Dream Scream
an excerpt

“Oh my God! Oh no, don’t say that!” Adelle ran over to examine her face in the mirror. Sure enough, her eyes were badly inflamed and due to that, her face looked odd and distorted. “Oh, I look horrible!” she cried, desperately – or we should we say, stupidly – trying to press her eyes back into their sockets in their original form.

Piper Dawson was trying really hard not to roll her eyes at her daughter’s silliness. She arranged a sympathetic expression on her face. “That’s not going to work, darling,” she told Adelle, putting a hand on her shoulder gently. “You will have to wear black glasses to school. They are allowed, aren’t they?”

Adelle sighed sadly. “Yeah, they are,” she mumbled, turning around and putting her head in her hands. “For eye-sick people!”

“Oh, come now, Adelle! It is just for one day. I am sure you are going to be perfectly alright tomorrow,” her mother said exasperatedly.

“Are you sure?”

Piper frowned. “Um, no. Not exactly. But you will probably be alright,” she said with a forced smile, which did nothing to change Adelle’s bad mood. Plus, her little brother Joe was standing in the corner laughing at the sight of her.

“You look funny,” he giggled, pointing a finger at an angry Adelle, who was glaring at her mother.

“Yeah, sure. Probably…I hate that word!” she cried out. “Oh, this has never happened to me before. What are my friends going to think? They will make fun of me, mum. I can’t go to school.”

“Just because your eyes are swollen?” Piper asked incredulously.

“YES!”

“Don’t you think that sounds insane, sweetie?” She shook her head firmly at her daughter. “Your father is not going to like it if you miss school for a stupid reason like this! Get dressed and be downstairs in fifteen minutes. Breakfast is ready.”

“Damn it!”

“No swearing in front of Joe.”

“Sorry, mum.”