My heart pumped like crazy, sweat beaded over me like raindrops, I had a temperature as hot as a fever but I wasn't chilly. This is what you can call the after-effects of doing extreme physical activity or feeling nervous, but it was unusual, unusual because I wasn't really doing anything, or to at extremes, I am emotionally stable, no trace of nervousness, anger, fear or whatever, no trace of anything to make me feel this .Nothing

I walked down the stairs and looked at the clock, it was ten in the morning, I sat down in the kitchen and decided what to eat, but after feeling scorching discomfort I decided to leave eating for a while and take a cold bath. I half-ran to the bathroom and turned the blue tap, water gushed out and its gushing sound pleased me, after waiting for a few minutes in hell, the tub was full. I threw my clothes aside and dipped myself in it's icy goodness. I sunk my head in and I felt the heat escape through it, and then I surfaced my head up letting a breath in and closed my eyes. I dozed off and woke up, feeling uncomfortable, the water was quite warm.

Damn, I thought to myself the icy pleasure was quite short, nevertheless. I stepped out of the water and wrapped my bathrobe around me, I rushed to my room and dressed myself. Feeling dehydrated, I went downstairs to have water then noticed a long yellow paper on the fridge. It stated:

Jake,

Me and your dad are in France for his conference, we'll be there for two weeks, were sorry we haven't said our goodbyes, but we had to hurry because it was the only flight going there.

Take care,

Mom

I looked at the bottom of the page to look for a postscript, and there was.

PS.

We hired a maid to do the chores while I'm not there, give her the guest room to sleep in.

"whew" I thought to myself, now I don't have to wreck the house.

After a few minutes of watching the TV, high temperature hit me again. My heart was hyperactive, it drummed itself and I held my hand to my chest, my ears felt hot and sweat had covered my back.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

It beat. I swirled my eyes around, I felt dizzy. I rested my head back.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

I can't take it! I grabbed the air conditioning's remote and pressed on it madly. In seconds, it wind blasted around, this helped me, but it didn't make my heart stop.

Ring, ring, ring.

The door bell rang. I walked towards the door and wiped my face and hands on my shirt, and twisted the knob.

" Hello" a woman stood in front of me, she had perfectly tan skin and hair as black as the starless sky, she had a strong Spanish accent but her hello was understandable, she reminded me of a Mexican model.

"Hi" I said, fanning myself with my hand. "you must be her, the maid"

"Yes, I am" she said

There was a pause, then I remembered my manners.

"Please, get in" I offered.

"Thank you" she said, her accent still strong.

She stepped in, and swept beside me, she was wearing perfume, it smelled spicy, in a good way. then I thought to myself, this is what Mexico must smell like.

"I'm Rosario" she took her hand out and offered a handshake

"Jake" I said

She examined the house, stared at the ceiling and rubbed her foot on the floor.

"This is quite a house you have." she exclaimed still rubbing her foot on the floor

"Really?" I asked, trying to engage in small talk.

"Yes it really is quite a house" she said.

She looked at me and her awed expression, turned into a worrying frown.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she shuffled through her purse for something.

"Nah I'm fine, just a little sweaty" I understated.

"I better start unpacking" she switched expression to being happy. " would you mind if I parked my car in the garage?"

"Sure" I permitted her "here are the keys" I ran to the key rack and threw her a number of colored keys stuck together with one huge key ring. "It's the purple one"

"okay" she whispered, then silently slid out the door.

After hearing low grumbles of an engine and sweating my guts out, she came in, with additional suitcases, after realizing that I had to show where her room is I pointed out to a room on the end of a corridor.

"That's where you'll be sleeping" I instructed

"Thank you" she said, gracefully walking away

I retreated to the couch, letting the air conditioning cool me, and the next thing I knew I had slipped into unconsciousness.

"Jake, Jake" I heard "Jake, wake up"

I got up and felt quite disturbed that someone had bothered me. I opened my eyes and let it adjust to the blurriness around I was staring at a dark mass in front of me and had realized it, with clear eyes, that it was Rosario.

"Jake" she said in her strong accent "Jake, your mother called and asked if everything was alright – everything is alright, right?"

"Yeah, sure" I said "everything's fine"

Her expression switched to concerned again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her Spanish accent now had a serious tone

I was quite disoriented, rubbed my eyes and scratched my head.

"Y-yeah I'm fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Look, I-I'll just go up and do my homework"

I needed a distraction, keep myself from minding my feverish heat. I walked up and slumped myself on my room, notebooks scattered around. I was halfway done on writing my essay on the Renaissance Period when Rosario knocked.

"Dinner is ready" She exclaimed, almost making me jump.

"Okay" I said, wearingly "I'll be there"

I walked down the stairs and realized that my head was throbbing. I gently put my finger on my temple and felt a pulse, a real strong pulse. Blood rushed to my head, making me dizzy. I rubbed both of my temples now, hoping to ease the discomfort. but it didn't.

"Hi" she greeted "I prepared something special for my first day here. I hope you like Mexican."

"Yeah, I like Mexican"

I didn't care if I was sweating my guts out, but I really like Mexican. I can smell the spicy sweet aroma from the kitchen hunger churned my stomach as Rosario displayed her array of different delicacies. From pork to fish it all made my mouth water.

A few minutes passed and I was full.

"Thanks"

"You're welcome" she looked at me again. And again she switched to the concerned look "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine" and again, I'd lie

I half-ran to bed, my headache killing me, hoping sleeping it out would work. I almost forgot the discomfort of the heat because of this. I was on my bed tossing and turning, irritated. A few hours passed and my energy drained. I closed my eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. I was dreaming. I think. All I could hear was a sharp noise, like a pin drop's but only louder, a lot louder. I felt it pierce to my ears and into my brain, making my migraine a lot worse. I couldn't breathe I felt like I was bounded by a huge anacondas. It wrapped tightly crushing me, suffocating me. I tried to strangle my way out but it crushed tighter and tighter, giving me no hope. The tightness loosened, the sharp noise muffled, I couldn't feel anything.

Am I dead?

I woke up the next morning, gasping for air. I held my hand to my chest, relieved that I could still breathe. I noticed my shirt was sticking, wet with sweat. And I also realized, the migraine was gone, the heat diminished. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I finished that and dressed myself in front of the mirror, just before I put my shirt on I saw something different. It was noticeable my body, changed, just like how nerdy Peter Parker turned into Spiderman. My body muscled itself up, it looked strong, yet agile. My face was different too, it felt harder, more manly.

I slipped on my shirt and walked down the stairs. I glanced at the clock, and the bus would be at the stop at two minutes. I ran to the kitchen snatched a piece of toast, sprinted to the door, grabbing my bag. And ran out.