CHAPTER 8: JEMEANII
That night Athena had another strange dream. This time she was sat in a room and a bird tapped on her window, a large white bird was there. It whispered to her in her mind and she knew that it would take her where she wanted to go. So she jumped out of the window and the next thing she knew she was soaring over mountains in the claws of this animal. Then, all too soon, a dark figure, her dad, a car and a scream whooshed through her mind. Then she woke up with a start and sat up in her bed. She glanced over at her window- no bird. Athena wiped sweat from her forehead. In reality it was Tom’s birthday but she wouldn’t see him until later at his party along with Tilly Letton and Timothy Greenfield. Her covers were making her hot so she threw them back and it came to her attention that it was ten o’ clock in the morning; she had been in bed for longer than usual. Hilary would be downstairs which reminded her that she had left Tom’s presents downstairs as she hadn’t left her room properly since last night’s episode; even her dinner, a sandwich, had been deposited in her room whilst she went to the toilet. Her mother was being pathetic and childish; thank goodness she would get a proper meal at Toms tonight. In two hours time she would be round her best friend’s house with two other friends and Tom’s crazy family. She got dressed and ate breakfast. As she came back upstairs, she noticed Tom’s present bag with everything in to one side of her door. Entering her room, she scooped it up and closed her door behind her. She spread everything out on her bed and to her surprise; she found a small gift with a card on top that read ‘from Hilary’. She had no idea what it was but that didn’t matter. Setting it aside, Athena cut of a strip of wrapping paper and began to wrap the presents all in the same piece of paper, except the ring which she placed in the small box she had bought.
After that, she moved on to the card. First, she searched her room for an appropriate photo. She found a group of some recent pictures from the summer holidays when they went down to Perrenporth beach. There were 20 photos of them and 5 of the shimmering sea and towering cliffs. Finding one, which they were pulling a silly face in, she cut around the edges of the memorabilia and pasted it into the ‘insert photo here’ part of the card. On the inside she wrote:
Dear Tom
You are the best friend I’ve ever had and I’m so lucky to have a “partner in crime” like you. I couldn’t have wished for anyone better to share my childhood with.
Happy Birthday and have a great day
Love from Athena xxx
P.S I can’t wait for Thárros; I’ll find a way there!’
‘That would do’ she thought. It would have to; it was 11:30- half an hour and Tom’s party began. She put everything in a carrier bag, even her mum’s gift, but not the ring box. There was only 30 minutes for her to pack her night bag and find her sleeping bag, which was somewhere in the basement. She remembered moving it when she cleared out the basement on Saturday.
First she packed a spare set of clothes, her wash bag with all the essentials, some random films and the book. She placed it all in one corner; now to look for her sleeping bag. Quickly and quietly, she ran down to the basement; it took her a while but eventually she found it.
As she came back up the stairs, she glanced at the clock; it was five minutes until twelve o’ clock. Clearly, she had been searching in the basement for longer than she had originally thought. Hurling herself up the stairs, she panicked; she was meant to be there earlier than everyone else. Hurriedly, she shoved the box into the front pocket of her bag and pulled her converse out from her wardrobe. Then she sprinted down the stairs, everything in arm and when she got to the door she pulled on her shoes, loosely tied them up and double-checked that she had everything. Without saying goodbye, Athena hauled her rucksack on to her back, grabbed Tom’s present bag and with her remaining hand, grasped for her sleeping bag too.
