Chapter Two: Night Visions (Miss N)

“Ahhh!” moaned Jade, as a combination of the rising bell and Josephine’s high-pitched voice echoed through the passages to wake the sleepy girls for their first day back at school. The girls had all felt more than a little disappointed about not moving into the lovely sunny dormitory on the top floor, but it hadn’t take them long to forget about the stories and rumours about their dark and gloomy dorm. Before long, they managed to make the room look very cosy and cheerful with their posters, photos, colourful duvets and pillows and even a pot plant or two.
After packing their clothes into the old wooden cupboards in the dorm under the stairs, the girls had all climbed into Charlotte’s bed where they spent most of the night chatting and giggling together. Chelsea couldn’t wait to talk about Kyle and she tried to bring the topic up casually when they were asking Jade about her holiday news. They all laughed when she did because they knew she was bursting to know all the details! Jade had plenty to tell them about her brother and his friends, and by the time they all collapsed into their own beds, Chelsea was convinced that Kyle was the most perfect guy on earth!
“I hate the sound of that bell. The best part of the holidays is not waking up to that sound every morning!” groaned Annie, stretching and yawning. She looked over at Charlotte and saw a mound of purple duvet.
“Come on Charlotte, it doesn’t help trying to hide under the covers. Let’s hurry to the bathroom before all the showers are taken.”
After a bit of a struggle, she managed to yank Charlotte out of her warm and comfortable cocoon. They both stumbled through the curtain at the entrance to their dorm and down the passage, rubbing sleep from their eyes. There was always a queue for the showers in the mornings and neither of them felt like waiting in it this morning.
Meanwhile, back in the dorm, Roxanne was slowly waking.
“Ah, and so it begins,” she yawned. “I could do with a few more hours of sleep, I slept so badly and I had a very strange dream!”
“So did I,” said Chelsea, “it was about Mary in Grade Eight. I suppose she did spend most of yesterday afternoon with us after saying goodbye to her parents, and school is on our minds again, but it didn’t make any sense.”
“That’s so weird,” said Roxanne, “I also dreamt about Mary and my dream didn’t make any sense either. The whole school was in the dining hall for breakfast and Mary was standing in the queue. She helped herself to a muffin and sat down. And that’s all I can remember.”
“Well, there’s more,” said Chelsea. “I also dreamt that we were in the dining hall for breakfast, but Mary couldn’t breathe. Sister Mackenzie was holding her hand and rushed her out of the hall. And that’s all that I can remember.”
Roxy and Chelsea both rolled over in their beds to look at each other.
“Maybe it’s a twin thing,” said Roxy.
“Or maybe it’s just because we always get muffins on a Monday and because we spent so much time chatting to Mary yesterday,” replied Chelsea.
Jade had been listening to the twins and butted in.
“Will you two stop overanalysing your dreams and get up? I dreamt about nuts. Now we could spend all day trying to find some sort of hidden meaning to these dreams but we really don’t have the time for that, we’re going to be late for dorm inspection!” she said in a bossy voice.
The girls passed their dorm inspection and immediately rushed up to breakfast. They knew what would be on the menu, it was Monday which meant oats porridge and muffins. They sat at their usual table discussing their new timetables and the day which lay ahead when they were suddenly interrupted by a loud wailing sound coming from the Grade Eight table. They looked over to see what the fuss was all about. There were three Grade Eights huddled around Mary Bennet who was sitting at the head of the table. Mary’s face was bright red and her hands were around her throat. It looked like she couldn’t breathe.
Charlotte just stared, in a state of shock.
“B-b-but I dreamt about Mary last night. We were all at breakfast and she couldn’t breathe!”
Annie nearly choked on her porridge before blurting out that she had also dreamt about Mary.
“I dreamt that she was allergic to nuts and for some reason Josephine was announcing it to the whole school.”
All of a sudden Sister Mackenzie, dressed in her white nurse’s outfit, came rushing into the Dining hall. Josephine was trying to get Mary to calm down and to take small breaths. Sister Mackenzie lifted Mary up by the arm and rushed her towards the doors, when Josephine stood on a chair and shouted after her:
“Sister, sister, we had Bran-nut muffins for breakfast and Mary’s allergic to nuts!”
Jade nearly spat out her tea. Allergic to nuts? The girls slowly turned around and stared at each other in shock. Could all of this be a strange coincidence? Or not? Was there something else going on?