The first time it got irritating was during her first class. There was really no way to tell it was going on as it was so faint, but when staring for a few minutes at her notebook or the screen containing today's notes, it was noticeable.
She thought it was due to the glasses. They were mostly reading glasses and she wore them only when doing homework, or occasionally when taking a lot of notes, as she was doing today.
Or perhaps it was the fact that it was the Monday directly after that fateful Friday and she was still affected by such massive physical activity. Not getting enough sleep might make her eyes hazy.
She tried not to blush at that, and cast it aside. Sex had nothing to do with the minute blurring of her eyes. This was the first time it was happening and she would've noticed if it happened with the others.
Inaki's performance had nothing to do with that either.
Her lips pressed together to quell a smile. She took the rims off and rubbed her eyes. Maybe it was because she hadn't blinked in a few minutes?
Classes were longer because of the blurriness, even if she only had four this semester. The only one she had not one ounce of issues in was her history of Japan class.
Whether she would've taken this sooner or later was unknown. The only reason she was taking it now was Inaki. She wanted to learn about his heritage to feel less awkward around his house. There was still so much she didn't know - even if his family was happy to share tales - but wanted to learn.
They spoke Japanese all the time in the house, though polite enough not to speak it whenever she was at the dinner table. She never mentioned the slight discomfort of feeling left out when they did that, but she was considering taking a Japanese class or two to get some basics down.
Still, it was odd that her vision was clear during THAT class...
It got most annoying when she tried to get aboard her bike. Bag secured over her shoulders; she went to swing a leg around. Then it seemed like someone grasped the world on the edge of her peripheral vision and gave it a good, vertical yank.
She gripped the handlebars and teetered. Only the bike kept her from falling into an awkward position, probably with it, and she quickly tried to balance.
What was going on?? Was it the heat? It was only high seventies, even if there was no breeze. She was dressed for the weather, so this wasn't heat stroke...
She kneeled to the ground and covered a hand over her eyes. She rubbed them, feeling better with darkness encompassing her vision and dulling one of the senses.
"Lose a contact?"
Her head jerked up at the familiar voice, but thankfully no spell hit. She smiled and accepted Chance's hand. She situated the bag and moved to the bike.
Green looked to it a little wary, wondering if she should get on again. "No," She absently replied, "you know I don't need them and don't really like them."
"Then what's the problem? I was heading for my car and saw you nearly drop to the ground." A hand on her forehead startled her. "You feeling okay?"
She gave a dry smile. "It's not possible to get sick in this kind of weather."
"Beg to differ...Mar got bronchitis in September a few years back."
She gave a generic grunt at that, not wanting to dig into the subject when there was no issue. Hands gripped the bars as she moved it into ready position to mount. There was a small grimace on her face as she prepared for another spell, but none hit. She successfully boarded with a little confusion.
Green blinked as she pondered that. What was the difference?? All day during notes, she had problems...now she was fine. She looked to Chance when the girl talked again.
'Is it her?' Teeth bit the inside of her lip. 'I WASN'T interacting with anybody during classes. All I did was take notes and listen to lectures. There's no way I could talk to anyone unless it was to supply an answer.'
She backed the bike up to the direction she needed and stopped. With a curiously furrowed brow, she inhaled. Being a nature lover, this didn't deter her much, and she sniffed the air some more.
"What ARE you doing?"
She grinned at Chance's odd look. "Someone's mowing the lawns. I can smell grass. I like that, don't you?"
Chance looked a little stunned and looked around. She heard a few quiet sniffs and indulged again.
"Ah...K...I don't smell anything."
She gave Chance her full attention, getting more confused. "Huh?"
"And I don't hear anything either."
"I don't hear anything as well, but that doesn't mean it's not on the other side of campus. You know the wind can carry."
Chance shrugged. "Maybe, but I still don't smell anything."
Her head shook, mind trying to make sense of it. "How can that be?? You're standing right next to me!"
"No clue K, but don't get so worked up over it. It's no big deal."
She was smelling grass and Chance – who was within arm's reach – wasn't. Unless her nose was playing a trick on her, this was TOO a big deal!
She was forced to bypass it as Chance started walking. She went with the girl to her car before turning to take the way home. She didn't see or hear any landscaping going on, and that bewildered her like none other.
But the smell of grass followed her all the way home.
