Living in the Shadows

CHAPTER 5 THE RAINS, DAY 1: THE SUB-TRIAL

*If you want to know what happened between chapters 4 and 5, check it out in the Bonus Features; titled: Midnight Party.*

May 10th, 5 a.m.

It was more than just a pounding headache when I woke up. It was a full-blown migraine! I was lucky I wasn't experiencing nausea or light and sound sensitivity. And oddly enough, the sound of the pounding rain outside was soothing.

Well, both Meowstic and Cresselia did say I'd feel like this in the morning. I thought as I remembered what happened last night when I visited Darkrai, before slowly sitting up in bed. (My entire body was aching too.)

I winced as I rubbed the right side of my head. Why is it that whenever I get these kinds of headaches, it's always the right side that pounds and pulses straight out of my ear?

The last time I had this kind of headache I wasn't able to get relief until I snuck over to my grandma's house and she gave me an herbal drink. Good thing I remembered the recipe for that drink or today would suck. Big time.

Still moving slowly, I got out of bed and gathered the herbs and stuff I needed to make that drink from my waist bag. I made my way to the kitchen, put the kettle on the stove, and mixed the drink after the spout began steaming. I also got out some ice cubes and put them in a washcloth.

That was the scene Mrs. Tao saw when she came into the room. Me drinking herbal migraine medicine while my right hand was holding the ice-filled washcloth to my forehead.

"Why is your hair streaked and glowing?" She demanded softly. The reason she asked was that I hadn't turned on the lights even though the rain clouds made it look like it was midnight in here.

In answer to her question, I shook my head and continued to drink my medicine and rub ice on my forehead. That was when she turned on the lights; and yes, it hurt when she did that. (I guess I have light sensitivity after all.)

"Once your headache goes away," she said as she sat down. "Spray this on your hair." She put a red hair color spray bottle on the table.

At my questioning look, she replied; "I've had this for years. Whenever one of my sisters-in-law come to visit, they'd always spray their hair with different colors. It's their way of making fun of your generation."

I nodded my head in response.

"You've probably noticed that your hair has grown a few inches since yesterday and that some of the dye fell out." At that point, the phone rang. In a 'hold that thought' pose, Mrs. Tao got up to answer it.

I hope she just means the extra two inches of blue hair and not anything else.

I finished my drink and went, stiffly, to my room to check on my hair. And sure enough, another inch grew since I came back from visiting Darkrai last night. While Mrs. Tao was on the phone, I went into the bathroom and began my voice remedy. After I came out, I noticed that Luxray and the fox siblings were wide awake and huddled together in the far corner of the room. All three covered their noses.

"It's all well and good that you're using natural medicine to fix your voice," Luxray commented; his voice muffled from covering his nose. "But that stuff could knock even a Garbodor off its feet!"

Zoroark and Zorua both nodded their heads in agreement. Then Zorua suddenly dove under the bed just before my bedroom door opened.

"That was Officer Jenny on the phone," Mrs. Tao explained from the doorway. "She thought we should know that Kontororu has just been released from the hospital." Both Zoroark and Luxray growled while I stiffened. "I'm less than thrilled myself, but the fact remains is that he hasn't done anything to deserve incarceration."