Sarah didn't get a chance to be alone the rest of the day. They took more blood and made her lie down in an MRI while it took pictures of her head, and did very little else. One of her questions got answered, at least - twice more that afternoon she saw teal fog in the hallways, centered on Finn's room. So clearly it could be pulled through walls, windows, or shut doors. She tried not to think about the alarms that would go off or the shouting that followed each time she spotted the change in color.

Her mind did drift to her backpack a few times, that dumb biology worksheet loomed large. It wouldn't be that hard to memorize it like she was supposed to, especially not in her calm hospital room. Even her mom couldn't talk forever, especially when Sarah was right there and awake for whatever the nurses and doctors had to say.

Not that they said much. Nothing wrong with her brain that they could see, nothing was wrong with her heart or lungs either. All the blood tests and labs were fine, the only medical symptom they had found during her whole stay was that blood pressure spike from when she'd panicked after first waking up in the hospital, and according to the nurses that was pretty easy to manage.

But forget biology, Sarah was finding it hard to pay attention to anything but that blanket. It didn't fade throughout the day, and she constantly fought the urge to shove more blue into it. Could she put the blue into something else? She wasn't sure, and Sarah just wanted privacy to try it.

It was getting a bit late in the evening before Dr. Foster made it back in. The older woman was calm, smiling as she talked, "I think the medication should help, but be careful about dizziness. We've seen some weight gain, but at your age, I honestly wouldn't worry about it."

"Now, obviously I'm not going to say you'll be perfectly fine. In fact, you'll almost certainly have more events. If you feel anything similar again, try to lie down before you fall. I know it's hard to predict, but if a severe headache comes on, severe nausea, and eye pain all can signal a migraine. If I were you, I'd be more worried about hitting my head during a faint than the migraine itself, as bad as they are. The same goes for any of those symptoms you reported as a kid - eye pain and even seeing auras are very common symptoms."

Sarah could only nod along, clutching her blanket in front of her.

The nurses made her sit in a wheelchair, with her blue blanket folded neatly on her lap, while they wheeled her outside to where her mom's little Toyota was waiting. The drive home was uneventful. Sarah covered herself up with the scratchy blanket and leaned her head against the glass of her window, watching streetlights and signs shine in the pale glow of the night. The fog got brighter out in the suburbs. Instead of wisps hovering around the cement and glass downtown, here the fog clung thickly to the grass and trees in people's front yards, rising up and around homes.

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Sarah perked up for a moment - just before turning onto their own street, she spotted a house with a patch of purple spreading into their yard. Confused, Sarah stared before noticing the inside of a bedroom was filled with purple light as well - someone must have colored LED bulbs turned up bright, throwing the purple light into the dark night air. That made sense - she left yellow fog; Finn left teal fog. That's what she should be looking for if she was looking for something, which she wasn't.

With a mild thump from the tires, the Toyota pulled into Sarah's driveway. Before her mom could turn off the car, Sarah had her seatbelt off and the passenger door open. She grabbed her blanket and backpack and darted out of the car, shutting the door before her mom could finish whatever it was she was about to say.

Without glancing back to see her mom shut her mouth, Sarah practically skipped through their garage, letting herself inside. Abandoning her pretense and walking slowly, she ran up the stairs and into her room. She chucked her bag and the wadded-up blanket onto her bed and sank down onto the floor, laying face down and rubbing the carpet with her hands. It smelled of carpet. Not hospital disinfectant, not artificial floral scents, not sweat, or glue, or stale coffee. It just smelled like home.

She was still laying there when her mom finally caught up. "Sarah!" yelped her mom, "what's wrong?"

"Mom, really," said Sarah. "I'm just glad to be home. It's nice."

Her mom just stood there, making sure that Sarah hadn't fallen. "Ok... go take a shower, and then you should get some sleep. That's what I'm going to do. I really need a shower. And a bed."

"Ok, I'll go in a minute," said Sarah.

A shower really did sound nice. Her skin felt kinda crispy now that she thought about it. Not dry exactly, but like there was a layer of something dry on top of it, crackling when she moved. The carpet still felt nice, and despite the sudden bit of itchiness, she kept enjoying the feel of her own room again.

She really wanted to go take that shower. Maybe she'd wait until her mom was done with hers though, so she could get some better water pressure even if it would mean maybe running out of hot water. And waiting wouldn't be a big deal anyways - her mom might be tired but Sarah had no intention of going to sleep. She had slept most of the last couple of days, and she felt energized and alert in a way she couldn't remember ever feeling. Maybe that had always been her problem. Maybe she just needed more sleep? They say teenagers need more, maybe she was an outlier and needed even more than that.

And even if she was as tired as her mom, there was still no way she was going right back to sleep. She sat up from the floor, glancing at the neatly bundled blue cloth at the foot of her bed. It still seemed just as bright as it had been before, but something was still bothering her, just a bit.

She had been using it in the car, covering up to stay warm while enjoying the cold air from the car's vents. She had just grabbed it up, tossing it over the arm she'd used to carry her bag, and then she'd tossed it onto the bed.

So why was it now folded neatly up and squared away on her bed?