Chapter 4:

I hadn't walked home since the accident. As I passed the piece of sidewalk where I had been struck, I began to be a little light headed. A vivid flashback echoed in my mind. The memory was so real, I almost felt the bolt of lightning strike my shoulders again.

"Are you okay?" Garrison asked.

A chill raised the hair on the back of my neck in spite of the early September weather.

"Fine," I said.

"I thought you were dead," he said. "When I came back with the EMT's, none of us could believe you were gone. No one has ever recovered that fast from being struck by lightning."

"If you can call this recovered," I snorted. My hands were shaking as though I hadn't eaten anything in days. Tiny stints of electricity ran around my fingers. I folded my arms, hoping Garrison hadn't noticed anything unusual.

"You should have needed intensive care. I don't understand."

"I guess I'm just invincible," I laughed as my voice shook nervously. The thought was funny at first, but then my light headedness became all the worse when I considered the possibility.

Garrison laughed, pretending not to notice my weird behavior.

"I think I caught a picture of the lightning," he smiled like a first grader telling his mom about an art project.

"Really?" I asked. "Is it any good?"

"I deleted the picture off my memory card after I copied it onto my computer. I'm thinking about entering it into the school's art show next week. I need to edit you out of the shot first though. Mr. Johnson probably wouldn't think a person being hit by lightning would be school appropriate. I think there's enough substance to the shot to cut the lower half out. I doubt anyone would notice."

He kept talking. I stopped listening. My head reeled. I felt like a zombie. Who was I kidding? I was a zombie. I hadn't slept or eaten much in the past few days; I was shivering from the trauma of recent events; I had to concentrate on every step in order to not fall down. I felt like Frankenstein's monster. I couldn't even find the energy to laugh at the mental image I had in my mind of my hair standing on end and bolts sticking out of my neck as I slinked along the school cafeteria muttering words unintelligible to the sane mind. I had never before been so tired. Tears of fatigue escaped my eyes and left residues of salt on my face. I swiped at them, hoping Garrison wouldn't notice.

He stopped walking. He didn't say another word. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on his shoulder. I cried, and tears laced with tiny bolts of lightning rolled down my face, soaking his shoulder. He didn't even flinch. Instead, he rested his chin on my head and stood there in silence.

"I'm so sorry," I sobbed in words he probably couldn't understand because they were muffled in sobs. "These past few days have been so stressful and I…I just don't know how I'm going to handle everything that's going on all at the same time."

He said nothing. Instead, he released me from our hug. I wasn't ready for that moment to be over, and I considered complaining when his left arm scooped me off of the ground, his right arm supporting my back.

"You dork!" I shrieked, suddenly regaining strength enough to scream, "Put me down! What if someone sees you?"

"I am starving!" he said, "I haven't eaten anything since six o'clock this morning, and you weren't walking fast enough!"