In this story, they need 100 notes to free the Goddess, not 50. Just so you know in advance.

Trees stretched high and branched out above my head. I sat in the middle of a forest, surrounded completely by the trees and their dying leaves. Colored leaves fell and gently piled up around me. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't move.

"Alex," an unknown, melodic voice intoned from behind me. I turned my head and instantly closed my eyes as an eerie purple glow invaded my sight.

"It's okay," it whispered, and I found that my legs regained mobility. I stood shakily, my back toward the purple glow. "Turn around." Unwilling to turn around, my body moved on its own, and I desperately tried to keep my eyes shut to no avail. I gave up and gazed at the woman in front of me, the purple glow slowly vanishing.

"Alex, I need your help," she told me calmly, and looked around. "I'm afraid I don't have much time." I opened my mouth, and found that I had completely frozen in place yet again. Her gaze returned back to me.

"Your friends are keeping something from you," she informed me. She suddenly wavered like a projection and then came back into view, clutching her head. "I need you to ask Annie about the musical notes," she said, voice growing desperate. "I need you to ask her about the Godde-" The woman disappeared completely and I fell suddenly to my knees as the world went dark.

I landed on the wooden floor with a thud, my head a hairs width away from the pointy edge of the nightstand. I groaned and picked myself up from the ground, covering a cough with my hand. The clock read 10 AM. Sniffling again, I shrugged some plain clothes on and headed downstairs. The house was empty except for the dog, who wriggled toward me enthusiastically. I patted his head absently and quickly turned away to sneeze, scaring him away. I treaded over to the table where a note waited for me.

I turned your alarm off. You were making a lot of noise early this morning, so I went up to check on you. I haven't seen a fever that high in so long, so I got Alex- the doctor Alex, hahaha- and he drugged you up. You didn't wake up the whole time, so I'll be surprised if you remember anything. Stay home today, and get better in time for the festival tomorrow! The animals are taken care of, so don't worry about it.

I sat on a chair with a groan and massaged my temples. I sure as hell did not remember anything from the last night. The front door suddenly burst open, and the doctor stumbled through along with a burst of wind.

"Hi, Alex," he greeted me as he shut the door behind him.

"Hi," I replied, letting the note flutter down to the table.

"How are you feeling?" He walked over to the table and set a medical kit on it before sitting next to me.

"I feel fine. . ." Except for, you know, I don't remember what happened last night. The doctor pulled a jar of blue liquid out and handed it toward me.

"Drink," he commanded and I obediently placed the jar to my lips and drained it, wincing at the horrible flavor.

"Good," he nodded as I set the empty bottle down and began to cough horribly. While I coughed, he pulled out a thermometer and a few other medical instruments and waited patiently while I tried to swallow air. When I finally stopped, he took my temperature and checked my breathing.

"You're completely normal," he said, sounding baffled. He began replacing his things in his bag. "Your fever was one hundred and four last night," he informed me, still looking astonished. I raised my eyebrows.

"That high?"

"I guess if you're doing slightly better then I can go back to the hospital." He paused before he opened the door to leave and turned back toward me. "Drink lots of fluids and only eat when you feel like you can. Give a call if you feel sick again." He exited, leaving me alone with the dog. Overwhelmed, I folded my arms on the table and dropped my head on top of them, sighing. When I closed my eyes, a sudden purple light flashed, and I quickly picked my head up, looking around. Suddenly my whole dream came back to me, and I sat back as I tried to absorb it all.

"I probably had the fever the same time I had the dream," I realized, whispering to myself. Suddenly exhausted, I headed back upstairs and collapsed on my bed.

When Annie got home, I was lying on my bed like a good girl, hands under my head, trying to remember what the lady in my dream had looked like. I heard Annie scooting up the stairs and turned my head expectantly in that direction.

"Hey Alex," she began cheerfully, "how are you-"

"Who is the Goddess?" I interrupted her sternly, raising myself into a sitting position. Annie visibly paled as she approached my bed and sat on the end of it.

"Why do you ask?" She was clearly stalling, and she knew that I was aware of it. I waited for her to answer me.

"Oh, and tell me about those musical notes," I suggested when she didn't reply, and Annie looked at me warily, visibly tensing.

"How do you know about them?"

"I don't," I replied honestly, "But you do, so I was hoping you might tell me." Annie sighed and took a deep breath.

"When I first moved here, I had wandered up the mountain and ended up at the Goddess's lake. But I guess she turned into stone. Her little sprites," she looked toward me to see if I believed her, "the sprites told me I needed to collect one hundred musical notes to save her. Jamie was- is- also trying to save her. That's why he hates me. Most the notes can be recovered from doing random odd jobs," she sighed and fidgeted.

"How many do you have?"

"Eighty-six." She rubbed her temples and sighed into her hands.

"You know I'd help you find the notes. Why didn't you tell me about all of this? You told me to stay away from Jamie for no reason?" I was taking it as a personal insult, even though it probably wasn't.

Annie just shook her head. I stood up.

"I'm going for a walk then," I ground out. "I think I'll go talk to this Jamie character, because, you know, he shouldn't have anything against me." Annie just sighed again as I made my way down the stairs.

