The sun had risen. The air was warm. The breeze was cool. It smelled like a great day to go out and have a picnic.
Jumping out of bed, I lay still. What the… My body was so heavy. It refused to move.
I sat up and flopped. I lay stunned for a moment. I was really weak.
Carefully internally feeling my limbs and muscles, I tried again. All my limbs and muscles were intact. They still existed. They were just so weak that they gave me the illusion that they had disappeared.
The ceiling received a glare. Ceilings deserved glares. They limited what a girl wanted to do.
Since I couldn't perform such a big movement, what about smaller movements?
I tried wriggling fingers and toes and slowly worked my way up from the little joints to the big ones.
Ah. My limbs were so heavy. Had someone strapped weighted sandbags to them again?
Since I couldn't raise them, could I at least slide them? If I couldn't sit up, could I at least roll over?
I could slide my limbs. It just felt awkward. The bed wasn't very wide, so in the sliding of my limbs across the bed, I was able to at least calculate where the edge of the bed was. That way, when I rolled…
There was a thump and I landed hard on the floor, feeling winded. That had not happened the way I had planned, but at least I knew that I could kind of roll. It just wasn't very well controlled and was more of a strain to turn followed by a flop. It was a flopping roll. Not bad for a start.
I swam vaguely amongst the tangle of bedsheets, trying to escape from the confines of the twisted cotton and find a more comfortable position. Sadly, I made very little progress.
When my pp was used up, I used struggle. And then when I grew frustrated, I used thrash. I was hit with recoil, receiving a few points of damage. Not wanting to give up, I used rage. It was ineffective and I was once more hit with recoil, again losing a few health points. Man, why were floors, bed frames and bedside drawers so hard?
Help. I needed help.
I tried to call out but all that came out was the ghost of a whispered mew. Not even a growl. Leer was also ineffective. It was enough to make a wild girl cry. After several fruitless attempts to shout, I went looking for my man by sending out sensing probes.
*"Shigure, my man,"* I called, reaching out using the one communication channel still available to me, hoping Shigure would hear me. I started with close in my vicinity and then swept out in ever widening circles like a rippling radar pulse.
Homeward noticed me first.
*"Kim Na? Harmony?"*
*"Yo, Daddy Bone Soup Man, how're Apricorn and the baby?"*
*"They're fine, Harmony. Thank you for asking. Little Luitger, Lutz, has finally settled down into more regular sleep patterns so we can sleep at night more too. Thank God. He's just started learning to roll. Apricorn has started working from home doing deskwork on flexible hours. She said she'd be coming to visit you today. How are you, Harmony? It's been almost two years since I last heard your voice. I'm glad to see that you've finally woken up enough to reach out."*
*"That's great to hear,"* I cheered. Feeling fatigue and the cold from the floor creeping up on me. Two years, huh? Two years was a really long time to be out. Had Shigure already found a new girl? Would he still want me? *"Really great. I'm fine. I think. I think I'm fine. I don't know if I'm fine. Am I fine? Will I be fine?"*
*"Harmony, is there something wrong?"* Homeward asked with concern, obviously feeling that there was something off about me.
*"I'm…"* I was running out of energy to talk and so just sent him a bulk message containing my general feelings and situation. I could feel myself sinking again. Why was I so tired?
*"Hang in there, Harmony,"* I heard Homeward say but his voice was getting faint although I strained to maintain the connection. *"Apricorn is on her way."*