New Story Whale Bedtime Story: Counting Sheep
The first day of the Fire Festival competition is just around the corner and Hanna is eager to squeeze in every last bit of training she possibly can.
Hi!
Today’s story is part of the Princess Hanna series.
The first day of the Fire Festival competition is just around the corner and Hanna is eager to squeeze in every last bit of training she possibly can.
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Without further ado, please enjoy today’s new story!
Hanna was focused and driven. Upon seeing how strong her competition was, she had promptly had to realign all of her efforts and energy.
Before she could charge forward, she would have to take a step back. She had to pause and breathe. In her mind in that moment, she had two options: stop and start to prepare for defeat or go for it and give it everything she had and leave nothing left on the table. The decision made itself in her mind. She was going to go for it. She was all in.
That was when she had bolted back to the city square to find her uncle and kickstart their last-minute training, leaving Carrie and Michael behind in the dust.
Hanna and her uncle stayed out training for hours, all afternoon. When it started to get dark, Uncle James told her that they would have to wrap things up and head back to town. Hanna pleaded to keep training, but Uncle James put his foot down.
“Sleep is more important,” he told her.
“I’m not tired,” said Hanna. “I need to keep training. I’m running out of time.”
“Which is why you need your rest,” he said.
“But not yet,” she said. “Pleeeeeease, uncle!”
“Sleep takes time,” he said. “You’ll need to wind down. You’ve got too much energy right now. You wait and see.”
Eventually, Hanna gave in and they went back to the city square. Her uncle was right, of course.
Hanna went into the room that had been set up with a bunkbed for her and Carrie. She charged in with giant owl-like eyes, beaming with energy. She talked so fast that Carrie could barely keep up. She was going on about this and that and all her strategies and talking through every what-if situation that could possibly come up. Really, she was just talking to herself. Carrie simply nodded along politely. It would have been impossible to get a word in edgewise anyway.
Hanna was positively bouncing off the walls with squealy excitement. Unable to contain it all, she went to the window and breathed out a burst of fire into the night. Instantly, she was met with shouting by annoyed neighbours.
She ducked her head back inside, still grinning, still loopy with excitement. To Carrie, none of this was anything too new. Hanna was just one of those dragons that could get into a frenzy sometimes, to get so giddy they can’t stop smiling no matter how hard they try. Carrie wasn’t really like that. She was more mellow. Not to say that she didn’t like to feed off the excited energy of others. That was actually a big part of why she loved Hanna and why they were best friends. Carrie loved being around someone who could get so wound up that they can’t stay still for more than three seconds. They balanced each other out.
*
Night had set in over Scale City. Dragons all across the land were snoring… and Hanna was doing star jumps.
Carrie watched on, eyes half-shut, her eyelids closing a little microscopic bit more every minute.
“Energy is key,” said Hanna. “You need to be as fit as a fiddle. You need to be able to give it absolutely everything you have.”
Eventually, like a slow droplet falling from a leaf, Carrie’s eyes finally fell shut.
Beside her, doing push-up in the middle of the room, Hanna was busy rambling on.
“And that’s why I’m going to win,” she was saying. “Right, Carrie?”
For the first time in ages, she looked over at Carrie, finding her fast asleep.
Hanna was suddenly hit by the silence of the room and the world beyond. She put out the room’s lantern and climbed into bed.
Lying there, she felt fully awake, like a little kid with a sugar rush. She was itching for movement. Being still just felt wrong.
What followed was the exact struggle to get to sleep that her uncle had predicted. She tossed and turned and grew livid with frustration. The night went on and on and on, and Hanna got more and more and more frustrated. Her mind was racing with thoughts. She could feel a slight panic starting to build in her. Part of her felt like she was never going to get to sleep.
Finally, she forced herself to stop for a moment and just breathe. She had to stay calm. She had to compose herself.
She remembered back to advice that her mum had once told her – a special method for getting to sleep. All she had to do was take control of her focus. All she had to do was count sheep…
That was the strategy – counting sheep. The idea was simple. All she had to do was picture a beautiful grassy farm in her head. She had to then picture a small wooden fence on that farm which sheep would then jump over, one by one. From there, she simply had to count them.
One sheep… two sheep… three sheep…
It would still take time, but she stayed calm and she kept counting, just as her mum had taught her.
“The trick is to keep calm and focused,” she’d said. “Eventually, it’ll work.”
And so, just as her mum had assured her, she soon fell asleep.
*
The following morning, Hanna was eventually nudged awake by Carrie.
“Wakey, wakey,” said Carrie.
Hanna could barely lift her eyelids open. Her eyes felt fiery and the room seemed as burning bright as the surface of the sun. She felt heavy too. Her joints and muscles ached. All of those star jumps and push-ups had left their mark.
“You need to get up,” said Carrie. “It’s time to go.”
“Time to go where?” asked Hanna through blinking eyes.
“What do you mean?” said Carrie. “The competition starts today!”