Clarissa Stattman stood in clouds of converging pink and blue smoke. The hundreds of people around her moving and writhing to the deep base reverberating from the numerous speakers projecting toward and surrounding them all. The earth beneath her feet was a deep terra cotta orange and dark clouds were moving in, the least of whose threat was rain. As she swayed to the music she felt out of place. She asked herself what was wrong- she had been looking forward to this trip, or rather she had told herself she was looking forward to this trip. Her job offered little in the way of fulfillment and she loved her friends, she did. But she had always lived with a feeling that she wasn’t quite where she belonged. Her therapist had encouraged her to explore what that meant, but when you feel it all the time, how are you supposed to notice a difference?

The clouds were now more than a threat and had begun to rain. Which turned to downpour. The crowd loving every drop. The smoke and the earth and rain combined into some sort of Jackson Pollack nightmare splattering themselves all over the dancing bodies. But then there was a flash and lightning struck. It struck a few miles away. And then it struck a few feet away. As the band ran for cover they yelled for everyone to do the same, but it was too late- Clarissa was struck directly and viciously by an extraordinarily large bolt of lightning. She was thrown to the ground. Her friends screamed and frenetically argued. Move her, let her lie, run away, but before they could decide the decision was taken away by the paramedics who darted out from the safety of a tent toward the motionless body of Clarissa Stattman.

She sat straight up. Multiple tubes in her arms, which were strapped to the rails of the bed, as were her legs. She cried out for help and demanded to know what was going on. A hospital nurse rushed to her side in an attempt to calm her: “It’s okay, it’s okay. We’re so happy you’re awake- She’s awake!” The nurse cried as she pressed the call button for a doctor. “These are on for your protection. You’ve been in a coma for two weeks but you’ve been crying out and, well, I’ll let the doctor explain further.” “Take these off of me” Clarissa demanded. “I’m sure the doctor will take them off just as soon as he gets here, don’t worry” the nurse replied. “I’m going to get you some water.” The nurse left and Clarissa lay there, extremely uncomfortable and very confused. She wished the restraints were off and as she thought about that she felt a warmness in her ankles. As she sat up to investigate the doctor arrived. “Well, Ms. Stattman, we’re all relieved you’re awake. Lightning strikes are serious business and most of the time people are either okay, or they’re not. Not often do they go into a coma, let alone combined with the unconscious outbursts you were experiencing. We can take these off of you now” the doctor uncoupled her arm restraints and reached toward her ankles “…what in the world?…did… nurse!” The nurse rushed back in and exchanged hushed words with the doctor. Clarissa could only see the nurse shaking her head no, then look to the ankle restraints, and widen her eyes. Clarissa sat up and looked at them herself- all of the string used to bind the separate parts of the restraints had come undone. As if someone had very carefully unstitched every single stitch.

“Ms. Stattman” said the doctor, trying to draw attention from the perplexity of the restraints, "We’re going to keep you here just another night to make sure everything is okay and you’ll be free to leave tomorrow morning. I’m not sure what happened with your restraints, but try to put that out of your mind and rest. The important thing is that all of your vitals and tests look great- you’re going to be okay, Clarissa.” The doctor left the room and the nurse asked if Clarissa needed anything to which she simply shook her head no. The nurse left the room and Clarissa sat back in her hospital bed, started at the ceiling and wondered if she had actually felt the sensation in her ankles she thought she had.