Part I: Disaster

“It all began when someone left the window open.” - The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Last Sunday, Maryanne was daydreaming about her hopes and dreams while looking at the doves on the wallpaper with the words that she was thinking of. She came up with an idea to write the hope and dream that she really wanted to come true on the doves. She grabbed the blue sharpie on the nightstand and wrote on one dove, ‘Get rid of your xeroderma pigmentosum.’ Regret of writing that filled her almost instantly, she thought that that was asking too much. ‘I should accept life the way it is,’ she thought. Maryanne attempted to erase it, but it was sharpie. Her head in her hand, she closed her eyes. Maryanne looked at the dove again and noticed that it started to peel and turn black. It seemed to become more three dimensional as it peeled off of the wall. Three slick and shiny feathers shed from the creature that was emerging from her wallpaper, then with a screech and a shriek, the black figure of a bird, a real bird, materialized from the depths of the dove and left nothing behind but the remains of the wallpaper. Other doves peeled off the wall and turned into a crow as well, but each seemed to have a different target, and a different hope or dream.

One crow flew into her playroom and regurgitated Fortnite onto her Xbox, and another regurgitated the word, School. Maryanne gazed at the crows in astonishment, but then, one jerked their head at her to stare into her eyes in admiration. It looked like the leader of his flock, being the biggest and the strongest. Maryanne looked into the eyes of the crow too, and it felt like it was looking into her soul. Unexpectedly, he let out a blood curdling ‘ca-Kaa!’ This made the other crows to glare at him in silence. Suddenly, one crow took Fortnite and ate it, the other one ate the word, School, then they all aimed for the window while raising their wings in fury and flew outside, looking like a bunch of missells, focusing on the enemy. Maryanne reacted quickly, trying to get the crows back saying, “No, NO! Don’t go away!”

The leader was still in the room when all of the birds left. Then he took off. “Not you too!” she reached for the bird and attempted to grab his tail, but the crow was too strong. He was powerful enough to drag himself and the girl attached to him to the window. Soon enough, Maryanne’s arm was out of the window with the crow in her hand. Pain. She let go of the crow, freeing it to its destiny. She glanced at her arm. A huge sunburn, redder than her straight hair, destroying her fair skin. Some things will never change.

       “Your dad’s going to kill me!” Tabatha, the babysitter, screeched like a crow after she saw the burn. As Tabatha dialed 9-1-1, Maryanne was feeling faint and was seeing double.

       Sirens wailed. Maryanne couldn’t speak. A few seconds later, she was in the ambulance, strapped into a bed. A few minutes later, she was in the hospital. A few minutes later, she was in a hospital room. One hour later, the doctor left the room and met with a surgeon.

Part II: Flashback

Maryanne Jacklyn Falsk was an ordinary 9-year-old. This fourth grader was an average student, but she didn’t really have any friends. Loneliness came from not going to school and being the odd one out in the neighborhood, mainly because of the disease she had since she was born, xeroderma pigmentosum, a severe ‘allergy’ (more like illness or reaction or deadly reaction) to the sun. She was okay about it and all, even though she was hopeful that it would go away. She was lucky to even be alive for this long, so Maryanne always looked on the bright side. At least the sun inside her doesn’t damage or harm any part of her. Even though she had the disease, her dad still makes the both of them live in Arizona, where the sun is up 24/7 blazing the souls of its own citizens with no mercy. Especially during summer.

She goes outside only at night. At 10 pm, her dad and she were doing the usual: biking around the neighborhood. “I’m glad that I’m homeschooled,” she stated.

 “And you also should be glad that I’m smart enough to school you. But not as smart as your mom was…” her dad said.

‘I wish that I could play outside with the other kids during this summer break,’ Maryanne thought, this time, in her head. 

Curiously, her dad wondered aloud as he pedaled, “I went to the third-floor bedroom the other day and looked at your writing on the doves of the wallpaper. Words like, ‘School’, ‘Friends’, and ‘Fortnite’. What are those for?” 

“Oh,” she replied, embarrassed, “They’re my hopes and dreams.” 

Her dad chuckled in a genuine way, like the person he is, “You know that I can buy you Fortnite or whatever game you would like for your Xbox. Plus, that’s actually a good way to help you interact with other kids. You can even make a good friend like you said on your ‘doves of hopes and dreams.’” They came to a stop at their house: A beige three-story building with 4 bedrooms, one for her, one for her dad, one for guests, and the 4th bedroom was where she studied and played. A house just fit for a father and his daughter. Maryanne barged through the doors and ran upstairs to the second floor and into her room, taking her sweet time, (and like the slow changer she is) she pulled on her PJ’s, said goodnight to her dad from the stairs and jumped into the bed, being a rebel for not brushing her teeth.