"Just don't let him hurt you. . ." Annie's words followed me out the door as I left the house in a huff.

I burst out into the sunny, abnormally windy day, and headed toward Jamie's farm. There were two ways to approach this- I could either yell at him about the Goddess until his ears fell off, or I could act completely normal. He wasn't the one who had lied to me, after all. I paused in my thought process as I realized I was being slightly hypocritical. But only slightly. Besides, I wasn't sure I wanted to lose him as a friend just yet.

Jamie was exactly where I expected him to be- in the backyard with his animals. He must have felt my angry aura when I stomped onto the farm, because he turned around and regarded me with a puzzled stare.

"Don't ask," I seethed, sitting on a stake. He shrugged and went back to staring into the sky, seemingly waiting for me to talk anyway. I sighed and kicked my legs.

"My friend lied to me, and I miss my work. I miss my computer, my raspberry tea, and my lonely apartment."

Now, if this day had been recorded on a video and I was able to watch it sometime in the future, I would be able to pinpoint the exact moment of . . . the end, and somehow beginning, of my life in a way. I may have even subconsciously realized it the moment it happened anyway, because I was just that smart. Let's start the countdown.

Five.

Jamie calmly walked over to me and sat on the stake next to me, continuing to stare at the sky while I talked.

"I'm glad you came though," he said softly when I had finished ranting. "You're the only person in the village that I've really," he paused deftly, "liked." I became utterly speechless and stared at my flip-flop clad feet, feeling my cheeks burn from the unexpected compliment.

Four.

"Oh, um. Thanks, I guess. I kind of," I cleared my throat awkwardly, "I kind of might like you too." The wind, deciding to tease me, blew Jamie's hat off his head and across the field, stopping near the feet of a cow.

Three.

"You should really stop wearing that hat. You look better without it." I felt his eyes on me and turned embarrassedly toward him. I had already gotten myself in this conversation a little too deep, and I had to finish what I started. "But I guess if you really like it then it's okay . . ." I paused in my rambling to bite my lip awkwardly as I considered Jamie's penetrating stare.

Two.

"Hmm," Jamie hummed under his breath, his voice dropping into a lower octave. His eyes slid down my face and rested on my mouth.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod . . .! I licked my lips self-consciously and shifted awkwardly on the log.

"I think you're really pretty no matter what you wear." He muttered, his eyes examining my unbraided hair and naked face before sliding back to my lips. My mind went absolutely, positively blank as his eyes roamed back up my face to meet mine. I tried to think about puppies as his mouth opened slightly and his eyes were drawn back to my lips. When he started to lean in, my mind went blank again as my own eyes betrayed me and landed on his mouth. He was getting a little too close for comfort. My brain giggled girlishly and then imploded.

One. Right, here we go.

As Jamie stole our innocent first-kiss and my arms automatically went up to twine around his shoulders, the smart part of my brain told me that I was ruining everything; that I was bringing my 'downfall' on myself. But with Jamie's mouth pressed softly against mine and his hand on the back of my neck encouragingly, I shooed the thought away. I didn't even resist as he pulled me closer to him and deepened the kiss.

xXxXxXxXxXx

I burst in Annie's front door and slammed it behind me before leaning against it and panting. My hair was disheveled- not just from Jamie, but from the wind too- and my eyes were teary from the windy run back. Annie, who was sitting on her couch morosely, bolted up to examine my pale complexion.

"You're still sick, I knew it! Come lie down and I'll make you some tea." I allowed her to usher me toward the couch and I sat on it obediently as she hustled toward the kitchen. My brain was still trying to mend its frazzled circuits, and I felt kind of floaty. In a good way though. I was so floaty that I forgot to be mad at Annie.

JamieJamieJamieJamieJamieJamie

"Alex?"

JamieJamie ". . . huh?" JamieJamie. Oh, I had truly lost it.

The back of Annie's hand was suddenly on my forehead.

"You don't feel feverish. . ." I swatted her hand away and leaned back into the couch cushions.

"That's because I'm not." It's been a looong time since I let a guy kiss me like that. I looked up in time to catch an odd expression cross Annie's face.

"Alex . . . are you . . . blushing?"

I quickly leaped up from the couch and shot across the room as a wide grin began to stretch across Annie's face. She knew me too well.

"Is it . . ." she walked toward me, cornering me in a wall. I whimpered. ". . .Dan!"

"Ugh," I replied, rolling my eyes. The first time I had met him on my first day, he had planted the worst pick-up line on me. Ever.

"Hmm, okay, it is a guy then," Annie declared, moving closer. "Was it . . .Blue?"

"You're never going to know, so leave me alone!" I screeched childishly as I shot past Annie to cower by the couch. Annie giggled at me.

"My little Alex is in looove," she sang, prancing merrily over to the kitchen as the water for the tea began to hiss. "I'll figure out who it is tomorrow though, so don't worry."

"What?" Um, confused much?

"You know," she turned to face me, holding the tea kettle in one hand. "At the festival. Everyone will be there."

"Oh, right."

That was probably not good.