*whispers to herself* I have been forgotten....

-The room is covered in old articles and torn newspaper clippings. A dark aura of solemn sadness is orbiting around the young girl buried deep under covers. She cries weakly, softly, whimpering as the sky turns light and dark again and again and again in a repetitive cycle. She looks up, eyes twinkling from tears, dark bags etched along her once youthful face...-

"No one has called..."
"No one has asked if I am okay..."
"No one even remembers I am the one who started it all..."

-She keeps her eyes shut as when they were open it was all the same. Nova meows warily from the other room, scratching at the door asking politely to enter....Jessica is unable to move. She is so broken...And her brain is fried. Her hand trembles unable to sketch a single kitten...Her ribs putrid from her chest...food needed to fill them but she is unable to eat...She looks like a fallen angel, alone, hurt...-

"No one cares..." she coos to herself wrapping her slender arms around herself shivering in the darkness.

She wonders why she cares about everyone...but when she does not speak for a while no one asks if she is all right...

"Perhaps Psyhigh is not right for me..." She mumbles sadly to herself pressing her nails into her arm. "Perhaps there is no where I will belong, or be wanted..."

She wandered alone now Nova pressed close to her heels. The darkness swallowed up her small frame, her small nightgown blooming around her like a moon flower. Her eyes are closed and her feet move neurotically. She doesn't know where she is going, she doesn't know what she is doing...

She is sleep walking.

Crickets chirp in the night, singing a song of love and happiness. Jessica passes by the courtyard, the ground exploding with new life of plants and flowers. Nearby trees grow in alarmingly fast rates. The stillness of the air is interrupted with quick unnatural bursts of wind that trap her long curls inside them.

She wanders the railroad now, bare feet stepping carelessly unto the sharp jagged rocks that burn with electricity. Her eyes move back and forth under her eyelids, rapid eye movement sucking her into a dream.

This is not a dream however, it is a nightmare...
Her heartbeat starts to quicken as she slowly walks and a moan escapes her lips. Nova is gone now, looking for someone to assist him in waking Jessica...

@Tomas is unaware of the girl treading his territory. Nova sniffing him out finds his whereabouts. The cat meows frantically the wind growing stronger dulling out the sound. Jessica alone now is screaming, voice lost in the wind...

"Hee---lp..."
She chokes....and collapses to the floor.

GASP.

She wakes up, panting from a nightmare. Her silvery hair is mussed up, and her eyes are red, as if she was crying. She pauses and swallows. She sees a faint light, and a white cat hopping down the stairs to her bedroom. Morris and Eralonia enter her room.

{Scilph what's wrong? I heard you screaming in your sleep... a-are you alright..?}

"No, Morris, I am not alright. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong."

A shriek a scream, only she can hear.

Another strong gasp from this weak, pale girl.

"Jessica."

{...What?}

She bolts out of bed without answer. She doesn't bother to change out of her light blue nightgown. She raids the cupboards and shelves for a flashlight. "Morris, come with me. NOW. NO QUESTIONS."

{Y-yes ma'am!}

She opens the door with a flourish, and bolts off to the railroad.

SCREAM.

I open my eyes. Being dead does not allow me the comfort of rest, but I try. I try so hard. I'm afraid that Scilph has been hurt. I rush to her as soon as I can. I ask her what's wrong, but she begins muttering incomprehensible nonsense. She looks, well, paler than I. Her breathing is heavy, and she looks as if she has seen a ghost. I shouldn't say that, because she's seen me on a daily basis. Well, anyway....

She bolts out of bed, and starts throwing things around the room, searching for something. When she finds a candle, she lights it and throws open the door. "COME WITH ME. NO QUESTIONS ASKED." Of course, I obey her. Something must truly be wrong.

We race to the railroads. Eralonia meows, and I see Nova running up to us. We follow her, and see a figure - almost glowing - collapse to the ground. Scilph shrieks "NO!" and runs to her. She kneels beside the girl... and picks her up. I am surprised. Scilph isn't very strong.

