Savanna

Chapter 9

"Selina! Since when do you sleep that long?"

Uh? I raised my head from under the blanket, to see my mum peer in from the crack of the door.

"I'm tired," I muttered, pulling the blanket over my head again.

"Do you know what time it is?"

With a sigh I again pulled the blanket back enough for my one eye to see the clock. It showed almost two. Reluctantly I then sat up. Mum closed the door to let me change.

When I went to the kitchen, I saw mum sitting behind the table. In front of her on the table was some kind of paper. "Yesterday was so tiring then?" she asked with her usual smile.

"No, I just... was tired. What is that?" I pointed at the paper.

"This?" she asked, picking it up. "An invitation to Blue Mist's hundred and tenth birthday."

I stared at her sheepishly. "It's today?"

"Did you forgot?" Her tone was a bit surprised, as well as amused.

I turned away to get cereal. Mum probably took my muteness as yes and pushed the paper across the table towards me. Forgetting this event if you live here, in Blue Mist, happens really rarely. Practically the whole town is covered with its posters and stuff, and everyone talked about it at school. How didn't I notice anything?

I put the box of cereal on the table, and after I had taken out the milk and a bowl, I took a seat, taking the paper between my fingers. The text was printed on a light blue strong paper, the edges were decorated with golden ornaments. In a bold print they said that they're inviting us to our town's park to celebrate Blue Mist's hundred and tenth birthday together. Of course they also gave a hint to take some money with, so we wouldn't have to bring food and drinks ourselves. But games are always free. And later at night some less known band would be there to entertain us with their music.

Text on the invitation was actually longer, but my eyes just flew over most of it. When I finally put it away, I poured the milk and cereal into the bowl.

"And we are going too?" I asked before having a mouthful.

"We go there every year. Why do you ask?"

I knew this question was pointless. I suppressed the fear I had felt since the night in that old school house. The others who had been with me were still missing. And they will never be found. Something I never could tell anyone.

"I hope you won't spend too much time on deciding what to wear if you really forgot it," mum said before taking a sip from her coffee.

"You know I'm not like that," I reminded her. I have never paid too much attention on how I look like. But that doesn't mean I totally didn't care. Neither of us said anything else after that. And I'm glad it was so. I didn't really feel like talking and I didn't want mum to notice that. Luckily she left the kitchen pretty soon after our conversation. I finished my cereal slowly, thinking about if or how many savannians would be there. But I couldn't remember if I have seen Jake there in the past years.

After the breakfast I returned to my room. Choosing the outfit didn't take me long at all. Then Nicole called, asking me when I would be there. She wanted to make sure that at least I would show up. She said that Rudy had something important come up and he hadn't been sure if he gets time to come later either.

Mum and I went there at six. This was a little after the event had started. Soon enough I found Nicole, and we spent the rest of the time together. Mum found her own friends and sat down to chat with them.

When I was little, this had been one of my favourite events every year. I played all different kinds of games I could at my age. But now I mostly waited for the band to show up. So long we stayed with some others at our age. Some Nicole's friends. She has so many, I don't even know half of them. And I was glad to see that Nicole didn't get addicted with smoking when... we were there. But they did get alcohol from somewhere. I tried a bit too, but refused to drink too much.