It was easier to pick up with the wind she created by pedaling. She couldn't explain what was going on, and was thinking about it even when she got inside and up to her room. Thankfully, it didn't follow her in the house – that would've been too creepy – so she forced herself to get over it.
She had a little bit of time as usual to get some homework done before heading to the kitchen for dinner. Being so distracted in class and not really picking up what was done for the day, she resolved to look everything over and connect lectures to what she read in books for homework.
She was halfway through the first page when it happened again.
This was worse than the one on her bike. Instead of the world getting one vertical shake, it was like someone clearing an Etch-e-sketch.
She gasped and a hand quickly covered her eyes, trying to kill the sense, while the other grasped the corner of her desk for something solid. She needed solidity when the whole thing basically liquefied before her eyes.
It was over as soon as it began, but left her mystified and a little worried.
What was going ON?!
She removed her hand from underneath the glasses and slipped them off. She stared at the same frames she had for many years now and her lips pursed.
What if wearing them was causing it? They WERE old, as she had these during her high school years, and it wasn't a good idea to have glasses more than two years. The eyesight was a fragile thing – as she was being taught – and it would improve or worsen depending on how it was taken care of. She never had bad vision problems, other than a slight astigmatism, and mostly used them to KEEP from getting those kinds of problems...but perhaps it was finally time to get her eyes checked?
It was too odd to think about. She hadn't had an eye exam since she was a kid and it was part of a physical. She read somewhere along the way it was good to have reading glasses as a protector against any future problems. Being a careful sort, she thought it a good idea.
Green eyed her homework. She needed to get back to work, regardless of any issues with her eyes. She had a long-term responsibility to this and there had been so many problems in the past where she could've given in.
This shouldn't be an exception.
-----
She was rubbing her eyes for the third time in the second hour - getting as annoyed as she was worried - when Sam stuck her head in.
"Hey, what's wrong with you??"
She moved off her elbows to the seat and rested heavily against it. Her hand didn't let up in its task to soothe the muscles, hoping they were just being a pain.
The third time with the same intensity. This was an issue.
A hand rested on her shoulder, but didn't startle her as much, as she heard footsteps pad across carpet. "You okay?"
She forced the hand to drop, pulling her eyes from their cringe as well. "Yea..."
"Tired?"
Her right peeked open the barest of slits and tried to see past the thick fringe of lashes. "I don't know...maybe..."
Brow furrowing, Sam kneeled at the armrest and rested both hands on it. "You've been studying too hard again I think. Come downstairs and fix dinner."
She smiled and slowly opened both. "That's not much incentive for me to stop studying, now is it?"
Sam grinned and rested her chin on the K's arm as she draped it on the armrest. "Perhaps not, but if you don't, I'd just come back in about half an hour later and whine in your ear." Light blue widened to puppy dog proportions and stared.
"ACK! Don't do that!"
The eyes got her every time. They were the best feature Sam had and when she made that face she was absolutely adorable. It completed the picture when her lower lip stuck out too.
"Come on, I'll even help." Sam added.
"You help with my cooking..." She evenly answered. "Again, not much incentive is it?"
Sam gave an expression saying she was less than amused, before smiling and standing. "Just take a break already. If your eyes are hurting you, take a load off. You'll have plenty of time to study at work."
'Work...'
Who knew if this would happen when she was trying to serve customers? That would not only get issues with people she didn't know asking if she was okay when she was clearly not, but she was going to be on the clock.
But she couldn't call in with something she hadn't even classified yet!
A little grim, she followed Sam downstairs and soon switched gears to food as green searched the right side of the fridge.
'As soon as I can get some privacy, I'm going to call the optometrist.' She reasoned. 'No need in telling Sam this and getting her all worked up until I know what's going on. The last thing I need is her worried about something else in my life.'
~*~*~
"Kalie Himmen?" Her gaze looked up from a magazine as she met the receptionist. "If you'll come with me..."
She gave a polite smile and nod before putting the magazine with the others and getting to her feet. She followed the nurse down a short corridor to an empty room that was all too easy to classify as an eye doctor's office.
"He'll be in shortly."
The door was left cracked and she went for the chair. It was the only other main piece of furniture in the room besides the swivel against a small desk meant for the doctor.
She ducked around the bulkiest looking contraption she came across besides the cappuccino machines. This thing was going to check her eyes?? She was going to look like an idiot on the other side of this!
"Good afternoon Miss Himmen."
