2 Chapter 2: Madness, Genius, and Poisonous Mushrooms

I grew up in the edge of madness and in the cusp of genius. My father was an inventor and my mother a madwoman with an incurrable disease. She had Lou Gerrigs disease. It would not be too long before her body betrayed her and her motor funtions would fail completely. Growing up I was a strange kid. I wanted to be a pirate growing up and to have epic battles upon the sea. I valued my freedom above all else. And when the other girls were talking about who they wished to marry, I was dreaming about discovering new cultures and worlds and adventure unlimited. To say I was a strange child would be an understatement. However as the years progressed it was seen that I was more like my father than my mother. Beadworking, needlepoint, and philosophy held no passion for me. That was not to say I wasn't a poet. No my father encouraged in me the value of an educated woman. It was the philosophers whom I disliked. It seemed that their knowledge was dry and their wisdom empty of the experiences of life. And life's experiences I believed were the true value of a person. It was 1998 and it was like I was born of another era a different time.

I was 13 years old when something happened to me that would change my life forever.

"mother, would you like me to brew you some dandelion, mint, and chamomile tea?"

"Sure darling that would be wonderful", my mother replies.

Acch. Acch. mother coughs deep rasping coughs that rack her frame; My mother shudders. As I wait for the tea to boil I think of my life, my mother's life and how my father was constantly searching for a cure. While his inventions had gifted us a comfortable life, sometimes it seemed he couldn't really appreciate their riches until she was cured.

The teakettle whistled and she poured her mother a cup and handed it to her. "It's hot mother, be careful."

"Thanks dear", she whispers.

She hated to see her mother like this. She knew few people had the disease and the ones who had wasted away until the one thing that remained was there mind. The disease was named after Lou Gerrig. Lou Gerrig was a famous baseball player and she had read about his struggles. However, Lou had made it seem so simple so easy to deal and it really wasn't. It was painful to watch.

Alright, mom I am going to go for a hike in the woods. Maybe i will pick up some more herbs along the way.

The woods were peaceful, the green Giants towered over me there arms shaded me and the cool Earth was like a mossy carpet to her feet. She strolled barefoot through the woods picking several known herbs along the way. Reaching her large oak she kneeled to examine a mushroom she thought she recognized. Her father had been teaching her Herbology and the basics of natural medicine.

She was an only child and homeschooled so she had to pay attention to every detail in her father's teaching syllabus.

Thinking she recognized it as one of the mushrooms her father had named as unpoisonous and edible, she plucked a few and nibbled on one as she rose and made her treck back home to the manor. After a few minutes of hiking back she noticed her vision had started to blur around the edges and distorted shapes had started flickering around her. A white rabbit was running along a path dressed in a purple tuxedo and an alligator was rushing through the brush after him. A Maiden in a golden dress and long dark hair was sprinting across an open field...after the running rabbit...She blinked. I must be either losing it or dreaming.

She continued home it felt ages before she saw the Manor Estate come into view. Her feet were as heavy as lead as she marched up her front steps.

Her father had just opened the door, before she saw the ground rushing to meet her and then darkness took her...