The day before Thanksgiving was a day some of us will never forget, but many will never remember.

Suzi and I were in our third hour class taking a test. Suddenly Joey sent me an urgent mental message.

"Tim! John's spazing out! He's... Shit. He just fell down. We gotta help him!"

I reached out and found Joey, then looked through his eyes. I saw John laying on the floor, twitching, his eyes rolled up into his head. People were panicking around him, including Joey. I tried to access John's head, but it made me feel sick.

"Shit!" I said out loud. People turned and looked at me, but I didn't care. There were more important things to worry about.

"Suzi, John's in trouble. I gotta go help him." I said very loudly as I dashed out of my seat and ran out of the room. The teacher was yelling to me, and everyone else started talking at once. I left it far behind me as I reached the stairwell to go to the second floor where John's and Joey's class was.

As I climbed the stairs, I notified the nurse exactly what had happened. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she didn't hesitate to grab her medical kit and hustle upstairs.

I reached the classroom finding all the students had formed a circle leaving an open area immediately around John. The teacher was trying to get John to respond to her, but as I probed him, I found he was fading fast. His heartbeat was very unsteady, his thoughts were completely confusing to me.

"Joey, share link, but just enough to let me share with John." I thought to him quickly. He did it, and as I made my way through the circle of students, I reached out to John and started to figure out what was wrong. I quickly was getting sick, and by the time I got to his side, I was feeling my breakfast wanting to come up.

"Trash can, quick!" I yelled and commanded across the room. Three people dived for the trash can but I had sense enough to cancel two before they started to struggle against each other. The teacher was insisting I go back from wherever I came from, so I also had to fix that. The trash can got to me just in time for me to puke into it. Then I realized I could have stopped it from happening altogether with a couple of quick commands.

I had to not only use those commands on myself then, but several others near me. The nurse arrived at that time, and she didn't seem surprised to see me. I tuned my mind onto John's, tracking down his problem while the nurse was checking his pulse and stuff.

"He took something.. Some kind of pills.." I finally announced out loud. "His heart is going stop beating, and I can't get his stomach to puke it up!"

I was trying my hardest to make him throw up, but just as I thought I was getting something to work, his heart did stop.

"SHIT!" I said, as I tried to start it up again. I was having to share my own life energy with him, and I was feeling the drain.

"His heart stopped!" the nurse finally concluded nearly thirty seconds after it had.

I began sharing more and more of my own life force, laying down on my back with my eyes closed. Just as I started to get his heart pumping again, the nurse struck his chest with her fist.

"AAAACCCKKKKKK!" was all I could say, having felt the blow myself. I whispered, "Don't do that again." But only Joey heard it.

"He said don't do that," Joey told the nurse.

"What? I started his heart again. Don't tell me what to do. Get out! Everyone."

By that time, I wasn't able to sit up, much less follow her orders. I was trying to keep his nervous system working, for it was my only way of controlling the rest of his body. Somehow I needed to keep some kind of signal running to his brain. Then I accidentally ran across the source of the whole problem.

"Joey. John. The five way long time ago. Drugs. My fault. Damnit, heart stopped."

"His heart stopped!" Joey said to the nurse.

"What do.. His heart has stopped!" the nurse said, raising her hand to strike again.

"No! Don't," Joey cried.

Her hand struck John's chest, then again, and again. Each time both John and I jerked, but less and less every time she did.

Joey grabbed her fist before she could do it a fourth time.

"GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" She cried to the teacher.

"DON'T HIT THEM AGAIN!" Joey said straight into her eyes.

I was starting to slip, finding myself unable to break away from John. His body was pulling my own into a coma. I managed to signal to Joey for help.

"SHIT!" he said as people started to try and pull him away. Joey had no choice. He began sharing his own life force.

"Stop! Let Joey go!" Higgs called from the doorway.

Joey, looking very pale, moaned, and laid down himself. Now the nurse had three people incapacitated in front of her, with only one of them conscious.

"Shit Tim. Don't kill yourself for him.. Oh shit.." Joey moaned.

Joey closed his eyes, and felt the weight on his next breath increase many times. As he took in the next breath, Joey, John, and I all breathed in a deep breath, all our hearts beating as one.

There were gasps from many in the room, and then Suzi came in.