"W-we need to get back to our dorm! QUICKLY!" She has tears in her eyes, even though that shouldn't be possible.

I nod, and teleport them back to our dorm. Scilph places Jessica on her bed.

"Morris.... she isn't dead.... just sleeping."

She lets out a relieved breath.

It was a nightmare, a vivid one. Things brushed against her cheeks and fluttered around in the dark. Suddenly, the scenery changed like seasons. A soft comforting lull of a voice had stirred at her consciousness. Jessica followed the noise tears streaming down her sunken cheeks. The land has gone blank, like an empty sheet of copy paper. She wandered for a while. knowing it was a dream, knowing she was asleep. The song became louder as she walked even closer. She could make it out now, the crisp soft sound of Scilph's voice was not serene at all. She was screaming at herself.

Jessica's eyes widened in horror. "It isn't her fault..." She mumbled. She tried desperately to wake up with no change.

"Please, please, LET ME WAKE UP!"

Jessica again screamed punching herself viciously in the face with all her might. She suddenly knew what she needed to do.

She started running past the empty silk houses and crumpled white sheets. The road a seam on a blanket was shaking as her body started to seize. She saw it now, the dark edge of the world. All her instincts told her don't...don't jump.

But she did. She leaped over the cravas into darkness...

She always ended up in darkness.

Jessica's real eyes flung open , pupils dilated like someone under the influence. "Scilph...." she breathed with difficulty....

"It...it is not your fault..." And she drifted back off a dreamless sleep.

The pale, weak, tired girl froze, a needle pointed at her wrist.

She had woken.

But only for a moment.

Only to deliver a message, like a dreaming angel in a nightgown.

She had woken to tell her it was not her fault, to tell her that it was okay, to tell her that she forgave her.

She had said her name with caring. She didn't spit it like venom at her, like a weapon.

The pale, weak girl's eyes widened. "Jessica..." She whispered.

And Jessica fell back into the deep, nightmare-filled slumber.

Scilph dropped the needle.

The pale, weak, but awake girl sits by the sleeping one.

Hours ago, she had awakened, only for a few moments, just to tell her the guilt should not be on her shoulders.

Nova, the galaxy cat, silently crept into the room. She jumped onto the weak girl's lap. The girl gasped. She dared not move at all. The cat stared into her gray eyes gently.

Since the living box had all but lived since the sleeping girl entered, and the ghost and his cat had left, the weak girl had so many things to talk about, but no one to talk to. She hated felines with a burning passion... but she needed to take this weight off her chest.

"She had cared for me."

The weak girl seemed to become weaker with every word.

"She had sent me paper planes with friendly messages, and she had voted me for Student of the Month. She was my first companion. She helped me smile."

The paler-than-before girl released a shaky breath.

"Your owner was- is... a beautiful, amazing young woman. She looks, speaks, and seems normal in almost every last way, but is so extraordinary."

She cleared her throat.

"I despise cats."

Nova seemed to grin at the pale girl. She lay down and purred.

The pale, not-as-weak, but awake girl sighed gently.

CAMPUS HEALTH ALERT

A minor outbreak of Fictional Affected Disorder has been confirmed on campus.

The most common symptoms of Fictional Affected Disorder include speaking about oneself in third person, announcing stage directions, and otherwise speaking about oneself as if one were watching oneself. However, if not treated, Advanced Fictionalized Disassociation can occur, and the subject can become completely removed from his or her self.

If you have been exposed (as many of you already have been), it does not mean you've been infected. However, should you find yourself speaking about yourself in the third person, please visit Caduceus Clinic immediately.

Dr. Julia Ankhy
Psychic Student Health Services

She lay under the rubble from the room, motionless.

She was awake. She was alive.

She wished she wasn't.

She only cared about the girl in the bed.

She couldn't get up.

She needed to see her.

She needed to apologize.

She.

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