As Jen got into the hall she saw Amber waiting for her.
“Hey girl, what’s up with you? I have never seen you this Antsy before, you could barely sit still for a minute in that classroom.” Amber said sounding somewhat concerned with her friends scratching.
“To hell if I know, ever since that call this morning I have had pins and needles in my arms and legs, it’s actually starting to really hurt. I feel like I am scratching myself raw.” Jen said looking at her arm where she just finished scratching.
Looking down she noticed something different, she had a few tiny light purple lines looking like veins scattered mainly where she was just scratching.
Panic rising she turned to amber and showed her, her arm. “Hey Amber, does this look weird to you?” Jen said gesturing to the lines on her arm.
Amber took a look and poked at the lines a few times. “You must have scratched your arms raw to the point of giving yourself a bruise. That just looks like a bruise is forming.” She said so confidently. “I, Dr. Amber would recommend you stop scratching and see if it starts to clear up. Only then can we properly diagnose if this is caused by your scratching.” She smiled and said in a stereotypical old doctor voice.
“Now come on, let’s get to the gym before you are late for your next class like you were for the first one.” She said as she grabbed Jens arm and pulled her along.
Jen winced a little as Amber grabbed one of the bruises and pulled. Scratching her leg she hurried off with Amber.
They quickly changed in the locker room and waited for the teacher.
“Morning class, due to your behavior with the sub last week today we are going to play some dodge ball. But first we need to get you limbered up, let’s go to the gym and I expect you to run for the next Five minutes. If you are not sweating we will keep going.” Ms. Klarkson. “Let’s move everyone!!”
As they thundered around the Gym running laps Jen and Amber took the lead in a sudo race to challenge themselves on who could outlast the other. Although Jen was captain of the cheerleaders she made it a point to show she was the best on the team at any chance she got. If someone beat her she would congratulate them with a candy bar of their choice as incentive but it was really to make them try harder than they otherwise would have.
It was neck and neck until Amber began losing steam towards the end; they heard the whistle of Ms. Klarkson blow telling them that the 5 minutes was up amber feeling a little dejected as she was lagging behind Jen after the whistle. As everyone wound down from the run Ms. Klarkson motioned to Jen saying “Jen, I expect slackers from a few people but you need to set a better example, you aren’t even sweating. Everyone back up and start running again we will keep running until Jen puts in the effort and starts sweating.”
Amber quickly spoke up “Ms. Klarkson, I know it looks bad, but Jen beat me, there must be a different reason that she is not sweating. We easily lapped everyone 10 times, we were both running hard.”
It wasn’t as much as some of the less athletic kids but amber was still somewhat shiny from a light coat of sweat.
As amber said that a few people nodded in agreement not ashamed to admit they couldn’t keep up with the two most athletic girls in the class.
Still skeptical she decided to give the class the benefit of the doubt, she knew of Jens arrangement with the rest of the cheer squad and how seriously they took it. “fine, you don’t have to run anymore but I expect to see you not hold back at all to make up for it.” She pointed at Jen.
Jen noticed that her arms and legs were calming down from the restlessness she has felt all morning. Apparently she just needed to run for a bit.
After stretching for a few minutes Ms. Klarkson threw ten balls around the room and split them into teams and let them go at it.
Amber and Jen were on opposite teams to make things more even but Jen seemed to be out to prove something with how hard she was running, dodging and throwing balls.
After a savage beat down at the hands of Jen, amber and Jen met back up in the locker room. Jen seemed a bit out of it. She was sitting on the bench staring at her arms.
“Jen, are you okay?” she asked more concerned than before.
“No, no I am not.” Jen said panic rising in her voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t sweat at all in that class.” Jen said breathing harder as she spoke
Startled Amber looked at Jen, she was right; unlike herself Jen didn’t have any sweat marks at all. Amber knew how hard she was running around; she should be saturated with sweat.
“let’s go to the nurse, maybe she can figure out what is wrong.” Amber said comfortingly.
“I-I think it was the curse!” Jen said before bursting out into tears.
“The curse?” Amber said skeptically.
“Y-yeah” Jen said blubbering a bit as she cried.
Amber sat next to her friend and began rubbing her back. “It can’t be the curse, we have tried it before and obviously nothing happened.”
“No, this time something was different. I couldn’t hang up, I tried but my body wouldn’t respond.” She continued to blubber out between sobs
“Jen-“ Amber said feeling doubtful of her best friend
“No, Listen to me, it was Kyle Perkins, The freshman we pantsed. He cursed me to get weird sicknesses and disease from imaginary germs. I won’t get a cold from what I understand but it could be anything his weird head can think of. Apparently I can look up what I have but I don’t know where to start” she burst into fresh tears.