Half asleep, light surrounded her. Pain started bubbling on her skin. Maryanne opened her eyes wearily and noticed that it was morning. She immediately hopped out of bed, nesting her feet in her pink bunny slippers, then stumbled over to the window to close her lavender curtains. She took a glance outside before closing it and saw children playing with each other. Maryanne just wanted to be one of them. She closed the curtains then looked at her clock. 10 am. She walked over to the bathroom and realized how bad her breath smelled like because of not brushing her teeth the night before. Karma. Maryanne brushed her teeth hurriedly then skid down the stairs screaming, “Good morning Dad!” 

Her dad replied with the usual, “‘Morning moonshine!” 

Maryanne turned left at the bottom of the stairs to the dining room and saw her dad in his business suit sipping a cup of coffee. “Why are you dressed like that?” Maryanne demanded.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have a conference in Maine for three days, and I’ll visit a house that we might move to there. Also, I made pancakes,” he replied in an uneasy way.

Maryanne didn’t reply. Moving? Also, she never liked it when her dad had to go on business trips. Plus, her horrid neighbor, Terrible Tabatha Travers, would have to stay with her.

The bell rang. She usually liked the sound of the bell for how it chimed the sweet tune of ‘Turkish March’, the song that was too hard for her to play on the piano. But no, today she hated the sound of it. It was like the devil singing a song right in her ear. Her dad opened the door right away to see the terrible 18-year-old girl with no life that he hired to babysit his wonderful 9-year-old girl with a life. Maryanne hid in the shadows, away from the sun and away from Tabatha.

“Hi Tabatha,” her dad said in a polite manner.

“Hi Mr. Falsk,” she replied in her screechy and dreadful voice.

“Thank you for coming, even for my late notice.”

“Isn’t that what neighbors are for?”

“Well, I’m glad that I can always trust you to babysit my daughter.”

“I’m always here.”

“So about Maryanne, remember to give her her everyday prescription.”

“Of course.”

“Oh, and also, remember to keep her out of the sun.”

“I will, and how much money will I receive?”

“We’ll discuss that when I come back. Bye Tabatha, bye Maryanne!”

“Bye dad,” Maryanne said out of the shadows. 

This frightened Tabatha. ‘What a peculiar kid,’ Tabatha thought. 

Maryanne’s father did the unexpected and went towards Maryanne with his arms spread out wide. A big bear hug was given to her. In between tears she asked, “You’ll come back soon, right?”

“Of course sweetie, I love you,” he replied

“Love you too.”

“Love you more.”

       Maryanne stared at her clock while on her bed. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK. ‘Can’t time go any faster?’ she thought to herself, ‘But no… That means the less time that I have until we might move.’ She perceived that she should go into the third-floor bedroom and spend time there to pass time. She heaved herself to the third floor unwillingly, but something inside her told her to go. She entered the bedroom where guests sleep and her doves were. Across from that room was her playroom with her Xbox. Terrible Tabatha was on her phone, as usual, laying on the bed. It seemed like Maryanne was invisible to her. Some things would never change. The window was open, but Maryanne didn’t notice that. 

Finally, Tabatha stopped looking at her phone and got out of the bed when finally realizing that Maryanne was there. “Oh! You scared me there. No wonder the children of this neighborhood call you the odd one out. I’ll be downstairs, vampire,” she said in a cruel way, totally changing her tone of voice and personality from when she was talking to her dad. Maryanne shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care about her awful babysitter’s words. Some things will never change.

Part III: Hospital Remedies

         In the hospital room, feeling conscious again, Maryanne could make out figures in the room. A nurse was in there, sitting by her bed, taking notes. Maryanne slowly made her body to go into a sitting position. The nurse didn’t notice. Maryanne was invisible once again. The nurse left and closed the door behind her. A doctor came in, with a name tag on his shirt pocket saying, Dr. Crow.

       Now Maryanne was in a dark room with no windows. Dr. Crow said that this would relax her skin, but Maryanne wasn’t sure of this theory. She had to be in there for one good hour. No light. No one. Nothing. Nothing but a shimmer of white. ‘Wait, what is that?’ Maryanne pondered. The peeling wall seemed to become 3 dimensional. Become alive. It was awakened. Three white shimmering feathers drifted down to the ground. Then a dove appeared. Then another. Until the room was filled with doves. The biggest and the strongest dove stared into her eyes, then a few moments later, the doves aimed for the wall to the right of her and broke it down, leading her to the outside world. With sun. No pain. Unusual. She stepped outside. No sunburn. No pain. No allergy. Some things can change.