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vision. One more turn and they became distorted like the vibrations of guitar strings. He was getting close now. He tightened his muscles picking up more speed; readying himself he set his jaw; the muscles in his chest, shoulders, and arms ached with tension. Only his legs continued to move freely as he braced himself for the section of fence where it would happen. He held his breath as he entered the long shadow of the school bus. When h emerged at the other end the light rocked him.
    The bike wobbled and he maintained his balance though he was no longer fully in control. The energy of the light flooding his optic nerve produced a small voltage which was sufficient to uncouple much of his conscious awareness from his surroundings. His lower brain functioned as it should and it, along with his forward momentum, kept him upright.
    The strobe effect of the light through the pickets induced voltage spikes to his cerebral cortex which induced a seizure lifting him from the confines of his body, leaving land and flesh behind and below as he entered a state of flow.
    The unmediated light shook him violently as the electro-chemical effects infused his mind with intense sensation. His eyes were prisms which turned light into infinite seductive sensation.
    The peak came and lifted him away; soaring, vibrating, beyond pain, to that sweet inner source of pure elation. Sky, ground, fence, everything was gone, driven away as he surfed on waves of ethereal intensity.
    Below him he sensed the path coming to an end, he did not want the sensation to end but he knew it must and he searched his mind for the words Zen made him promise to say to resist the urge to go again.
    Only once Tyler, that’s the deal, only once, okay?
    It was hard to let go but he set his will and forced himself to keep pedaling past the end of the fence, past the gas station on Water Road, past the Hydro maintenance yard, peddling until the tears in his eyes had dried and the sensation ebbed; he wanted more but refused to give in to the need. He was three blocks away when he felt the need let go of his mind as the hollow ache inside him lessened its grip.
    Zen taught him to replace the emptiness which followed with pride and focus on the knowledge that he was strong enough to resist it and that too felt good. The further he got from the junkyard the better he felt and the stronger he became. The sweet memory of the sensation sustained him until he was far enough away the danger of getting stuck was gone.
    Three years ago Andrea had been frantic and asked Zen to help look for him when he did not come home after school. Zen found him on the ground next to his bike trembling and insensible. That was the day he discovered the weird light effect and got stuck making too many passes and only stopped when the sun moved out of position. He nearly blinded himself and needed to wear dark glasses for a month to combat the headaches.
    Zen was smart about things like that, she told him that she did not understand why he did it but she wouldn’t tell Andrea about it because she would freak.
    They told Andrea he fell off his bike which was mostly true. After his headaches stopped and he could ride again Zen spotted him heading in the direction of the junkyard and followed him. She watched him do it and realized it was probably not harmful if he only did it once.
    When he turned his bike around and tried to go again she forced him off the path. She was bigger than him and easily knocked him off his bike. She sat on top of him pinning him down mercilessly tickling him until he gave up. She called him the ‘nerve junkie’ for a long time after that.
    He did not like being touched but, if he did not exactly like it, he could at least tolerate some touching when Zen did it. Over the summer she caught him a few more times and came to understand this was something he was strongly drawn to. He could not understand why she wanted him to stop the fence thing; he did he believe it would hurt