5-hydroxytryptamine

It was a calm sunny day in the park in my district when I noticed my gift. There was a single pigeon waltzing around and a few ducks around the lake, as they meandered around looking for food and bits they could scrounge up. As always an elderly man would come by with a bag of old dry bread, the bread I assumed was bread he'd bought specifically for the purpose of feeding the ducks and the pigeons and, occasionally, swans. 

I didn't have the patience or nerve to tell him that he should not feed them bread. Corn, frozen peas, oats or seeds would be better, but I didn't want any issues. I was only there on the weekends anyway and just wanted a nice environment while I would read books. 

Sometimes this same old man would also arrive with an elderly woman. They seemed like a nice couple and very sweet. This sunny day however, barely a cloud in the sky and not even a breeze, the man was alone. He walked slower than normal and he had some effort even holding the bag of bread. I thought of helping him and when he dropped the bag of bread and so I did.

I went up to him and offered my help and he was very polite and patient. 

"Oh dear, you needn't help me, I am fine." He groaned as he tried to pick up the bag and after two attempts I picked it up for him. Our fingers touched slightly as I gave him the bag.

"It's nothing sir, I did it gladly. Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely fine young girl. Thank you, good day."

I left him after that, he seemed a bit upset that he could not pick it up. I wished him well under my breath and as he sat down to feed the birds, he was smiling ear to ear. His smile was so wide and big, he seemed to be staring into space endlessly as he fed the birds that flocked around him. 

I kept an eye on him from the corner of my eye when I had gone back to my spot under the tree, where it was nice and shady, and noticed that his smile had not subsided. As I got up to leave after another hour, he was still smiling and staring blankly into space. I approached the man and asked him if he was alright, but he did not answer. When I came closer I realized he was not breathing, but he was smiling the entire time. I called the ambulance and the police came as well. I was so sad, I was crying and crying when they arrived. It was the first time I had seen a dead person.

The police arrived, a young man and an older policewoman. The man interrogated me as the paramedics ended up wrapping up.

"Now, my dear, don't worry, this is protocol. Just have to ask you some questions."

"No," I sniffed "it's fine, I understand."

He smiled a grim smile and nodded "Do you know this man?"

"No, we never spoke. I saw him here over many summers feeding the birds. Sometimes with his wife."

He nodded "Yes, she passed last year. They're in a better place now." He chewed on his pen and stared at his blank notepad. 

"Did you notice any peculiar behavior from the man before now?"

"No," I shook my head "he was just smiling a lot before he just... well he froze up like that, smiling, for an hour. I was about to leave when I checked up on him. He was smiling the entire time, pretty much."

"Hmm... odd... Ok." He jotted down 'smiling' on his notepad. "Besides that, anything else?"

I shook my head and he patted me on the shoulder, to cheer me up. I was wearing a tank top and I noticed that after he had patted me on the shoulder, his pupils dilated. 

"Woah..." he had said and I asked him if I was alright to go.

He managed to mutter "Uh, yes. Yes you can... Alvarez, could you drive back to the station? I am... not feeling too well."

I asked him "Are you alright, sir?" and he smiled at me.

"Oh yes, I am... really good actually, but I don't think I should drive. You have a good day now ma'am." He stumbled to their patrol car and managed to seat himself in the passenger seat, smiling from ear to ear, just like the old man.

I was perplexed and did not think it had anything to do with me, but later that afternoon I met with a friend for coffee downtown. She came over to me and we hugged and sat down and gave our orders. Then Lisa, that was her name, stared into the menu for what seemed like a minute. I was on my phone and when I turned to her, she still stared at the menu.

"Lisa, are you ok?" I asked her and Lisa seemed completely lost in a void. She smiled, eventually, and just continued to smile and smile.

"Oh, oh... Oh Anna, I feel really, really good. Like, really good. I am just so... free, so light. I don't know what is happening. I never felt like this before." She smiled at me from ear to ear, just like the policeman, or the elder bird feeder, whose name I never found out.

"Are you ok? Do you want me to take you somewhere?" I asked her, concerned, but she waved me off.

