It's a difficult thing to teach.

  Constant energy. Unlimited flexibility. Those are the requirements. Normally, Natalie had these in abundance, but despite her best efforts, she was distracted.

  "Mrs. Bishop?" an adorable curly red-haired girl asked.

  "Oh. Sorry, Katelynn." Natalie physically shook the fog from her mind. "I lost my train of thought there."

  Little Katelynn Cooper sat across the small group table in the middle of the classroom, looking at Natalie expectantly as she waited for help on her social studies worksheet. The rest of the students were working in groups, relatively quiet. "Are you okay, Mrs. Bishop?" Katelynn checked again.

  Natalie was embarrassed and a little frustrated, losing focus the way she had. It was becoming worse and worse. Worrying about Pete's safety had turned into her own intrusive thought.

  "You know what?" Natalie finally answered. "I'm going to head to the restroom real quick. I'll be right back." She stood up. "Miss Genry?" she called to the aide across the room. "Can you keep an eye on the class?"

  On her way to the staff lounge, she tried to talk herself out of the frazzle. "He's okay," she whispered as she walked. "I'm okay too. I've just got to get it together."

  But it wasn't just frustration over her lack of focus. By the time she turned the corner toward the restroom in the lounge, the mental stress of life had turned into something a bit more... physical.

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  Every smell in the hallway had somehow amplified tenfold. And leaning on the sink trying to gather herself, an intense, overwhelming sickness took hold. "Oh no," she said, stepping quickly into the toilet stall.

  She vomited there.

  Several minutes passed before she finally stopped getting sick. "What was that?" Natalie whispered. She eventually stood and went back to the faucet, letting the water on her wrists calm her racing mind. "I've got to get a grip," she patted her neck and face. "Just a couple more hours. I don't need a sub. Get through this and go home."

  Unfortunately for Natalie, however, it wasn't that simple. She had to run to the restroom multiple times that afternoon, and after trip number three, it was obvious that this was more than stress. "What the heck is going on?"

  By the time the day had ended, she was convinced that she'd picked up the stomach flu. "That's got to be it, right?" she said driving home. "I mean, what else could it..."

  She stopped mid-sentence, passing the local drugstore.

  The brakes screeched and the car skidded to a halt in the middle of the road. "No way," she said as the goosebumps rose on her skin. The truck behind her honked, and the driver shouted something unintelligible, though Natalie hardly noticed. She turned around, heading back toward the parking lot.

  "No way," she repeated.

  By the time she'd gotten home from the drugstore, it was as though she was having an out-of-body experience. She watched herself come through the door, hurrying into the bathroom with a narrow cardboard box. She witnessed the reading of instructions, following said instructions, and then the rising as she went from the toilet seat to the sink.

  And eventually, right before her world stopped spinning and reality returned her to the moment, she saw a small plastic stick display two blue lines, adding one large moment to a rollercoaster day. "No way," she echoed for the final time.

  Then . . . Natalie Bishop smiled.