Clarissa

Clarissa would never listen to what Jason was saying. It was too bothering. Why did she had to stay put when they were all playing in the garden? It was easy. They were older and she would bother them. She didn't like to be a bother but she knew that she could run as fast as them. She knew she could catch the ball and score a goal as well as them. She really didn't want to play with dolls. But they weren't giving her the ball anyway, no matter how fast she ran. They were being unfair.

But now it was raining and she was running to the door. She was going to lock them out and that would teach them good. She was already laughing at the trick but unfortunately she wasn't the first to get to the door. What a bother again! She took her shoes of before entering. Her mum had already prepare towels for the kids to dry their hair. She sighed as her mum rushed the towel on her head. She was bid enough to do it herself. Why was everybody always treating her like a kid?

She starting to have problems to breath. She had been running for a long time. It was happening more and more frequently lately. The pain in her chest as she was struggling to get her breath back. She didn't want to show that to Jason, he would laugh again and make it a point that she couldn't join them. But it was becoming harder and harder to hide it. She put a hand on her chest and staggered for few steps. She tried to hold herself to her mum but she couldn't feel anything in her left hand. It was as if her hand had disappeared. Soon I'll be able to walk through things like a ghost she thought, she wanted  to laugh but laughing was painful. A voice that she didn't recognize as hers came out of her throat like a grumble, she didn't know her voice could do that, that made her want to laugh too, she was sounding funny. 

She staggered again and fell on on knee before her mum could catch her.

"Clarissa, what's wrong baby?" she heard her mum said. Her voice was strange too, it seemed worried and very far away.

"Nothing, I'm ok", she wanted to answer, to make sure that Jason wouldn't laugh at her but her voice seemed stuck in her throat. 

 She heard her mum panicking and calling her dad. Jason pleaded to go to, she didn't now were they were going but her dad said no. She felt him pick her up, she couldn't see anything, only the ceiling. She had never noticed it was so white, in her bedroom she would count black spots when she was to bored to get out of her boredom. She was still trying to breathe, she tried to cough to make it better but she couldn't do that either. She tried to bring her arms up, she didn't know why they were hanging down like that but she couldn't move. It wasn't funny anymore. Her dad put her at the back of the car. It wasn't funny anymore, it was starting to be scary, she could feel her mum next to her in the car, she wondered what was wrong with her. She couldn't see anything it was all white. She could hear the voice of her mum so far away. She could feel the vibration of the car racing, her father was driving so fast. Suddenly there was a shock, a big noise painful for her hears, she felt herself flying through the car's glass. She was flying like a bird, she thought only for a second before her head hit the ground. Then it wasn't white anymore, everything had turned black. 

"This one is still alive", she heard a strange voice say. That guy either had a big cold or a really strange voice, she couldn't make out which. She felt something was forced down her throat. It wasn't agreeable at all, it was feeling sticky and disgusting. her tried to remove it with her tongue but she couldn't. Suddenly she felt her chest moving up. That thing was breathing for her. "I can breathe", she thought. She knew how to do it, how to get the air through her nose then out from her mouth like they had been teaching her in sport class. Once again she wondered why everyone was treating her like a baby.

"She seemed to have a heart condition", she heard the funny voice say. 

Her chest was painful now even more than before, that machine was making her breathe too slowly, she wanted more air. She tried to speak but she could only feel to big tube in her throat. 

"Let's take her to the hospital first", she heard the voice say. 

She didn't want to go to the hospital, her dad was taking her somewhere nice where Jason wasn't allowed to go. 

She felt someone pulling on her hair, it seemed viscous and wet. She was sure to have dried herself properly with the towel. Slowly the only thing she could do was to listen to the ambulance siren.

Clarissa is one of the main characters of "Rainbow catcher".