Once again she blubbered to her friend “Amber, I am scared. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know what I am infected with. Apparently I am antsy, itchy, and can’t sweat.”
An idea formed in Ambers head. “Would you feel better if I proved to you that you are panicking over nothing?” she said smiling at Jen
“How would you do that Jen asked though tears?” sounding skeptical.
“I can just look it up and show you that your so called symptoms are all just in your head.” She said pulling her phone out of her bag and typing something on the screen.
“After I prove its all in your head how about I buy you a candy bar and take you to the nurse’s office to rest for a little bit. It seems like you need it.” Amber said confidently and reassuringly
Feeling hopeful Jen perked up and said “okay!!” A small smile forming on her face as she sat waiting feeling hopeful that her friend could find some information on what’s happening.
Amber kept looking at her phone scrolling and tapping a few times.
A few more taps and then reading followed by a few more taps and more reading.
It was starting to get to Jen, she scratched her arm to which Amber slapped it away and looked at her arm before looking at the screen.
Panic began rising again and Jen reached to scratch her leg before again Amber slapped her hand away while continuing to read something.
“Well!?!?” Jen said feeling impatient.
Amber looked up the concern clear on her face. “I-it’s nothing…major.”
“What?” Jen asked panic replaced by curiosity.
“I have never heard of this before, it must be fake; and not only that you of all people wouldn’t reuse socks.”
“Amber!” Jen hissed no longer panicking now getting annoyed her friend is hiding something.
“Yes?!?” amber said hiding her phone behind her.
“What did you find? I know you found something just spill it.” Jens impatience spilling out into her words.
Taking a deep breath amber said “okay, but it’s not as bad as you think” she said then mumbled “right now.”
“What was that?” Jen said startled
“Nothing, here see I found this weird diagnosis from a doctor Looney, it must be fake but it fits with what you have told me you are feeling.” Amber said sounding dejected.
“You don’t sweat, you are very antsy, if you rest for a few minutes you get itchy…and you have purple rashes where you scratch. Those are all symptoms I found on this site.” Amber began explaining.
“Can I see?” Jen asked nervously.
“What, No you really shouldn’t we don’t want to jump to conclusions. There has to be a more logical explanation.” Amber said
“Let me see it amber, I need to know.” Jen said reaching for her friend’s phone.
No, you can’t! It’s not bad…we just need to check some other sources. Amber said slightly panicking while trying to evade Jens hands.
Finally grabbing the phone Jen pulls it and takes a look at the screen
[Dance Mites
(Parasite)
Prolonged exposure to pre used footwear including but not limited to socks or shoes that when previously worn was subjected to dancing to the extent of perspiration.
First symptom itchy limbs when not overly exerted, can sometimes feel like pins and needles, if neglected for extended lengths of time purple rash like streaks may appear under skin as the mites get “antsy” for movement from host.
Second symptom: lack of perspiration when exposed to rigorous exercise. This is due to the mites ingesting perspiration as a source of nourishment from the host.
Third symptom: sporadic movements when exposed to music. When the mites hear music they may forcefully move the host’s body to the sound of music. “Dance moves” may vary between host’s capabilities but in previous instances of Dance Mites has shown the host can take over for the mites if they dance to the music willingly.
A word of caution, it has been documented that the mites may learn “new moves” from the environment or the host. It is not advised to expose the mites to any dances that you are 1) not comfortable doing personally physically (i.e. the splits if your body is not limber enough) 2) not comfortable doing mentally (i.e. children’s dance moves, provocative dance moves)
Treatment (2 temporary, one permanent):
Temporary option (1); this option is for relief of first and third symptom can be achieved by receiving hard percussion on ones back side. The sudden jolts caused by the impact cause a flight response to the mites for a few hours at most.
Temporary option (2); consume high levels of capsaicin and endure for no less than 5 minutes while receiving hard procession on ones back side. Capsaicin is highly toxic to this species and the procession on the back side will startle them into the capsaicin causing them to die. This method can be a permanent cure if endured for long enough (highly unlikely but possible).
Permanent cure (1); one must either experience a massive shock from electricity in a controlled setting at a doctor’s office. The jolts of electricity will kill the mites in the host’s body. Do not attempt to do it without the help of a doctor; this is a delicate procedure that can’t be obtained without proper medical equipment.]
Confused Jen looked up from the screen “can this really be what I have?”
Well there is one sure fired way to fine out she said as she took her phone back scrolling through some options “We can see if when you hear music you start to dance. If not then we are good right?” Amber said sounding hardly convinced herself.