She watched a balding, grandfatherly-looking man step in and felt a little more relaxed. The man almost reminded her of Kekoy-san and she gained comfort in that small familiarity.
She watched him go to the desk and flip through paperwork. "So what brings you here today? Getting glasses or contacts?"
Her head shook, though she doubted he was paying attention. "I need a checkup. I haven't had one for probably a decade or more and my vision is getting a little blurry for some reason."
That got his attention.
"How so?" The man walked up and stopped at the footrest of the chair. "That can mean a few things, some of which shouldn't be a problem for someone your age."
That got her worried – not something she wanted right now. She wanted to know this was something she was blowing out of proportion.
Hands clasped together and her thumbs subtly twirled. "Well...it's happened a few times in class and when I do my homework. It's like the world shakes for a few seconds before it clears."
"Sounds like vertigo." The man mumbled. One hand reached to the breast pocket of his work shirt and pulled out what looked like a dinky pen light. "If you'll focus on my finger..." He asked, holding a hand on the other side of her face.
She did as ordered and nearly jerked back and banged her head on the equipment when he shined the light two inches from her face and was equally far away. She followed it to the other side as he checked her other, trying not to shy away at the violation of personal space.
She was all too glad when he finished, but was wishing she could read upside down as he wrote on the paper he picked up upon first entering.
And that the dots nearly covering her vision would hurry up and go away!
Then he was setting everything on a nearby table and turning the chair toward an eye chart on the far wall. The bulky equipment was pushed over her eyes and green squeezed shut at the current setting on the lenses.
Man...whoever had that last set was BLIND!
"Okay, I'm going to do a few tests. I'm going to give you a few numbers and tell you if it's the right or left side. You tell me which one looks clearer. Go ahead and take your time."
She kept getting lenses that made everything nearly GIVE her dizzy spells. By the time she got to a point where things were clear, she wondered just what was being accomplished.
"Okay... I'm going to keep this like it is and I want you to lean back enough for me to push it out of the way."
Her brow furrowed. "Why?"
"Because I'd like to show you something."
Doing as commanded, her nose cleared from getting bumped and the perfect image through the lenses was replaced...with yet another perfect image.
She blinked, eyes widening. "I...don't get it." She mumbled, turning for an explanation.
"The final ones you said helped you see the best were no prescription." To prove his point, the man shoved fingers through the eye slots and pushed through. There were no barriers to stop him.
She dumbly stared at the contraption, mind whirling to make sense of it all. She watched the man pull his fingers back through before staring at the eye chart. She could read every line to the bottom...well, not the VERY bottom...but her vision, according to the medical expert, was the same as it was in her childhood.
"How long has this blurriness or dizziness been going on?"
She snapped to attention and thought. "Well...I got it for the first time on the ninth around midday. I thought it was the reading glasses I've had for about five or six years. Then I thought it could be staring at homework for too long...or taking too many notes. Or the fact that I didn't blink enough. I don't know - I was reaching with that one."
"How serious has this been?"
"Enough to make the room spin."
"Would you classify it as vertigo?"
"Ah...well... It's only a few seconds long. It's there full force and leaves just as quickly, but enough to make me feel like I've been spinning in circles for five minutes."
"That's a good definition of vertigo."
She blinked. "Oh...well, yes...vertigo."
The doctor grabbed her papers and started for the door. "I suggest you see a medical doctor about this. Depending on your medical background and the severity of your case, it could be a small thing."
She absently nodded in agreement, though more in hope than anything else. After thanking him for his time, she left in dejection.
So it wasn't a simple vision problem as she was praying for. Now it required ANOTHER trip to a different doctor's office. The only problem was, she DIDN'T have medical insurance to cover it...if vertigo could be covered anyway.
She winced at it all and got on the bike. There were no problems getting on or getting home, which confused her. There had been a few more of the self-termed Etch-e-sketch – for the way the world looked in those brief seconds - spells since last week. She was trying her hardest to keep track of them, no matter what strength they came in, but when they struck all she was concerned with was getting them gone.
From this day on, she was going to keep a small pocket notebook with her to catalogue them. She would write down times, dates, and how strong each was when they arrived.
She WAS going to get to the bottom of this! This wasn't going to rule her life because too much ruled it as it was. She would try and find some way to get to a doctor when she saved enough money up for one. Who knew when that would be, but hopefully by then, she'd have enough information for them to do a study and help cure whatever the hell was going on with her.