During Lockdown, when my mother was on her laptop working and the television blared, I sat with a book in my hands. Daydreaming. My head was bent and my hair covered my face. My hazel eyes must have sparkled.

Daydreaming.

Thinking.

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What would we all be like after Lockdown? We would probably need haircuts. I hate haircuts. The way the hairdresser holds the scissors, the way it feels when the hairdresser finally chops bits of my hair out.

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I shudder and try to think more about life out of Lockdown. I can’t. There is something keeping my focus away from my potential thoughts.

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I groan and Mum shoots me a look. She is on a call. Her eyes glisten menacingly and she turns her head back to the screen. My out-of-Lockdown daydream drains from my head like water from a sink. I turn my mind to a more entertaining subject. What would I look like with purple hair?

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In my mind I wander down Ferry Road and people stare from their windows.

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"Why do you have purple hair, girl?" somebody screeches as they bang on their window.

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I ignore them. I dance along the empty streets, twirling and skipping in my head.

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I grin in my mind, and in reality.

My brothers stare. They ́re looking at me, their faces saying, why are you smiling in the most BORING time ever?

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They have ruined another daydream. I give them a dirty look and then shoot off to my room. I sit on my bed, humming a tune. I drift ...

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The wind whispers in the trees. I walk forward. Leaves crunch under my feet. I must be in a forest. Tree branches sway and ... a wolf prowls around the corner, gobbling a sausage.

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That daydream screams as I mentally chuck it out.

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I walk down the hallway, feeling a bit let down. My brain usually provides all the entertainment. Would my lockdown brain make me stop writing stories? Understanding books?

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"AARGH!" I scream and run back and forth.

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Mum glares, and I retreat to the kitchen for a glass of water.

́Stop being stupid! I think.

I pace ...

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I’m in the shallows of the ocean. Small waves hit my ankles. The wind tousles my hair. The sky is blue, and white clouds look fluffy. Children yell, but they are all down the other end of my imaginary beach. I turn out of the water and onto the sand.

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I skip in my head and in reality. I am in both worlds.

I yell,  "THANK YOU LOCKDOWN DAYDREAMS!"

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Mum stares at me and gives me a look, but then she smiles. She knows I can’t express why I am excited.