I'm really sorry for the long wait but I have a good excuse. My Gran was taken into critical care and the family has been in meltdown. Also my well of inspiration and motivation has been run dry recently leaving me a bit stumped. But it's here now! And to make up for it I've given you a long chapter! I do NOT own MBAV (just in case you haven't got that already) but I do own Anna, Tracy, Anna's brother and any other characters I decide to throw into the mix. Enjoy!
"So you didn't give any blood then?"
The swirling mass of colour which called itself Benny stood next to her – or was he standing? She couldn't really tell.
"No. I couldn't find any records of my blood type so they wouldn't let me do it."
Once again Anna was trapped inside her dream self, unable to move of her own free will or ask the questions which had been building up inside of her for what seemed like a lifetime. Every dream had a set path which it always took, Anna was merely the onlooker, the witness to whatever her subconscious had prepared for her.
"Don't worry about that, loads of guys didn't participate," Benny's voice stood against the thousands of other noises but even though Anna could identify it as the Benny she knew from real life it still sounded distorted and cracked. Even though there was something disquieting about the sound but at the same time it gave Anna a little spark of comfort. It was like a little light standing alone in the darkness and she couldn't quite work out why that was.
"But they had a choice in it. Think about it, someone in the world could die because I couldn't find out whether I was an A positive or B minus or-"
"Anna," Benny's voice dropped to a whisper and suddenly the deafening noises which painted the backdrop to her dreams grew quite too as if they also wanted to hear what the boy was about to say, "you need to stop worrying. It doesn't matter. Let it go, all right? People die every day so the chance that one pint of blood could have saved them is extremely unlikely."
After a few seconds Anna spoke. "Fine," and with that the normal level of volume, which was almost deafening, returned, "but I'm still mad at Mum."
"All right then," the sound of nails being run down a blackboard enveloped Anna for a few seconds before disappearing, "Oh, great! Lunch. Finally. Maybe Ethan will feel up to eating something after his little 'rest'."
Obviously they had had been sitting down because everything suddenly moved. Colours rushed past and a whole new layer of noise greeted Anna's ears as is a door had been opened. Then Benny put his arm round her and she felt it. She had felt it. The dream state Anna looked at distorted image of Benny and smiled – and then blushed.
"Any idea what they're serving?"
"Nope. Does it really matter? It'll taste awful no matter what. I swear that dinner lady's out to poison me."
"Thanks Benny, now I'm gonna have nightmares of killer dinner ladies."
"Don't worry, the brave Sir Benny will be there to defend you from the evil hairnets of doom."
They both laughed and once again it felt stunted and uncomfortable as if only to fill and empty gap. Slowly everything started to fade away until Anna was left in complete darkness. Her little light had finally gone out.
Anna stared in surprise at the unexpected sight before her. Benny had a beard. A ginger beard more to the point. This was too unreal for words. His face looked all wrong with a massive tangle of hair cluttering his chin which had looked perfectly fine before. Had she fallen asleep again and this one of her absolutely bonkers fantasies. She hoped it was. It looked so real...but no. It couldn't be real, that would be impossible. People don't grow beards in minutes right?
Benny's expression mirrored Anna's, one shaking hand nervously stroking the ginger strands of hair which had appeared. How on earth were they going to explain this to Anna? Oh yeah, I was just trying to be a good friend and cast a spell on you which backfired as all my spells do and now I've got a beard. Well at least the spell hadn't worked or it would be Anna with the facial hair – and that was a horrifying thought.
"Benny?"
The spell master blinked and did a small side step to hide his spell book from Anna plus he was stalling for time. He needed an excuse for his new fashion accessory but...
"This...this is...a...fake beard," Benny said slowly hoping Anna was too tired to notice his anxious expression.
Anna frowned. Was it just her or could she see the roots? No, it was her imagination. She was practically dead on her feet and everything was vague and blurry at the best. There were no roots. No roots.
"Why...why are you wearing a fake beard or do I really not want to know" she asked looking around the circle. Rory was just about recovering from his hysterical fit and Ethan looked stunned. Maybe the beard had that affect on everyone.
"Well you see, I...because" Benny cast a nervous glance at Ethan in a silent plea for help.
"Because we dared him," Ethan answered quickly.
"What dare-"
Ethan elbowed the vampire in the ribs. Why did Rory have to be so Rory-like and why now?
"Oh right, that dare," Rory offered Anna a weak smile.
Said girl looked around at the three boys her eyes falling once again on Benny's fake beard. It really did make him look completely ridiculous – and for some reason cute.
"Let me get this straight, you could have dared him to anything and you chose 'wear a ginger beard in school'? Was that the best you could come up with?"
"Hey, we're wimpy geeks okay? Give us a break," Ethan said hoping that he sounded more convincing than he felt. Anna shook her head in exasperation and let out a sigh.
"Okay, I guess. Are you going to walk into lunch with that beastie on or are the guys just gonna take pictures?"
Benny could have died then and there. Pictures? He didn't even want to look in a mirror so he did not want any long lasting reminders of his mess up. He could see the look in Rory's eye and if he wanted to leave with whatever little was left of his pride he had to retreat now.
Before Benny could answer Ethan cut across as if sensing his friends predicament, "is anyone else here starving? I'm just dying for some of that meatball goodness."
Anna rubbed her eyes. Her talk with Mr Hennigon had been exactly what she hadn't needed. She felt even worse than she had a few hours ago if that was even possible. Heck, maybe meatballs were just what she needed even if they were undercooked and drowned in gloop.
