The Life of a Barbie Doll

Chapter Four: You Do, You Die

Beep Beep. Beep Beep.

The noise penetrates the room and I wriggle around in the hospital bed, trying to rid my throbbing ears of it. A doctor races in, a team of nurses following. They swing into action, jabbing what feels like a hundred medical tools at me. I start to panic and the beeping gets faster. My breath catches when I try to scream.

‘Calm down, Miranda,’ the doctor says. ‘It’s going to be okay.’

Pfft. Like he would know. He’s not feeling this pain that is racing through my body as if it is running a marathon.

The doctor is holding a large syringe. He brings it closer to me and pokes it into my left arm...

The next thing I know, I’m sitting up in bed, screaming.

When I calm down a little, I glance at my bedside clock. 7:54. I must have been having a nightmare. Phew. My breathing starts to relax and I lay back down again. I kick the blankets off when I realise I’m sweating.

There’s a knock at the door. Before I can say anything, Mum barges in.

‘Morning, sweetie,’ she smiles at me. ‘That was some scream. I could hear you from all the way downstairs in the kitchen.’

‘Sorry,’ I reply. ‘I think I had a nightmare.’

Mum pastes a playful smile on her face. ‘You didn’t die, did you?’

‘Nearly.’

‘Okay then. Since you’re still alive, you can get out bed right now. You’ve got a visitor.’

‘Who is it?’ I ask. Georgia has her netball grand final today, Noah’s working and Brianna’s parents don’t let her go out three Saturdays in a row.

‘Um, I don’t know, but she says she’s here to work on an assignment or something.’

Edwina. Ugh. ‘Did you let her in?’

‘Of course I did. She seems like a nice enough girl.’

‘Yeah,’ I roll my eyes. ‘She’s nice.’

Mum turns around to walk out of the door and nearly bumps into Edwina. ‘Oh! Here she is now!’ She smiles at my fellow classmate and gestures for her to come into my room. ‘I’ll leave you girls to it.’

I sigh loudly. ‘Morning, Edwina.’

‘Hello Miranda!’ She beams. Does she EVER stop smiling? Or talking? ‘I’ve got some really good ideas for our assignment. I went over my grandad’s house last night and borrowed some of his old guns and rifles that were used in World War 2. They are quite rusty and old so we have to be extremely careful with them. My Grandad is such a nice person, letting us borrow these. You should meet him sometime – ‘

‘Wait, you spent your Friday night at your grandpa’s house doing an assignment?’ I ask in disbelief. If that’s her idea of ‘fun,’ then I would hate to know what she finds boring.

‘Yes!’ Edwina nods several times, her two piggy-tails flying all over the place. ‘And as I was saying, you should meet him! He could talk for hours about his role in the war.’

‘I can’t imagine that,’ I raise my perfectly shaped eyebrows. ‘I mean, who could talk for that long about something so small?’

She doesn’t seem to get the fact that I’m talking about her. ‘I don’t know. But it’s such a fascinating topic. I’ve already finished my part of the assignment. How much have you done?’

My jaw drops. But what else would I expect from someone like Pizza Face? ‘We got the assignment yesterday. I haven’t even started.’

‘I’m very disappointed in you, Miranda Lincoln! Do you want to get an A for this task, or an E?’