Chapter 5

There was too much to think about to sleep. Ariel had questions she could not ask, and she was not sure who to ask. She didn't think her parents would understand. From what she had been hearing, the only people that were having problems were those who normally took the vitamins, so talking to someone who didn't seemed like a waste of time. They would not know what she was going through, but people like Jane and Asutin might.

Her night was restless and she got very little sleep. Breakfast was just a quick grab and go shake as she was not feeling that hungry and work dragged on. Half way through, on her lunch break, she tried to find Sarah and talk to her, to ask how it went with Austin, but she was not there. Her parents had called her out sick.

A feeling that was part panic and part anger filled her and she pushed through the rest of the day feeling snappy. She didn't want to be there and dealing with people became too much. Still she managed to hold on and as soon as her shift was over she was gone. At first she thought of going home to sleep, or maybe she could go and try to visit Jane again. In the end she just ended up driving aimlessly until she came to a wooded area at the edge of town. She parked and as soon as she stepped out of her car, a wave of calm washed over her.

It was as if a cold wave had slammed into her, but instead of washing her away, it simply stripped her if her worry and confusion. She was calm and she could think more clearly. She sucked in a deep breath of the fresh air and it felt like she was breathing for the first time. It was invigorating. That feeling in her chest was now very obvious with her ming calm, but she still had no word for it, and no way to describe how it felt.

A breeze blew through the forest and brushed past her, bringing with it the smells of the forest. Some of them she knew well, like pine and the damp earth and the smell of the river a few miles in. Others she didn't know and had no descriptions for them. Some were pungent, others were floral, and others still were wild and she had no words to explain them. It was still strangely comforting and it took everything in her not to just walk off into the forest to hunt down these strange smells.

Getting back in her car and driving home was near impossible. Ariel kept making up excuses as to why a walk would be a good idea, but in the end the soreness building in her body reminded her that she might get as sick as her friend and coworkers and she reluctantly made her way home.

Once there, her mother was waiting with food and Ariel sat down to eat in silence, Mary watching her the entire time.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mary asked, Ariel nodding.

"Yea, I'm just a little sore and I have some insomnia, but it's nothing I can't handle." Ariel assured her mother. Mary walked over and kissed Ariel on the head, sitting down at the table to drink some tea. It was nice to sit in silence with her mother. It was comforting and helped to ease some of the tension out of her sore body.

Sleep was another problem entirely. It seemed that once more it would elude her and she spent a few hours tossing and turning in bed before she got up and opened her window. She climbed out onto the roof of the porch, leaning her back against the outside wall. She felt calmer there, gazing up at the stars and the nearly full moon. The night was warm and the breeze cool. If her mind was not so troubled, Ariel would have enjoyed it all the more.

Getting lost in her thoughts, Ariel almost didn't see the dark shape move across the sidewalk across the street. It was just a quick movement, but it was there. It snapped her back to her senses quickly and she trained her eyes on the spot the movement had gone. She told herself that it was just some cat or dog that someone forgot to bring in before dark, but as it moved again she realized it was a person.

For a moment she thought about calling out to them, but as they slunk through the shadows cast by the moon she came to realize that she knew who this person was. At first mistaking them for a child, Ariel realized it was Jane.