My eyes slowly open. I can breathe. The pain in my lungs and hands and throat and head is gone. I am no longer in the hut. What had happened? All I remember was hallucinating, passing out... and then Morris. Morris took me back to our Dorm. I sit up on the bed slowly, searching the room for Jessica. I see a white ball of fur on the floor... now with a galaxy colored tail. Eralonia gets up, and stretches, her mouth opening in a yawn. She looks at me and tilts her head. I gaze back at her. Although I am no longer as weak, I am still slightly dazed.

Morris floats in carrying a tray of medicine and water. He sees me awake, and drops the tray. He is off like a shot over to me, turning solid, and embraces me again. I am... stunned. I don't know why I wasn't before, but I am now. I find my arms creeping up to return the embrace. I don't resist. Morris has been so worried about me, he deserves this. I hear him sobbing again. He lets go after a few minutes, sniffing. But he is smiling.

Eralonia jumps up onto the bed, followed closely by Nova. I noticed Blackie by my bed. I look around more. "Wh-where... where is Jessica?"

Morris' face falls. "She's... in her dorm. Scilph, I..." He sighs.

"She hasn't woken up yet."

I blink a few times, hoping what I heard is wrong, wrong, wrong. The gem was supposed to fix Jessica. She would wake up, and I would care for her and be with her every waking moment because I cannot let this happen ever again.

She had gotten up once. She had spoken once. She had gotten up to tell me it isn't my fault this had happened.

My breath catches in my throat. My eyes widen.

Morris stutters and stumbles over his words. "But, uh, she's looking a lot better now. She's breathing more, she's occasionally moving... bloody hell, she's even talking a bit in her sleep!"

He's trying to reassure me. I am sure that those are all lies. I know a lie when I hear one. He looks up to the lightbulb wearily, expecting it to flicker then burst... but it doesn't. I am not angry, just extremely upset... and scared. I release a slow breath and lay down.

"I wish to sleep. Leave me be."

Morris abruptly stops talking. he nods solemnly and leaves. I look at the cats on the bed. I wish to scream every obscenity I know at them... but I can't. I have stopped fighting. I would rather give up now than fight for something I cannot win. Both the felines saunter away. I sigh and pull the covers up to my chin, laying on my side.

I have given up.

Though I'm more and more sure this is all some kind of hoax - an illusion being injected into my brain through some highly advanced machinery being wielded by my kidnappers (and perhaps in that "true" reality the machinery isn't that advanced at all), I find myself getting dragged further and further into its apparent "reality." I'm afraid that the more I believe in it, I sooner I will eventually forget it's just a simulated honey trap.

Take @Jessica Moon, for instance, who's terribly sweet, but now with her coma and her peril, it's like it's designed to draw me in, to make me empathize with her plight, and root for her. The more I "feel" for her, the more I can feel my grip on my real reality slipping away - the reality behind this induced experiential distraction....

But, at the same time, what if I'm wrong? Can it really hurt to send her my good wishes? Or - if I don't - will I also be losing a part of myself? The part that cares, and feels?

In the end, I'm just not that cold.

Here's to @Jessica Moon, and the Heart of Spring!

Get well soon, @Jessica Moon!

To: @Jessica Moon

I've run the models, and a time-stream rewrite just isn't possible - the fabric of time is too weak, following all the work @Nova Toaster did at the dance. The only way out of this one is through it.

Give 'em hell, kid!

who's @Jessica Moon?

Yeeeee haaaaaaaw!!!!! Get along, @Jessica Moon! When life bucks you off, get back on that pony, little honey! When life gives you lemons, turn 'em in to apples and carrots and sugar cubes! Yippee ti yi yo!

You can do it, @Jessica Moon. I've been down before myself, and, being made of concrete, I know how hard it can be to get back up again.

i so hope something can bring @Jessica Moon back. it's all so mysterious - i hope it wasn't somehow a side effect of being exposed to those time distortions at the dance, or that the evil archduke bee Apiformez left some of his stinger in her...

but if there's one thing that can help her i'm sure it's the Heart of Spring. you know that i'm meditating hard on it, and you can bet that my squad is too - kelli, abbey, and a whole slew of morgans - @Morgan, @morgan belliwig, @Morgan le Roq, @morgan hempshire, @Concrete Morgan, @Morgan the Horse Boy, @Violet Morgan, and @Morgan Fairchild.

And her royal jelly court! @Cassa N. Dra, @Lazzeretto, @flepurtum, @Jackie Packerman, @Atlantica or Pacifica - i'll bet they are working hard at sending their energies through the Heart of Spring and right into @Jessica Moon's heart too! oh gee i'm just sure this is gonna work! Think hard everybody!

The Heart of Spring has been recovered!

While the Bees and Beekeepers Spring Formal is indeed a gala affair, we must remember the true meaning of the dance - the Waggle Dance, that is.

This year's Head Beekeeper, @Jessica Moon, did a splendid job in leading the Waggle Dance, and I'm sure I speak for the entire school when we extend our heartfelt compassion for the trouble she's endured since.

However, after reviewing the tapes, the school's Waggle Dance experts were able to interpret the subtle moves of Jessica's Waggle Dance (and the ensuing Waggle Dance of the student body in attendance) and very accurately determine the location of The Heart of Spring for this year.

A recovery team was sent - helicopters, spelunkers, etheric removal experts, etc. - and after carefully examining the location (and taking full measure of psychogeographic regulations into account) were able to extract The Heart of Spring, transfer it to its ritual palanquin, and return it to the school.

As our older students know, The Heart of Spring is no mere bauble, but a vital piece of the Uber-Psyche of not only the school but the entire extra-sensory network that Psyhigh is situated upon. Each year its use is given deep and careful thought.

Which is why this year, The Heart of Spring has been delivered to @Jessica Moon - or, more accurately, her close friend @Scilph - in hopes that its presence and proximity to @Jessica Moon will help speed her recovery from her unfortunate situation.

I would like all students to consider The Heart of Spring and what it represents, and use it as a conduit to send their most positive energies through to aid in @Jessica Moon's recovery.

Yours in the Great Waggle Dance,

Big Jim
Student Activities Coordinator
Class of '99

CAMPUS HEALTH ALERT II

Congratulations! Through your vigilance, the outbreak of Fictional Affected Disorder has been almost completely contained. However, mandatory treatment of the student body will go into effect at midnight tonight, through the addition of a mild Anecdotal De-abstractor to the water supply. Remember to drink eight glasses a day!

If you or someone you know continues to speak in third person, or narrate their lives as if reading stage directions, you (or they) may have contracted Fictional Affected Disorder. Please escort them (or, er, yourself) to Caduceus Clinic immediately for treatment.

The most serious infection on record was in the tiny Mexican village of El Chilillo in 1947. When finally reached by Narrative Epidemiologists, the village had succumbed entirely. The inhabitants' bodies wandered like sleepwalkers, while their selves circled around them, describing their every move.

Such dissociation is curable, however, and the Emergency Script Doctors were able to coax the errant selves back into their bodies, where they eventually established residency, took out loans, got married, and otherwise lived happy and productive lives. Even the selves that were inadvertently mismatched with the wrong bodies eventually adjusted.

The outbreak at Psyhigh has been far below that level of contagion, and we have the chance to eradicate it completely. But only with your help!

Remember - friends don't let friends speak in third person. If someone you know shows symptoms, take them to the clinic today.

Dr. Julia Ankhy
Psychic Student Health Services