Fatima and B
Halloween&Sickness
My head is slumped against the car window as we pass rows of houses and my school. Mum is taking me to pick up some Halloween stuff from the mall. She's been talking for the whole journey but, with my weird mood and attention span of a squirrel on Skittles, I only catch the odd word like ' stupid eliza'. Mum's problems do not come close to mine.
What problems?
It's just me, over-reacting about something that probably will fizzle out into nothing.
Mum swings the car into a space by the mall and we get out. Mum is still talking but she suddenly stops, sighing.
"What's up, B? I thought you loved shopping for Halloween stuff!"
"I do."
"Why are you looking so sad and spaced out then?"
I can't tell her. She would not understand and anyway, I have to be the perfect daughter. I can't let them down. They need to depend on me.
The mall is decorated with Halloween stuff-fake cobwebs and screaming skulls and bats hanging from the ceiling. There's a display with fake corpses, vampire dolls trapped in small metal coffins and plastic spiders. The usual stuff.
Of course, just because I'm in a weird mood doesn't mean I don't enjoy shopping for Halloween stuff. I get plastic viles of fake blood, glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth, a Katie Corpse costume, toy bats, fake barbed wire and a bracelet made from grey plastic skulls. Mum buys stuff to decorate the house and sweets for the Trick-Or-Treaters. I start to get bored then and wander off to find some skull and crossbone fairy lights. I grab a box and I'm making my way back to Mum when someone calls my name.
I turn around and see Fatima standing there. Her bruises are fading now and she's wearing a gorgeous black dress that swings past her knees.
"Hey, Fatima," I say in a voice so strangled I sound like my dead hamster if he could talk and was alive. My pulse starts to race and I think I'm gonna barf all over her perfect black glittery shoes.
"Hey, B. I thought it was you. Shopping for Halloween stuff?"
"Errmm....yep...." I try to think of something funny and smart to say but I can't. My brain has just exploded. Probably.
"Are you Okay? You look kinda....green," Fatima says, biting her lip. Goth, I wish she wouldn't do that.....
I open my mouth to say something and puke up all over her.
What problems?
It's just me, over-reacting about something that probably will fizzle out into nothing.
Mum swings the car into a space by the mall and we get out. Mum is still talking but she suddenly stops, sighing.
"What's up, B? I thought you loved shopping for Halloween stuff!"
"I do."
"Why are you looking so sad and spaced out then?"
I can't tell her. She would not understand and anyway, I have to be the perfect daughter. I can't let them down. They need to depend on me.
The mall is decorated with Halloween stuff-fake cobwebs and screaming skulls and bats hanging from the ceiling. There's a display with fake corpses, vampire dolls trapped in small metal coffins and plastic spiders. The usual stuff.
Of course, just because I'm in a weird mood doesn't mean I don't enjoy shopping for Halloween stuff. I get plastic viles of fake blood, glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth, a Katie Corpse costume, toy bats, fake barbed wire and a bracelet made from grey plastic skulls. Mum buys stuff to decorate the house and sweets for the Trick-Or-Treaters. I start to get bored then and wander off to find some skull and crossbone fairy lights. I grab a box and I'm making my way back to Mum when someone calls my name.
I turn around and see Fatima standing there. Her bruises are fading now and she's wearing a gorgeous black dress that swings past her knees.
"Hey, Fatima," I say in a voice so strangled I sound like my dead hamster if he could talk and was alive. My pulse starts to race and I think I'm gonna barf all over her perfect black glittery shoes.
"Hey, B. I thought it was you. Shopping for Halloween stuff?"
"Errmm....yep...." I try to think of something funny and smart to say but I can't. My brain has just exploded. Probably.
"Are you Okay? You look kinda....green," Fatima says, biting her lip. Goth, I wish she wouldn't do that.....
I open my mouth to say something and puke up all over her.