Echoing: When It All Began

Chapter 9, T

She fell onto her knees on the ground, dirtying and grazing her white stockings.
Brianna flicked her head to see who had kicked that ball..
It was... Marilyn.?

"MARILYN!" she shouted full of joy, completely ignoring the fact the girl just kicked all ball at her head.

Brianna stumbled up to her feet and ran over to hug her friend,
just to get pushed away.
"Ew.. don't touch me!" Marilyn shouted.

Brianna felt her heart shatter as she nearly lost her balance.
She kind of thought this was a joke.
"...what do you mean?" Brianna frowned, clenching her hand on her skirt.

"..you're a weirdo!" Marilyn looked her up and down.
Brianna stared.

the other 2 other girls that were with Marilyn—one of them being the girl Brianna threw sand at a few days ago—laughed along with Marilyn's mean comment.

"But..you're my best friend! Why are you calling me weird?" Brianna asked in a pout.

"Why would I be your friend?" Marilyn shot back a question.
Brianna replied with silence.

"You're too ugly to be in our preschool photo.., so how are you supposed to be my friend?" Marilynn asked her, seriously.
Brianna looked at the ground with a very upset expression.
She looked back up.
"I'm not ug-" but she was cut off by sand being thrown at her face.

Marilyn must've had a hidden clutch of the stuff without Brianna noticing.

Brianna immediately squinted her eyes when the sand made contact, she could feel the grains scraping the eyeball-flesh.
"OUCH! s..-s-stop it!" Brianna cried out, rubbing her eyes.

The girls just laughed as she started to tear up.

"I hate you, Marilyn!" Brianna screamed, full of hatred.
"I hate you too!" Marilyn replied with laughter.

Brianna ran passed them, sobbing and crying.

The girls chaser after her.

"Go away!" Brianna flailed her arm at them.
"No! We want you to leave this place!" Marilyn shouted, the girls were catching up with Brianna.

Brianna felt so many emotions at once, she just wanted to go home and hug her brother.

She ran and ran, hugging her doll tightly.
But suddenly, Brianna tripped and twisted her ankle.

Brianna held in her scream of pain, got up, and continued running.
She didn't want to get caught..

.

.

Brianna ran over to the gate, quickly squeezing through since she was small and ran down the street.

She had left the school grounds.
Anything could happen now.

—

She stumbled about due to her twisted ankle and rubbed her eyes, trying to get the sand out.

"NOAHH" She screams, falling over once again. Her ankle was really hurting now.
She was in so much pain that she didn't even realise she had dropped her doll.
After a few minutes, she got up and continued walking without it.