Dina felt very heavy and pinned down, as if she was in a deep, deep well of thick, inky liquid. It was dark and she was slowly, slowly rising. Her mouth was stuck together with something thick and bitter.

“Uuungh. Uuumh.” Was that her? Making those strange, grunty sounds?

Now she felt a belt of pain round her head. And then – ow! – another kind of pain, stabbing just behind her eyes.

Slowly she rose, higher and higher out up the deep well. It was getting lighter. In her mind were swirling, dream-like images of writhing bodies and pounding waves. Or were they dancing bodies and music? Flashes of grinning, swaying faces kept appearing.

But she felt panicky, like she was in a nightmare, struggling like a drowning person. It was not a pleasant dream at all. Upward she struggled, and at last she became aware that she had emerged from sleep.

She was awake now, but her body felt like dead weight. She pulled her lips apart, licked the scum off her teeth, grimacing. She tried to swallow and clear the bitter muck that seemed to be lining her mouth and throat. Her head felt as if it was enlarged, swollen, and the brain inside loose. As she moved, the pain seemed to wobble from side to side. The behind-the-eyes-pain knifed viciously. She kept her eyes closed, and lay very still.

She was so, so thirsty. Her body ached. Her head was so heavy and sore. Why am I so weak, almost unable to move? Am I sick? Have I got flu, or … or … something even worse, like malaria or tick-bite fever? Oooh, oh my God, I feel terrible, she thought wretchedly.

Dina lay for a while, sick, hot, sweating. Then she realised that part of the problem was the bright, hot light glaring in through the window of her room, onto her bed, piercing even her closed eyelids. What time is it? Is it the weekend? Why am I in bed and my curtain wide open? she wondered. But she had no answers to those questions. Weakly she raised her arm and flicked the curtain closed, her head pain stabbing and nausea rising with the movement. Ahh – some slight relief followed.

She lay very still, afraid to move and activate the pain in her head, in her body. Time passed – how much time?

Suddenly she became aware of something else and gripped her body under her duvet. Yes – to her surprise she was in her clothes. She was fully dressed in her favourite super-tight Sissy Boy jeans and her new white T-shirt (the one she had saved up for, with the diamante embellishments over the shoulder). Her bra was all skew, with her breasts hanging out. Fully clothed under her duvet, in the day! How come?

But Dina just couldn’t focus, so she lay there drifting in and out of sleep for a while longer. Hours maybe. Escaping and returning. Escaping and returning. Each time she surfaced from restless sleep she felt no better and lay as still as she could, just wishing the throbbing, wobbling headache, the body-ache, the nausea would be gone – but it wasn’t.

***

Tell us what you think: What is wrong with Dina?< strong>