That Night

That Night

Laying her head on her pillow, Andrea fell asleep immediately. It had been a long day and she had really been tired, but still, oddly, she seemed to know she was asleep. So, how could she be asleep?

She sat up in her bed and opened her eyes. But she wasn’t in a bed, she was standing next to a skating rink. Looking around confused, she felt she must still be asleep, but everything seemed real.

Suddenly she heard her name over the loud speakers. Looking up she realized she was at a big skating rink, surrounded by bleachers full of people. The loudspeaker blared out her name and then a spot-light turned on her. Looking down, as the sudden bright light hit her eyes, she was dressed in a shiny costume, and wearing ice skates! Then the person on the speaker said that she was the rising star of the rink, having skated here since she was five years old, and now she was on her way to compete in the Olympics! “Let’s hear it for our Andrea!” the person yelled. And everyone stood up, suddenly cheering, throwing confetti and looking right at her.

She closed her eyes a moment, at the brightness of the spotlight, but when she opened them it was gone. She was lying in her bed, in her dark bedroom, suddenly wide awake.

Somehow she knew this was the moment. This was when she had to speak. She had to convince her parents that she was serious, she had to get things started. This was her future.

She went downstairs to talk to them. It was going to be a long conversation, but she had to convince them, she knew, she just knew that this was her future.

She had just turned five.