"Tim? Joey! What's going on?"

I was able to impress to Joey that something needed to be rubbed on both John and I to give our nerves something to send that was normal.

Joey thought fast. "Suzi. Rub Tim's chest. Like his mom does. Somebody rub John's."

"This is crazy! You can't expect me to follow the advice of a student?" the nurse said to Higgs.

Joey remembered his ring and raised it to Suzi and said "Linda, John's chest."

Suzi understood, and switched hands so her ring hand was free. She said "Linda, go rub John's chest like I'm doing Tim's."

"Huh? Why me?" Linda said, hesitating.

Suzi threw her ringed hand up for Linda to see and said, "Linda, go rub John's chest like I'm doing Tim's!"

This time, Linda got up and said, "Yes, Suzi." as she scrambled over others to get up to John. She knelt beside John and began making circles with her hand.

Seconds ticked by, John's heart was about to stop again. But the rubbing was helping me slow that down. I knew I was fighting a losing battle, but I was trapped to see it out to the end. I made sure Joey wouldn't be dragged into it too, making his link only a partial one.

"His heart is going to stop again," Joey whispered to Suzi.

"Joey said John's heart is going to stop again." she said loudly.

"How could he possibly know that!" the nurse sarcastically said.

Both John and I took two breaths, then stopped. Our hearts stopped three ticks later.

Higgs told the teacher to clear the rest of the students from the room.

Five seconds later, Suzi cried, "He stopped breathing!"

"His heart stopped again!" the nurse said raising her fist up again.

As her fist slammed into John's chest yet again, Joey, exclaimed, "AAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!" then a moment later sat up and said, "I said don't do th... OH SHIT!! I LOST THE LINK!!! YOU STUPID BITCH!"

Joey crawled up to me, started trying to force a link from his side. I wasn't able to respond, locked in a link with John that I couldn't break.

"I can't get in! Come On Timmy... LET ME IN GOD DAMN... SHIT.. FUCK!" Joey said.

Suzi was rubbing very fast, trying to somehow add her own energy to mine. Joey had calmed himself, and began concentrating with all his might. But after thirty seconds, of rubbing without any responce, Suzi started to give up. Her hand finally withdrew, her eyes streaming with tears. The nurse and Higgs were giving CPR to John and I, but the link was preventing me from responding.

Finally, Suzi told Linda to stop, which drew Joey out.

"WHAT! Don't stop. Tim said keep it up no matter what!"

"They're dead Joey!" Suzi cried.

"Linda, keep rubbing!"

"Yes, Joey."

"Stop, Linda!"

"Yes, Suzi."

"Suzi! STOP IT! LINDA KEEP RUBBING!"

"Yes, Joey."

"Linda, Stop! Joey They're DEAD! Can't you see that?"

"Yes, Suzi."

"Linda, if you want to save Tim's life," Joey said, pushing Suzi out of the way and started rubbing my chest himself, "you take that ring off and keep RUBBING!"

"Okay, Joey," a free Linda said after removing the ring. Then she went back to rubbing.

"SHit! All I am picking up is that stupid coin of.. THE COIN!"

Joey dug into my pocket, barely able to control himself enough to pull it out. It fell out of his hands as it emerged from my pocket, but he grabbed it on the bounce. They heard the ambulance arrive outside while Joey scrambled over me to get between John and I. Joey looked at Suzi straight in the eye and said, "Rub, or I will never forgive you."

Suzi just nodded and started rubbing my chest again. Joey laid down in the remaining space between John and I, took a hand from each of us into his own and placed the coin between John's and mine, while he wrapped his own hands around ours.

"THis..iss.. gonnhha...wrrk." Joey said, fading fast. Either the coin was acting as an amplifier, or it just allowed Joey to make the link and he took it from there. Whatever happened, none of us remembers.

When the ambulance team made it to the room, Higgs and the nurse moved out of the way. But before they could do anything, Joey pulled us out. All three of us opened our eyes and gasped for breath startling everyone, especially one of the EMS team who had just started to kneel down at our heads. He fell backwards, the color drained from his face.

Joey was the only one to remain conscious, and just barely. John and I had only been awake for a moment. Joey convinced everyone that the three of us had to stay touching just like we were. It didn't take much. He was fully linked to me so he could pretty much make anybody do anything.

