Imagine you're an ordinary college student, going to classes and hanging out with friends. And then you discover you're anything but ordinary...

         
         Being a goddess of the universes is a tough job, but someone's gotta' do it, right?
         It all started innocently enough...
         I stood in the warm sunshine, a light breeze ruffling my hair. I seemed to be surrounded by rolling hills covered with rippling grasses and wildflowers. The grasses covered all the shades from green to tan and were about a foot tall. Near me, there were a bunch of cheerful yellow daisy-like blossoms, with flowers in shades of white and pink further away. But... Where was I? I slowly rotated. To the west, I spied the familiar shapes of the Flatirons, the foothill mountains abutting Boulder. But where was the town? I rotated again but could see nothing man-made, no buildings, no roads, not even any people. This wasn't right. In fact, this was very, very wrong. I started to feel dizzy...
         
         "Get up!" A strange female voice yelled in my ear. The voice was deep and gravelly; I didn't recognize it. At the same time, someone tugged my arm.
         I opened my eyes to find I lay in the middle of the street, the pavement warm even through my clothing, and a stranger was pulling me up. "What the hell?" I scrambled to my feet. A gray-haired woman jogged away from me. "Wait!" I called after her. "What happened? Who are you?"
         She didn't answer, turn around or even slow down.
         I was in the crosswalk in the street outside the physics building at the university, surrounded by students on their way to class.
         It was a beautiful summer morning; the sun was shining, and a breeze was blowing.
         A car drove through the crosswalk, narrowly missing the other pedestrians and me in the crosswalk. The crowd was not happy about it. I heard various exclamations accompanied by rude gestures.
         "Tiffani! Tiffani!" my BFF Rory called from behind me. Rory totally reminded me of a Disney princess with her long wavy red hair, smooth, creamy skin, turned-up nose, and, yes, proclivity for singing. I'm serious, singing! And don't think I didn't enjoy giving her grief about that because I did. But she had a dual major in physics and music, so there you go.
         She crinkled up her nose. "What happened?" she asked. "Were you lying in the street? OMG! Did you get hit by a car? Or a bike? Or someone on a scooter? Are you all right?"
         As we stood there, dozens of brightly-dressed students flowed around us as if we were a boulder in a mountain stream.
         "I don't know what happened." I surveyed my arms, legs, chest and stomach. Everything felt normal. "I'm okay, just confused," I said. "I don't think I got hit by anything."
         "So, what?" she asked. "You fainted? Wow." She opened her eyes wide. "Talk about a bad place to faint." She pointed down at the painted asphalt.
         "I don't know what happened," I said again. It was strange. It seemed like I was just standing in the middle of a field, but that didn't make any sense. Was it a dream? If so, had I been sleepwalking? I'd never sleepwalked before.
         I tried to recall my morning, but I couldn't remember much except the weird empty field. Usually, I trudged down to the bathroom, peed, showered, returned to my room, dressed, and then ate breakfast. But I didn't remember doing any of that today.
         I peered down to make sure I wasn't still wearing my pajamas. Clothing (cute jeans and my favorite t-shirt); check. That was good, at least.
         So, what was with that field? Could I have been dreaming? Could I have been sleepwalking? Did I imagine it? I did have an awesome imagination, and my mom said I daydreamed too much. But it had all seemed so real...
         Rory's phone buzzed, and she glanced at it. "Oh, my gosh! We're going to be late for physics class! Come on!" She grabbed my hand and started jogging for the physics building.
         
         A few minutes later, we were ensconced in the front row of desks, ready for Physics Three to begin. The large classroom was designed like an auditorium with two entrances/exits at the top and a stage with a podium and screen at the bottom.
         My phone pinged. It was a text from my other BFF, Lin. 'I can't believe me and Ethan got here at the same time as you guys.' Lin was from Hong Kong, a skater grrrl, and looked it with her general don't-screw-with-me attitude and her collection of intense t-shirts. She rarely went anywhere without her Jucker Hawaii Pau Hana Cruiser. She was also an awesome hacker and officially a computer science major.
         I texted her back. 'Where are you guys?'
         'Back row.'
         I turned around, and she waved at me from the back of the room. Today, she was sporting a black t-shirt with 'Thrasher Magazine' in flame font on the front.
         My other BFF, Ethan, sat next to her. He grinned at me. He was from California and an Engineering Physics major. And, yes, damn it, he was hot, nice and tall with great wavy brown hair and warm brown eyes.
         "Who are you waving at?" Rory asked, and then she turned around. When she saw Lin and Ethan, she beamed and waved at them.
         Someone in front of us cleared their throat. "So, if I could have everyone's attention, please."
         Rory and I quickly turned to face the front of the classroom.
         A middle-aged Latino wearing jeans, a light-blue button-down shirt and a navy blazer, frowned at Rory and me from behind a podium.
         I smiled innocently.
         "As you hopefully know by now, I'm Professor Hernandez," he said, expression softening.
         "Today, we continue our explorations of mechanical vibrations and waves, electromagnetic waves, classical optics, special relativity, and the theory of quantum mechanics."
         
