"Rahne? Rahne, are you asleep?"

No answer. I can hear Rahne's soft breathing. She's definately asleep.

I'm trying to empty my head and do the same. Today was tough, and I have every clue that tomorrow's going to be the same. But I can't just say , 'that's it, I pressed the off button, good night', no matter how much I wish to just fall asleep and forget...

Suddenly, a thought strikes me. Back home, when I couldn't sleep at night, I usually sneaked out the window and took a walk around the neighborhood. When I came back, I always felt better and fell asleep easily.

"Rahne?" I try again.

Rahne mutters something in her sleep, then buries her head under the covers. She's not awake as I'm not the Great Lady Pontiff of Vatican.

I quietly slip out of my bed, then rummage through my luggage and put on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Rats, forgot to unpack today. Like I had time to, anyway...

I open the window and go out on the balcony. I look down at the ground. It's now very far away. Still, I only flew twice before in my life: first time, I passed out, and last time I got this purple stuff on my hair. Rats, I should've taken a cap or something. If somebody saw me like this...

Stop.

Rewind.

"...if somebody saw me..."

Right! What if somebody sees me flying?

That's right! You can't do this! What were you thinking? the rational part of my mind whispers.

Well, I don't have to fly. Just get away from the Institute without triggering any alarm, and then-

And then there's not a soul in sight for a mile radius. No buildings, no cars, maybe a couple of stray dogs.

Good. Then nobody'll disturb me.

But it's boring!

"Shut up", I hiss to myself. "What's the harm in taking a walk?"

At this time?

My inner monologue stops as I feel a strange, yet gentle presence in my mind. That's gotta be Prof X... or Jean. If they catch up on what I'm doing... I'm certainly gonna get a corfew.

I take a small leap, then fly away at top speed. As I fly over the fence, one of my sandals slips and falls. I descend and look for it, but I can't find it anywhere. I sigh and reluctantly fly away. I'll look for it tomorrow, in daylight.

After five minutes or so, I reach a look-out point. I spot a giant tree , and I land on a branch close to the top. I look below; there it is, Bayville, in all its glory. Or rather, lack thereof. I must say though, it's much more relaxing than the NY suburbian landscape. A gentle breeze combs my hair. I didn't realize it until now, but at the Institute I was always nervous and had a tendency to snap at anyone. I felt crowded; after all, there were lots of people there, and I'm not sociable by definition. Here it's just me - and my thoughts.

I look at my watch: it's three in the morning. I wonder what my family is doing right now. I'm guessing my parents are asleep, and Rich is surfing on the Internet again. He loves that. He says he's a net-addict and a good hacker. I say he's a nerd. Then again, who am I to talk?

Suddenly, I hear a cough down below. Now what in the world was that? I lean down and try to peek discreetly through the branches. Keyword: try. The branch I sit on breaks with a loud crack. After a blur of branches, leafs and shiny little stars, I hit the ground hard. Ow.

"Are you okay?" I hear a voice.

I groan. Only after that I realize there's someone else there.