Joey had John's stomach pumped, which removed the continuing poisoning of John's system. My mother arrived twenty minutes later, and Joey allowed her to peek in his head to find out what was wrong, mostly because he was having trouble speaking. My mother checked us out as best as she could.

"Joey, do you think you could get me into this life link?"

"I think.. so.." he said weakly.

"Listen to me very carefully. We need to get you three to the hospital. Your link is acting like a blood transfusion, but you are running out of good blood. If I enter the link, take the coin and stay linked with John, can you keep your link with Tim?"

"As long as... I don't break.... the link... with Tim,... I can keep... it going... without his help.... or the coin's."

My mother told the two EMS teams, "When those two let go with their hands, get them to the hospital as fast as you can. But don't let them get separated, because they need to be close each other for Joey to keep Tim alive. They all have the same poison in their systems, if that helps.

"And I have to keep holding this coin between me and John to keep John alive. I'll try and stay awake, but I don't know... What Joey?"

"Link... trash can."

"Trash can...?" my mother repeated. She looked at Higgs and said it again, "Trash can?"

"Oh... Apparently Tim threw up after getting in here, in the trash can," Higgs answered.

"I don't und... oh, I see. Thank you Joey," my mother said, kissing Joey on the forehead.

My mother had a stretcher put down for her next to John. She laid down to make sure she was on it right, then sat up and removed her business coat, loosened her hair, then took a deep breath. She reached over John to the four clasped hands on Joey's belly and said, "I'm ready Joey."

The only response from Joey was to frown. My mother gasped, steadied herself, then removed Joey's and my hand from on top of the coin's. She grasped John's hand, trapping the coin between, then eased herself down on the stretcher.

Joey's and my hands were free, and Joey cut the link between us and the other two. My mother groaned from the extra load, but Joey perked up.

"Suzi?" Joey said clearly.

"I'm here."

"You can stop rubbing now. Tim said thank you."

"Your welcome Timmy. Joey? I'm sorry."

"That's okay. You weren't in the link. You couldn't know. I knew if I could just get in, I could pull them back out."

Then Joey said, "Samantha? Tim wants to know if you're doing okay."

"Tell him... I.. will... be okay.... as... soon... as... I know..... he is."

Joey said, "Thanks mom."

"You're... welcome Timmy."

We were taken to the hospital, Joey and my mother were able to make sure the doctors didn't separate us from our links until it was safe. Joey was able to break our link right as we arrived at the hospital. He also recovered the quickest, followed by my mom and then me. My mother had stayed linked to John for a half an hour at the hospital before he was strong enough to continue without her. John's parents were very confused at first why three other people had been involved in the way they had been, but Joey sorted them out.

Our links had provided John with life support, but if the nurse and Higgs hadn't given us CPR, we probably wouldn't have made it. My own life energy kept John from dying from the initial shock of the poisoning, and Joey's gave us enough to stay alive on.

We were like self-recharging batteries, only we were connected to something that sucked out our energy faster than we could replace it. Once Joey and I were cut off from the source of the drain, Joey was able to recharge me enough so I could recharge myself the rest of the way. My mother had done the same to John since the source of the drain had been removed from John's gut.

The three of us went home on Thanksgiving and John stayed there until Monday. It wasn't until Wednesday, one week after it all started, before John came back to school.

Suzi, Joey, Brad and I had a long talk with him, about what had happened, why it happened, and how he had gotten himself into drugs in the first place. John didn't even know what it was he had taken, and we never did find out. He had taken two different pills. One was an upper, and the other was the mystery pill. The drug interaction was what almost killed him. But the reason he had taken them was to get a high similar to that one brief five way.

Brad admitted that even with his sister around, he still yearned for the four and five way contact he had experienced. I had realized a long time ago that the pleasure involved in combined orgasms was in itself highly addicting. Joey and Suzi admitted they didn't know how long they would last if cut off from our three ways for a long period of time.

So I did the only thing I could do. I made them all promise that if they ever came to the point where they couldn't handle it, instead of going to drugs or worse, they would come to me. They all knew if that ever happened, they probably would never leave me. I didn't like the idea of my friends addicted to the pleasure I could supply them, but the alternatives were even less acceptable. I just hoped it never came down to that. I never thought it would turn out the way it did.