"Oh no, no no. I think... I don't know, I am high? I just feel really good. I didn't smoke anything, though. And this is basically breakfast. I was hungover until I came here to meet you but now... it's gone! I just feel smooth, like butter. Like a butterfly flying, no worries. It's great. How are you doing?"

"Oh, I had a crazy day. I went to the park to read a bit and some old man died there after we spoke! He just froze up in the park on a bench while he was feeding the birds!"

Lisa stared at me and though she heard what I said, didn't seem to react. I was distraught and she continued to smile at me. I touched Lisa's hand and she moaned as her eyes rolled back into her head. I turned beet red.

"Lisa! Are you ok? What are you doing?" But she was in ecstasy and just fell to the ground. I touched her again as she was on the ground and she just moaned more as her legs convulsed. I was so confused and stepped back. The waitress stood nearby and I touched the waitress on the arm and asked her to call an ambulance, and someone at another table, a young man, came over and put Lisa in a safe position.

The waitress smiled broadly at me and said "Of course, madam, right away!" and hurried off to phone the ambulance. I stood there, calming Lisa, I hoped, with my voice and the young man smiled to me, trying to calm me as well.

"Don't worry, this is probably a seizure. My sister has them too, sometimes. Could you move the table and the chairs away?"

The others in the café had circled around us, worried, or offering help. An older lady came over to me and put her arms around me to calm me down. It did calm me down and she smiled, and I noticed that her pupils, as well, were dilated after touching me. She smiled and smiled at me and didn't even say a thing. I began to fear it was something wrong with me.

Finally, after the EMT's brought her away, the same ones that saw me in the park, which they also noticed, I headed home. I decided to conduct an experiment and I went home to touch my cat. Perhaps that was not the best idea, using my poor cat as a test subject, but he enjoyed it. I pet him and he purred, and I figured that all was right. I was fine and just overthinking things. I figured that Lisa had seizures but was too shy to say anything, and that the policeman and the old man were unrelated cases. I stared off at the window, petting Perriwinkle absentmindedly until I noticed my pants getting wet. It turned out that he had been drooling and, in his relaxed ecstasy, also pissed himself and thus on me. I ended up cleaning him and myself and told my mother of all the things that had happened. She, of course, did not believe that it was at all related to me.

So she became my last test subject for that day. 

"No really, mom. Touch me, or let me touch you. You will see, you will become super happy."

"Sure, if that's all it would take. Last time I was happy was when I divorced your farther."

"Mom!"

"Just kidding, it was last month in Mykonos. God, what an island. Alright, shoot. Touch me, let's see if I start hallucinating about Mykonos!" She laughed.

Frowning I touched her hand and she shrugged.

"Nah, nothing." And then spun around to go to the kitchen "See, I tooooohhh... Oh..." She stopped in the kitchen dead in her tracks, her hands hovering in the air.

"Oh... Anna, what did you do to me? Wow... I feel so light. So good. Oh, Anna, light as a feather. Wo...w..." 

At this point I was more afraid that delighted. I can make people feel happy, ecstatic? What good is this? I killed someone! Did I hurt Lisa, too?

"Mom, are you ok? Tell me how you feel. I need to know."

"Oh darling, I feel fine. Absolutely fine. I was hungry, but now I am not. I am not even sleepy. Hmm I think I will go ride the bike. I'll head out, yeah?"

"Wait, mom, one second." So I approached her and touched her again and the same thing that happened to Lisa, happened to my mom. Her legs collapsed and she fell to the ground like a bag of potatoes, or a sack of rice. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she began to moan. It was really, really fucking awkward. 

It was that day that I realized I can give people a release of serotonin on one touch, and apparently enough on a second touch to put them into a state of pure ecstasy, akin to multiple orgasms. I usually wear gloves most of the time since I discovered this power of mine, but sometimes I like to give people that extra rush when they are feeling down. I've only recently discovered it, this was last summer and I've only started scratching the surface of things I could do, or how I could monetize on it. Lisa and my mother are the only ones who know, and I gladly cheer up their day. I really wish mom would not though, it's super awkward on the second touch. I never touched someone three times. I look forward to testing that one day.