturally emitted by the Aphrofloria plant. The disease will cause the infect to hallucinate based on strong emotions, most commonly love, hate and anger.

The Aphrofloric plant is a very strange looking plant. It is very small, thus it blends into its environment nicely. The chances of coming into contact with these plants are quite rare, however.

The first and most obvious way would be to have come in contact with one of these plants and inhaled the fumes. They usually grow in places such as the trunk of a tree, or inside the remains of a tree, such as a tree stump.

Another way is to have this passed through genetically, a hereditarily transmitted disease. Now, the reason why this could be transmitted hereditarily, is because your parents may have contracted the disease, but it did not run its course and has been passed onto you. This disease is in no way a gene mutation. Your family must have been infected in the past, otherwise it is impossible for it to be hereditary.

The last and final way is for a victim to have been near a person who has been infected with the disease themselves for longer than ten hours. Note that the person who is already infected must already have the disease running its course for it to be able to affect others.

】

Easy!

All you have to do, is let it run its course.

The disease in itself is not harmful in any way. All it does is it causes you to hallucinate, associating the infected with whatever their emotion is towards the target affiliated with the infected. For example, if you love someone, you see hearts. If you hate them, then there will be broken hearts ; something of that aspect.

【】

This disease can start running its course when there is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present. However, only a small amount is required to activate it.

Another way that it can be activated is through extreme emotions. For example, pining for someone you love can also cause the disease to start running its course, although that is quite a rare event.

After the disease has run its course, it will be broken down and will be passed through urine.

The effect of the disease will last from anywhere between two weeks to two years.

Yes, there are side effects.

During the effects of the disease, the infected is known to hallucinate. Their energy level will also be higher, whether conspicuously or not differs from case to case.

After the effects, the infected will often be lethargic after the disease has taken place. This is because the disease increases the energy level of the infected during its course, so the energy level will be lower by the end. The negative emotions of the infected will also be heightened, so please be careful.

【Brief History】

The disease is named after the plant. The plant itself had been discovered by scientist in Germany in 1990, where it was discovered in a group. These types of plants are like dandelions, so they spread seeds via wind. This is why they have also been found in countries surrounding Germany.

The plant is then named after the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite. The disease has been known to have been activated via feeling intense love, so there is reason to believe that the disease reacts most strongly with love than other emotions.

Scientists are currently still research the plant, so the information on the disease is currently slim to none.

—————

Jared approached Evan after school, seemingly in fear as well as intrigue. He simply stared at Jared, as he glance around.

"Evan, you know the flowers thingy you said about Connor, right?"

Evan nodded, still clueless as to what Jared could talk about as he was completely unfamiliar with the topic before.

"…Please help me. I have it too."

Evan was mildly shocked. It did not occur to him that there was a chance that his friends would get it as well. No one hung with Connor and Evan as much as they did with each other, though, so it was strange for Jared to have gotten it.

Evan asked Jared to wait, bringing out his phone and searching for the website. After it was done loading in, he pointed his screen to Jared, prompting Jared to read it.

He took Evan's phone, and then intensely stared at the screen. He eyes darted from left to right, taking in all of the information presented to him. Evan saw that the more he read, the more his shoulders slumped. The gmfurther he read, the more his worried look faded away.

Soon, he finished reading. He passed the phone back to Evan, a relaxed expression. Evan can only imagine the worry that Jared felt when he first hallucinated. Jared then hastily dug into his own pocket, pulling out his phone and frantically typing on it. With his last tap, Evan felt his phone vibrate slightly. He looked down, to see that Evan had texted to their group.

｛

go to Murphy's house after !!!! Important info.｝

—————

Evan sat on the floor of Connor's room, lovingly holding on to Connor's hand and leaning on his shoulders. Zoe and Alana sat on the bed, scrolling through Instagram and giggling at the pictures they would show each other.

Meanwhile, Jared cleared his throat. This called the attention of the entire group. After he noted that he got everyone's attention, he started his speech.

"So, I know you two are probably wondering why I've gathered you here," Jared spoke, which made Zoe and Alana listen in out of curiosity.

He pointed his own phone towards Alana and Zoe, showing them the website that shocked him.

"Hot Topic and his Lorax found this website, and I think it's what we have been seeing."

Jared mentioned that Alana and Zoe had gotten the disease as well, which just begs more questions to be answered.

Alana and Zoe both reached forward frantically, trying to grasp onto his phone in order to read what was presented to them. They had a similar response to Jared. Slumped shoulders, joyful expressions and general happiness when they read through the article.

How did the Characters contract it?

How was it activated?

What they see and what does it symbolise?