Let's Play a Game

Let's Play a Game (3)

“These shirts are cute, Maxynn, but why are they all long sleeved?” Brianna asked me, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked at all the tops that I was holding. “It’s starting to get really hot outside.”

I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from making a face. The only short sleeve shirt that I owned now was the one that I had worn during the fire. I was wearing it right then, but with Kate’s jacket over it. My bandages were covered, so no one knew that anything was wrong with me.

“I… like the styles of these shirts,” I excused, and it wasn’t exactly a lie. I did like them, that was why I was buying them, but I would have bought a lot of short sleeved shirts if it wasn’t for my burn.

Brianna shook her head. “You need to get some short sleeved shirts, hon. You’re going to get heat exhaustion or something.”

I bit down on the inside of my lip even more. She might have been right, but I didn’t want anyone knowing about my burns. Maybe if I bought a few jackets as well, no one would ever know...

So I did as she suggested and bought a few short sleeved shirts, along with a fee jackets as well. Wearing only long sleeves all the time was probably going to get suspicious anyway...

"Now we should buy you a dress for the funeral," Brianna now frowned, and I wanted to start crying at the thought of actually going to my mother's funeral. "I think I saw a few nice black dresses on the other side of the store."

Everything I loved had been burned in the fire. All of my things, most of my house, and also my mother was gone. And there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Brianna and I picked through all the black dresses, a lot of them actually pretty, much to my surprise. But every single dress that I liked had short sleeves.

I knew that the funeral was going to be held outside, because we were going to see her buried. It was getting hot outside, and I would have had to wear all black...

My eyes sparkled in relief when I finally found one dress that was actually attractive with long sleeves. I quickly pulled the dress off the hanger, showing it to Brianna.

"I really like this one," I told her quickly, getting her attention off of another short sleeved dress.
She looked the dress up and down and smiled. "Alright, dear. How about you try it on?"

I nodded, and we both headed toward the dressing room. I hoped that this dress would fit me, since it was the only one of its kind.

I quickly headed into the dressing room, undressing as quickly as I could without undoing my bandages by accident. I hadn't even seen my burns, and I didn't think I ever wanted to.

After I had gotten the dress on, I finally looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a normal girl; you never would have thought that I had lost everything I had owned and my mother. I could have been buying a dress for a dance; no one would ever think that I was buying this dress for my mother's funeral.

If she was there with me right then, she would have scolded me for even trying on a dress that was this short, even though it wasn't even that short.

The sleeves went all the way down to my wrists, just like I wanted it to.  The skirt snugly fit around the middle of my thighs, and I didn't really know if it was that appropriate for a funeral, but all I cared about was how long the sleeves were. I was sure my mother would understand.

My mother was the only thing that was ever on my mind anymore. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been alive. She was the one that had woken me up during the fire. If it wasn't for her, I just would have  kept dreaming. I would have died if it wasn't for her.