Several days passed without incident, Jen having completely forgotten that morning, routine as she thought it was.
Her alarm went off. 7:00am, time to get up! Jen sat up, greeting the new day stretching and yawning. Something felt amiss, however—even in her groggy, pre-coffee state she could tell that *something* was wrong. Her mouth felt strange, no, her tongue felt strange. Jen swore it was slightly larger than it had been the day prior, though she thought little of it. "I'm probably just a little sick," she thought, the swelling in her tongue nigh imperceivable as it continued, nanometer by nanometer. She got up and brushed her teeth, hardly noticing her very slightly swollen tongue. She took a few cough drops just in case, thinking that the tongue swelling might be due to some cold or flu strain. Her tongue also began to tingle slightly now, but she just chalked that up to the cough drops being old.
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Jen's concern began when the tingle didn't let up. She was well into her second class of the day now, yet her tongue still tingled. She decided if it continued, she'd visit the nurse, but thankfully it stopped soon after. However, during lunch it began again. She sat with her girlfriend, eating the "food" the cafeteria served them today.
"This is the poorest excuse for General Tso chicken I've had in my entire life!" her girlfriend exclaimed before taking another bite of the dish. "Like, how can they even serve us this!" she continued through a mouth-full of poorly prepared Asian cuisine, gesticulating wildly with her fork.
"I have no idea," Jen said, taking a forkful. "Say, Bri," she paused, swallowing. "Do you think my tongue looks bigger? I woke up today and it felt... strange, and it's been tingling on and off all day."
"I dunno, dude, lemme take a look." Bri responded, with a hint of concern in her voice.
Jen opened her mouth, her girlfriend inspecting her imperceptibly swollen tongue with the seriousness reserved for stock-photo scientists analyzing blue water in a test-tube.
"Nah dude, it doesn't seem to be swollen to me. You feeling alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, just that."
*BRIING*
"Wellp, I'll see ya 'round, Jen."
"Love you!" Jen said. The two shared a brief hug and went their separate ways, Jen to chemistry and Bri to AP French.
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Jen's tongue continued to tingle on and off for the next few days, swelling very slightly with each tingling session. Jen noticed the bouts were increasing in intensity, and the time between them was beginning to shorten, yet still she couldn't tell if her tongue had swollen or not. She visited the nurse, who gave her tongue a lookover and deemed it perfectly healthy, bidding Jen off with the advise to maybe brush her tongue a few times a day to see if that helps reduce the tingling.
It did not.
About a week passed, and the tingling was near constant now. Jen fell asleep, the tingling almost becoming background noise to her by this point....