         After class, Rory and I met Lin and Ethan in the back of the room near the exits. We were all resident advisors and worked and lived in the same dorm in the center of campus.
         "I thought you left the dorm before us. Where were you guys?" Ethan asked, smiling, as the four of us exited the classroom.
         I smiled back.
         Rory crinkled up her nose again. "Tiffani fainted or something in the middle of the street."
         I held up my hand. "I don't think I fainted."
         "What happened, then?" Ethan asked, standing in the physics building lobby. Dozens of students rushed past us on their way to or from class.
         "I don't know," I said. "I don't remember."
         "Could it be something with your meds?" Lin asked.
         I had to take meds every day for my ADHD. They were a pain but a necessary evil. "Huh," I said. "That's an interesting question." Could that be it? "Maybe? But why now?" What's different? I think I took my meds this morning. Could there be something wrong with them?
         "Oh, I think we should take you to the health center," Rory said.
         "Sure," Ethan said. "We could do that."
         Lin nodded.
         "I appreciate the offer," I said. "But I don't think that's necessary."
         "You sure?" Rory asked.
         I nodded. "I'll text my mom and see what she thinks." She'd been through my whole ADHD saga. "Let's meet up for lunch later?"
         "Sounds good," Ethan said.
         "Yeah," Lin said. "Noon?"
         We all agreed. Ethan and Lin took off.
         "Are you sure you don't want me to take you to Wardenburg?" Rory asked, still looking worried.
         "I'm sure," I said. "Thanks. I'll see you at lunch."
         "Okay." She looked disappointed as we exited the building. Once outside, we parted company.
         
         I sat on one of the benches and texted my mom. 'Something odd happened this morning. Can you talk?'
         Immediately, I got a video call. When I answered, I saw Mom's nose and one eye. "What happened? Are you all right?" she asked.
         I couldn't help snickering a little. "Mom, please move the phone away from your face."
         She did so. "What's going on?" On the small screen, I could see she was well-put-together as usual, wearing a turquoise silk t-shirt, beautiful turquoise earrings, and a necklace that looked amazing with her silver-gray hair.
         I debated what to say. I didn't want to worry her. Mom had adopted me when she was in her fifties, and I was a little kid. For the first half of her life, she'd focused on her career and then, in (late) middle age, had started questioning all her choices. She claimed I was her mid-life crisis. All I could say was, hurray for mid-life crises! I didn't know anything about my bio-family. She was the only Mom I'd ever known.
         "Tiffani Taylor!" she said. "Answer me!"
         "Sorry, Mom," I said. "I guess I was woolgathering." That's what she liked to call it when my mind wandered, imagining things, as I was prone to do. "Anyway, I may have fainted or sleepwalked or something this morning."
         "Did you eat breakfast?" she asked reasonably. As a retired university biologist, she was always very rational and logical.
         I cast my mind back to earlier in the morning. I dimly recalled waking up in my dorm room. "Uh, not sure." How could I not remember if I ate breakfast?
         "Did you take your meds?" she asked.
         "I think so. What do you think might be going on?"
         "I don't know," she said. "What do you think might be going on?"
         "I don't know," I said. It was all very mysterious.
         "Please go to the health center and get checked out," she said. "You can't take any chances with your health."
         I resisted the urge to whine, 'Aw, Mom, do I have to?' Being a responsible adult could be annoying. "Okay. Text you later."
         "Make sure you do." We ended the call.
         
         I dragged my feet all the way over to Wardenburg Health Center. But once I was there, I didn't have to wait to see a nurse; it must have been a slow morning. I got up on one of those paper-covered tables, and she took my pulse, temperature, and blood pressure. She listened to my heart with a stethoscope. She peered into my eyes, ears and mouth with a penlight. She smelled faintly of lemon.
         Sitting on a stool in front of me, she leaned back. "You look fine." She put the penlight in her pink scrubs pocket. "I don't see any reason why you might have fainted. Are you drunk or high? Be honest."
         "No."
         "Hungover?"
         "No."
         "Have you been missing meals or not drinking water?
         "No, and no," I said.
         "Sleep deprived?" she asked.
         "No," I said.
         She grabbed a tablet and started scrolling. "If you're telling the truth and didn't do anything unwise...."
         "I didn't!" I said.
         "It's possible that your ADHD situation has changed," she said. "It's possible your meds are not working well for you anymore. When were you diagnosed?"
         "When I was a little kid. I've had it a long time." I shook my head. "But, is that a thing? The situation changes? What does that mean?"
         "It means some people grow out of it." She gave me a fleeting smile. "So, your problem this morning may be a good thing."
         Wow. A problem being a good thing. That was an odd idea. In my experience, problems were uniformly bad things.
         I flashed back to one day in grade school when it seemed like all my classmates were frozen in amber. I kept going up and trying to talk to them, but none answered. None of them even moved. The walls closed in on me as my heart pounded in my throat. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with them...
         "Tiffani?" the nurse asked. "You still with me?"
         I nodded.
         "I can refer you to an ADHD expert." She scrolled through my file some more. "Or, since you grew up in town, it would probably be best if you made an appointment with your doctor of record."
         "My pediatrician?" That also sounded odd; I hadn't seen her for at least a few years. I was too old for a pediatrician. On the other hand, I didn't currently have a primary care physician. I just popped into the campus health center if I needed something.
         Now the nurse was grinning at me. "Yeah. Go see your pediatrician."
         "Okay," I said. "Thanks." I got out of there, sat on a bench out front, and texted Mom an update.
         Outside, the sun was still shining. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. A tree or something must be blooming somewhere nearby because I smelled flowers.
         I imagined that same childhood scene, but my friends weren't frozen this time. They smiled at me when I walked up to them; they talked to me. Our colorful artwork plastered on the walls seemed festive rather than menacing. I was calm, and the other students were calm. Even the teacher smiled and chatted with me instead of yelling at me in slow motion.
         I opened my eyes. Could it be? Could this be the beginning of a whole new chapter? An ADHD-free chapter?
         If so, that would be ...awesome!