I feel my body coursing with pain - coursing with... a lack of blood. Or maybe too much of it. Pain.

I manage one eye less than half open.

Tired.

The heat of the day must've woken me.

It's bright.

Hard to breathe.

I force my eye a little more. Staring across the dirt, I notice a clearing with a waterfall.

No energy.

What a nightmare.

A voice calls from within. "You're awake."

I stand quietly in the village square, alone, as the smouldering ashes of my sister widdle to the ground. We were nice girls.

"Onnie," I can still hear her say.

"Onnie, wake up."

I throw my eyes open at the sound of her voice.

"Come with us to the ceremony."

With my vision still blurry, I scrub my eyes through the haze.

Marianna is at my bedside, shaking me by the arm.

"The ceremony tonight," she repeats. "Let's go have a look."

Marianna was always a bit of a cheek. Still, I nod my head and get out of bed.

"Apparently, they have gifts," she adds.

"I thought it was adults only," I tell her. "That's what Mum and Dad said."

She looks away as I prepare myself. "Kids are allowed," she explains. "We let them do their boring stuff and we sneak around and have fun."

I join her at our doorway. "Why do we have to sneak?"

"Because it's fun."

I feel a burning in my memory as I daydream.

"They're over here," I hear a boy whisper from nearby.

The voice almost gives me a heart attack before I see Marianna crouching toward it.

"I'm not built for this," I tell her as I take cover.

"We just snuck four from the tree," Lars tells us as he offers his arm to Marianna from a flat roof.

"Ah," she replies. "We're late," Marianna looks at me, giving away my position.

"Oh. Hey," Lars whispers over to me.

"Hey," I hear his brother add.

Tsk. Lars. I don't know why she brought me along.

"We snagged a gift for you," Alec tells me while Marianna pulls up to the roof.

Lars drops his arm for me to grab.

"Come on," my sister calls. "Haven't you wondered what people put in these?"

The burning in my mind returns.

When did this event happen?

Scattered memories flash through my head.

Marianna was my role model.

"I wanted to stay home," I tell my parents. "I was sleeping and Mary woke me up. It's not my fault."

"Okay," Mum tells me. "Good."

"That's good, my baby." Dad hands me a couple of cells. "Now, can you get us some bread? And get you something for yourself."

"Sure." No punishment for me.

I head outside. I go to the shop.

Before heading inside, I get a strange feeling of guilt.

I sneak back home. I head around to our room and tap on our window.

"I know I can't talk to you, but Dad asked if you want something from the shop."

A second of silence passes. "What?" she asks me coldly.

"He told me to ask you what you want from the shop." I hold up the cells I was given. "Bread and whatever you want, he said."

"Really?" she folds her arms.

"Yeah."

I hope she gets two servings of chocolate biscuits - then we all get something.

"Could I get some of Caesar's berry bread?" she asks me.

"Uh, yeah," I tell her, trying to hide my disappointment. "But if we get two packs of biscuits then we all get something," I reason.

"Hmm," she thinks. "Berry bread, thanks."

I guess that's that.

"Sure," I tell her as I turn out of the window.

Yuck.

I head back to the shop. I hand over all the cells I have.

"Here's your bread," Caesar smiles, "and your berry bread will just take a minute, sorry. It's not exactly our most popular item," he explains.

I feel the world turn to slow motion as Alec walks from the back of the store with burns all over his body.

There's a deafening ringing in my ears as Caesar turns back to the boy and kneels to hold his shoulders. I hear the muffled tone of Caesar speaking.

I feel sick.

| Author’s Notes |

~ Happenings ~
Yes, Marianna is a reference to the song by Ghost. And so is the title of the chapter.
"burning in my memory" is a joke around "Everywhere at the End of Time" by "The Caretaker".
“I go to the shop” is one of the first sentences my teacher told me not to write. I thought it would be funny to include it in my story.
Caesar and his berry bread are in reference to a now-deleted story you can find in “The Crypt of My Omniverse”.

~ Characters ~
Onnie: abc.
Marianna: abc.
(Onnie’s mum): abc.
(Marianna’s dad): abc.
Lars: abc.
Alec: abc.
Caesar: abc.