Kali sat in front of her lights and did her homework. Being in college was rough, at times, especially when she had so much math to get done every other day. She thanked God for her lights.
Kali wasn't a typical college student. She was introverted and pursued an interest in everything except school spirit and dormroom activities. When living in the dorm finally threatened to drive her crazy, she moved out with a little help from her parents. It was about that time that she also discovered that she had inherited The Problem from her mom.
See, her mom had SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. The version that she had, and that Kali inherited, was the Winter Blues type. What it boiled down to, is that Kali was solar-powered. When summer came and the sun shone down brightly upon the earth, all was well with the world. When winter gloamed its way into her life and the sun's rays crept to the now far hemisphere, the solar light was not strong enough to keep Kali well. Instead, her brain would decide it was time to hibernate. She fought off urges to devour donuts, struggled to get up in the morning, and was generally grumpy in a bear sort of way to everyone. That was why she had the lights.
They were a bank of lights, all flourescent, that were built into a rough wooden frame. Her mom had been kind enough to make them for her. The key was that they were the type of flourescent lights that illuminate with the same full spectrum that sunlight had. It was like having a little sunbeam in her home. One or two hours per day in front of the lights and Kali could do things. She still couldn't wake up in the morning, but she was less grumpy and didn't feel like eating fats and sugars 24/7 anymore.
They were wonderful.
Unfortunately, Bill had never seen them. Which meant that Kali would have to explain them to him when he did. That was tonight.
Bill was her boyfriend of about a month, now. She had met him at a computer lab, late at night, and he had that sort of magnetism that makes even ordinary looking people fascinating. He was into a lot of the same strange stuff she was and also shared her dislike of Student Government activities. They'd gone on three and a half dates, now, mostly dinner and a movie at night, with that one walk in the park in the moonlight. Some of her other friends joked about him being a vampire. She didn't mind. She was at her most awake at the end of the day, anyway. So, tonight she would tell him about The Problem and hope for the best.
Kali went to classes, then spent the day fretting about telling Bill. Finally, seven o'clock came around and there was a knock on the door. Kali smiled and opened the door, let Bill in. She showed him to a seat on her couch, gathered her wits, and began.
"Okay. Bill, I've got to tell you this. I've got a mental disorder, called SAD. That stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder. And, to keep it from messing me up, I've got to use these lights-" she flipped them on to demonstrate.
Bill screamed and dashed for the door, but he never made it.
Kali was still a bit dazed as she vacuumed up the remains of Bill with her Dustbuster. Well, now that she knew there actually -were- vampires in the world, it was kind of comforting to know that she had a good defense against them. She just hoped her next boyfriend didn't happen to be one, too.
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