Since my birthday is coming up in 20 days, I’ve decided to reminisce about some of my former birthdays. Enjoy.
It was third grade, and I was turning eight (I think). Rachel, Raelynn, Anna, and Annabelle were all in attendance. Rachel was sick and had to go home after the main part of the party was over, but the other three spent the night. My parents pulled out the couch bed and we settled down to sleep.
Annabelle was fairly new to our school, but we’d become fast friends. Unfortunately, Anna and Raelynn weren’t exactly her biggest fans. She was kind of odd; all messy blonde hair and bones. She was the kind of strange that even elementary school kids shy away from.
As we were falling to sleep, Anna and Raelynn started teasing Annabelle. I didn’t say much after the initial “come on, be nice,” and soon we realized that Annabelle had not responded either. We looked to the girl at the end of the pull-out mattress and saw, to our terror, that she was not moving.
“Annabelle? You know we were kidding, right?” Anna asked delicately. Annabelle’s motionless body took this opportunity to fall off the edge of the couch and land with a muffled THUMP on the ground.
Shaking, we peeked over the edge of the couch. In a strike of incredible luck, her head had fallen straight onto a pillow, but still we saw no movement.
“Annabelle?” I whispered.
“I think she’s dead.” Raelynn whispered back, horrified.
We poked her, and still detected nothing. It was near midnight now, and we were half delirious. Our next plan of action was to alert the nearest adult.
“Mom! Dad!” I whisper-shouted furiously from their doorway. “I think Annabelle is dead!”
Groggily, my mom got out of bed and followed us to the living room, where Annabelle still lay silently. My mother bent over her and then stood up again. “She’s asleep, girls. Everything is fine.”
We looked at each other sheepishly, then Anna stepped forward as my mom retreated back to bed. “We should move her to the chair. I’ve heard that’s better than the ground.” Anna was the most forward of our group, so Raelynn and I agreed fervently. I took one of Annabelle’s arms, and the other girls grabbed one of each of her legs.
This failed miserably. We failed to move her from her spot of desired slumber.
Now, I don’t exactly know when chronologically this next part happened, but I think it was more towards morning after we’d slept off our exhausting night.
“Annabelle? Annabelle, wake up!” We told her.
I leaned down. “Wake up! We have blueberry muffins and milk!”
“Yeah, blueberry muffins and milk!”
“I think we should try to move her again.” Anna asserted. And again, we agreed, continuing our mantra of “blueberry muffins and milk!”
Raelynn offered to get her arms this time, but must have accidentally stepped on her hair, because with a small yelp, Annabelle sat up.
“Annabelle! You’re alive!”
“Yeah.” She rubbed her head. “You guys woke me up. I was dreaming about blueberry muffins and milk!”
