Spellbound

3

SOLEIL

I'm standing outside the magician's tent eavesdropping on his conversation. He's speaking to someone in hushed tones. I peer through the curtain and see he's with a woman.

Her thick dark hair hangs down her back. She's dressed like a belly dancer in red with harem pants and a cropped top exposing her stomach and her blue skin. Suddenly she disappears and in her place stands Captain Zurg from Buzz Lightyear.

The scene around us shifts and Zurg is now standing next to Spiderman. The captain does this weird dance and transforms into spiderman. I'm so confused I rub my eyes to clear my vision because evidently I'm seeing things.

The scene changes again. I'm now walking down the sidewalk of Creole Square and see Brice. I smile in greeting determined not to come across as a bumbling idiot.

As he gets closer, we lock eyes. He smiles back. When he's a few feet away, spiderman comes crawling along the wall behind him. However, this doesn't look like the friendly neighbourhood Spidey. In fact it looks like he's after Brice. I speed up wanting to reach him first. I need to warn him.

"Hey!" I'm shouting and flailing my arms wildly about. Before Brice can turn around Spiderman has him surrounded and trapped in a box. Weird but better than being trapped in a spider's web. I'm banging on the box, screaming in Panic.

"Brice!"

"Soleil!" He answers back. He sounds so far away.

"Briiiiiice!!" I shout but this time I don't hear him call back. He's gone...

*

I wake up with a start relieved it was only a dream and a weird one at that. My head is pounding and my mouth is dry. I check the time; 03:03.

I'm not superstitious but 3AM is notoriously known as the witching hour. My gran says that Jesus died around 3PM and set souls free so his adversary in doing the opposite mocks the hour by horrifying his prey around 3AM.

I say a quick prayer and get up to head to the bathroom. I may as well get my day started because I am not going back to bed for a repeat rendition of blue belly dancers and evil superheroes. I haven't even seen a Buzz Lightyear cartoon in years.

I chalk it off to being so close to the school finish line. My childhood is coming back to me in droves and my crush is now haunting the recesses of my mind. I just wish he'd notice me. That's what I wrote in that big ass book at the fare.

Argh if im thinking about him this early, it means that my overactive imagination needs to be put to better use since the brain juices are flowing. I crack open a math textbook. Hmmm Fun - not.

I drag my feet through the halls of Milton High. Our prestigious school is located on a 1500 acre estate in the KZN Midlands. It's one of the best boarding schools in the country. I left to spend the weekend with my gran who stays about an hour out. She's the reason I'm back in time for the new week instead of spending the day off in bed as I should be. She's old school and likes to remind me of the tough old days where women weren't educated and she often regales me with stories of walking in the rain without shoes just to get an education. What does a headache and a ride to school in a Merc compare to all of that?

My early morning headache has died down to a dull throb. I make my way to my locker and find Char organising her books and packing her bag. I dramatically bang my head againt the metal and immediately regret it. I let out a groan.

"What are you over there moaning about?" Char quickly runs her gaze over me. "Are you having a bad hair day?" She asks sympathetically when her eyes settle on my head.