"Sure, I don't really mind. Besides that beard is creeping me out," Anna walked away with Ethan and Rory but stopped when Benny didn't follow, "you coming or not?"
"I've got to make a pit stop but I'll catch up with you," Benny said hurriedly.
"Okay, see you in the cafeteria then. Oh, and Benny, never grow a beard. Please?"
"Trust me, I'm not planning too."
Ethan looked pointedly at Benny before walking away with Anna. Benny picked up his spell book and was about to make a hasty retreat to the boys bathrooms when he heard a "Say cheese," and a camera take a snapshot. Groaning he hurried off taking his phone out of his bag. Gramma was not going to happy with him.
Ethan watched a very grumpy but thankfully beard free Benny walk towards the table carrying a tray. He gave the grinning vampire a reproachful glance before sitting down to enjoy his meatballs covered in a thick layer of gloop.
"So, you got rid of the beard then?" Rory asked smirking. He'd not been able to get the hilarious if not slightly disturbing image of Benny with his big bushy beard out of his head and even better he know had a new screen saver for his computer.
"Nope," Benny speared a meatball with his fork and plopped it into his mouth, "I called Gramma and after a minute of her laughing down the phone and telling me to take pictures she told me which page this concealing spell was on. I took a couple of attempts and I doubt I'm ever going to find my ruler again but it worked; the beard of doom is gone – for a few hours at the very least. And nothing blew up which is always a bonus. Gramma's gonna fix up a potion to remove it permanently tonight."
Ethan took a sip of water. "You can do it at ours if you want. Parents are out, Sarah's babysitting Jane, not me, Jane so it should work out."
"Thanks E," Benny grinned before devouring another meatball. "Where's Anna?"
Rory leaned back on his chair, "the dudet said she had homework to do. Oh, that reminds me! Last night I met this guy handing out posters for this 'mystical carnival' funfair thing," Rory reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper along with a few coins and a bit of string. "They're here for a week."
The words 'The Carnival of All Things Mystic and Mysterious' were written out in dark purple at the top of the poster. Images of cauldrons and bubbling potions were dotted around. 'Haunted House', 'Hall of Mirrors', 'Love Potions' and 'Tower of the Undead' were written all over the dark poster.
"It looks lame," Benny gave his final verdict after a quick sweep of the poster before annihilating another meatball.
"I think it looks kind of cool." Rory stated looking at Ethan for support.
"Wait, what is that?" Ethan pointed at the corner of the poster where there was a picture of a hooded figure with its hands outstretched holding a crystal ball. Underneath it said 'Are you brave enough to venture into the realms of the future? If so then visit Madame Giry, the teller of tales and the seer of the future'.
"Seer?" Ethan looked at his two friends in surprise, "do you think that this...Made Giry might be a seer like me? I've never met one before and I'd-"
"Ethan buddy, they're carnies. They make stuff up that sounds cool and awesome but when you get there it's all one big rip off. I mean, look at this 'Tower of the Undead'. Just one big tower filled with fake dummies and colourful lighting. One big illusion!" Benny looked at Ethan's downtrodden expression.
"You're probably right about this but still, I want to check it out," Benny sighed but nodded his head in submission. "All right, we'll go check out this 'carnival' but if we get robbed, mugged, cheated or made fools of in any way it's on your head."
"Fine by me," Ethan grinned. Rory took back the poster and stuffed it in his pocket. "This is gonna be so awesome. We can bring Anna and Sarah – provided the weather doesn't suddenly go all sunny."
"Well we'll just have to hope for more miserable weather," Benny shovelled the last meatball down his throat, "won't we?"
Anna sat on her swivel chair staring at the blank wall. It just stared back at her, unresponsive as always. How she wished that walls could talk back, comfort you when you were feeling down and praise you when you achieved something. It was a little like the Anna from her dreams felt about her diary. She wanted to be loved just as much as this Anna did know. And the one person who was meant to be there to do these things was unconscious half the time and drunk for the rest.
Shaking her head in an attempt to push these thoughts from her mind Anna pulled out her trusty notepad and her greatly chewed pen. In her opinion doodling was under appreciated. It was calming, if not too helpful to grades, and if the artist in question did their job properly they could produce quite a beautiful piece of work...some of the time anyway.
Anna loved doodling so much she had an entire notebook, the very one she was holding in her hand, devoted to the art of doodling and right now she couldn't think of anything else she'd rather do. She flicked through the pages which contained odd things such as old fashioned cameras, cheerleaders making a star position, lotta late cups (which for some reason had been banned a few months ago) and a full moon until she reached an uncluttered page.
For a few minutes Anna got lost in various cats and trees and flowers when she was suddenly hit by the inspiration to draw a girl with blue hair, sparkling eyes and something of a fake smile. She didn't even notice she'd drawn it until it was finished. How odd, but that was how most of her doodles took shape.
Yawning she closed the pad only feeling suddenly drained. She'd been tired all day thanks to a little spot of illness and sleep deprivation but no matter, it was the weekend and as every teenager did she was looking forward to it. A nice, lazy, Saturday spent in bed, as long as her Mum didn't decide to interrupt, and a fun filled Sunday spent at a funfair with her fellow geeks.
How wrong she had been.
I know this chapter starts with a dream instead but I thought I'd do something different! Reviews are welcome and appreciated. :)