She dropped her backpack on the sidewalk as the bus pulled away and shoved her sleeve up. What the fu- A small green lump was pushing up from under her skin.
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Early the next morning, she sat up from her sleep deprived daze with a start -- her skin pinched for a moment and then the itching finally stopped. Thank God. She apprehensively rolled her sleeve up. A pale green coil emerged from where the lump had been. The skin around it was red and sensitive but the bud itself was almost ticklish to the touch. If she watched it closely enough, it seemed to grow before her eyes, warming in the dawn light coming through her half-drawn curtains.
That's it. I'm literally crazy. Or dreaming. Or crazy and dreaming.
But it was there when she opened her eyes again. And when she woke up from a few hours of fitful sleep. And when she Skyped her Biologist Sister five minutes after that.
"But, Amy, you really see it?"
"Well, yes, I do." Amy shoved her black, thick-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "I haven't the slightest idea how it's even possible. But it's certainly there."
"Ugh."
"It doesn't hurt any more?"
"No not really." She rubbed her forearm. "I can feel it under my skin still, though."
"Maybe it's a root system in your arm. How fascinating."
"Yeah that's the word I was going for."
"Hey, you called me, remember?" Amy leaned into her screen, her wild red curls falling into her face. "I wish I could see it better! And you haven't noticed any more?"
"Not yet. Oh God do you think there could be more?"
"Well, I wouldn't rule out the possibility. Especially if it's rooting in your veins."
"Fan. Tastic." She rubbed an itch on her wrist.
"Just -- be careful, I guess? And go and see someone if it hurts more."
"Okay. Thanks," she sighed. Jeeze I'm thirsty.
"Sure thing. Love you, sis."
"Love you too."
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