A Girl Named Marian Lorvi

Chapter 3: A Dream

After school, Mum came around to pick me and my brothers up. I called her up from the office's phone as soon as school was over and told tell her that I was too burnt and felt really sick to walk. As soon as I walked to the front gates, Mum was already there! I was shocked that she wasn't pulled up by the police!

When we got home, I ran inside and got into my room. I collapsed onto my bed, and realised that that was a big mistake. My whole body stung thanks to jumping on the bed. My chest was sore, I had a really bad sun burn from head to toe and sometime during today I had a bleeding nose as well because Shane Menders kicked the ball and it hit me square in the face. I guess I deserved that after laughing at TJ from his bleeding nose. Despite all of the awful things that have happened to me today, it was a pretty good day.

After five minutes of trying to lie on my back, Mum walked in with a bottle of water in her hand. She got to my side and handed it over to me.

"Thanks," I moaned, trying my best to grab the water bottle without stinging myself.

As I grabbed the bottle, Mum looked at me with worry. "What did your class do today if you have sunburn that bad?" she asked.

I explained to Mum about the awesome Mrs. Parklea (even though I got sunburnt because of her letting us play all day, I still liked her), and about Shane kicking the ball in my face. Mum looked even more worried.

She bent over to kiss me on the forehead.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" I bellowed.

Mum straightened up abruptly and looked at me with shock. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"The sunburn stings like Hell. If you kiss me, it is going to hurt a billion times more," I explained. My breathing started to get harder and harder. Mum nodded to show that she understood.

"Sorry about that Kristy," she sighed.

"It's not your fault," I replied. "You didn't know."

"But I should've," Mum argued.

"Mum, we all make mistakes. It's alright, I promise," I assured. Mum nodded and walked out of the room. As she stood on the threshold, she turned around and blew me a kiss. I pretended to catch it and put it against my heart. Mum smiled and walked down the hallway.

I struggled to get underneath the covers. As I achieved it, I immediately threw them off me. The heat from the doona burnt me even more.

That was annoying me: I couldn't do anything a regular person would do. Everyone in my class, including Hortensia, went home without sunburn, coughing their guts up or complaining about how hot it was. I started to have a feeling that I might have sunstroke.

I took a sip of the water Mum gave me. It never tasted so good in my life. I heard the air conditioner running and I started to feel nice and cool. I knew that it was Mum that turned it on.

"Thank-you," I called out.

"You're welcome," Mum yelled back.

I smiled and shut my eyes. I started to think of any random thing that could come into my head: school, friends, family, Marian, bleeding nose and finally my sunburn.

Soon I was drifting away and started to dream.

I was at an unfamiliar house, and there was a bunch of people before me, cheering, "Hip, hip... HOORAY!" three times.

I started to wonder what was going on. Why was I being cheered to? Then I noticed there was a big, marble cake right in front of me. All of the candles that stuck up from the top were already blown out and smoke was billowing from the tips.