Kari stayed out late that night. She had gone home before her brother or parents would be home to change into dry clothes, and left again without Gatomon. The cat was sleeping in a sunbeam, and it was easy to get past her. It was now one in the morning and Kari was sitting on a bench in the same park near the school.

There was a full moon in the sky, but it was partially covered by the clouds. Below the moon, the clouds were thick enough to block all light, but the cloud ebbed to be thinner. Just above it, the moon still couldn't be seen, but the glow cast as eerie feel over the world. Like a lightning bolt had flashed and left some, but not all, of the clouds glowing. The ground was covered with mist three meters thick. No two people standing ten meters apart could see each other, and past fifty meters it's unlikely they would hear the other yelling. The park had two lights, bright orange one shining down at each entrance, creating a cone of light. Like sunbeam from heaven in this dank hellish scene. Kari was sitting in the third corner of the park, formed by its triangular shape. She was flanked on three sides by thick forest, and the other by equally thick mist. The whole park, Kari's whole world was setup to hide anyone and anything in it.

Kari surveyed the landscape before her. The air had a smell of the smoke from a fireplace, and it struck her nostrils cold. Like the smell had traveled several kilometers, and died slowly along the way. Nothing had changed for five hours, other than her jacket getting wet. The lights still burned, the mist still hung, the sky was still dark, and her mind never stopped working.

"Why?" Her mouth formed the word, and her lungs expelled the air, but no sound emerged. She was almost killed several times, and the whole time she thought it was her brain loosing grip on reality, or a feeling from the future warning her of some terrible impending danger. Kari had predicted the future a dozen times successfully, and with very accurate detail. But every time, whither the outcome was good or bad, the feeling she got was gentle and energizing. The images were faded, colorless, and didn't interact with her. She should have known something was wrong when her dreams were interactive, and in a Technicolor rainbow of colours.

Now she knew that someone was attacking her. The question had to be asked again. "Why?" This time, she could hear her own voice, and feel the warmth of the tear rolling down her cheek. If someone was raping her, she could fight them off. If someone was stealing from her, she could find them out or secure her own belongings. If someone was insulting her she could ignore it, or cut them down with her own comments. Any attack, anything she'd known of that would fit the word, she felt she could stop, or get help from her friends stopping. How could she stop an attack on her mind, from someone she didn't know, for some reason she didn't know? And to what end? Kari felt vulnerable.

Kari knew she had some psychic ability; but she never even considered honing her skills. And now she was being attacked by a professional. Kari thought back to every science class she'd ever had, thinking of how the brain worked as an organ. She knew that when you slept, there were more electrolytes in the brain, but less saratonine. The reduction in saratonine made the mind less able to fight off sickness. Then something else came to mind; during a female cycle, the chemicals in the brain were unbalanced, reducing the saratonine even more. Her first nightmarish dream was on the first day of her period, and it was over yesterday.

Kari felt relief. She could only be mentally attacked for four days in a month. Kari stood and walked towards the park exit. Her legs moved slowly, from having sat so long. She wondered how she was able to recall such specific information about a subject she didn't care about, and so late at night. Whatever it was, she could confirm in an encyclopedia tomorrow. The felt light hearted and relived. She could evade the attack for another month, and indefinitely with a simple pill. But that was just a band-aide solution. She vowed to get a more permanent solution later.

Kari rounded the corner of the fence leading out of the park. She near jumped out of her skin when she heard the click of a cigarette lighter. Kari whipped around to see Aaron leaning up against a lamppost just inside the park, the glow of the cigarette came down from his mouth with his hand. Kari gasped when she saw who it was.

"Little late, don't you think?" He said.

"What are you doing here?!?" Kari was panicking. She couldn't escape. She felt hopeless again.

"Just reading." He tossed a stapled bundle of papers at her. She caught it and read the title. Chemical Composition of the Human Brain. It looked like a computer printout from an online medical encyclopedia. The paper was snatched away from her. She went white. Aaron had covered the distance without making a sound. "Sorry. I have to take this with me." He kissed his index finger and touched it to Kari's lips. She shuddered at the touch, and was once again left standing alone in the park.