The Necklace

The shutters clanged against the old Victorian style house as the wind howled in the dark stormy night. Seeing every shadow move and revolve into monsters five year old Tom grabbed his favorite teddy bear, crept along the wall and opened the door to his sister, Betsy’s room. Tears streaking his face he tugged on his sister’s shoulder. Waking up Betsy rolled over and pulled the covers back for her baby brother to crawl in. Cowering against his sister’s side Tom finally felt secure enough to drift into sleep.
Walking to school the next day Tom saw something shiny in the dirt, bending over he wiped the dirt off of the necklace.
“Hey Betsy look at this,” Tom said. Taking the necklace from him Betsy observed the twisted, unusually thick, metal that made up the chain and the old roman script that wrapped around the green gem on the end of the pendulum.
“That’s really pretty Tom can I have it?” Betsy asked. Throughout school everyone commented on how pretty Betsy’s necklace was.
When Betsy got home her grandfather, Dr. Samuel J. Sampson, noticed the necklace and asked where she found it, when she told him that Tom had found it along the road he got a troubled look on his face but only said, “Okay.”
Later that night while getting ready for bed Betsy went to tuck Tom into bed but he wasn’t there. The wind began to howl as Betsy went down the stairs to ask if anyone had seen Tom, when everyone said that they hadn’t seen him she got worried. Grabbing the keys off the pine wood table Betsy got the car and began driving.
Something caught Betsy’s eye as she drove across a rickety old bridge. Backing up Betsy realized that it was her brother’s bright red shirt that had drawn her attention. Jumping out of the car Betsy ran toward her brother enveloping him in her arms.
Hot tears streaming out of her eyes and stinging her icy cheeks Betsy asked, "What are you doing out here?"
"I don’t know how I got here," Tom said shakily. Once safely home they both fell asleep peacefully.
Waking up Betsy found herself not in the warmth of her soft down covers but on the dirt ground. Clearing her head Betsy took in her surroundings noticing that she was at the exact same spot Tom had found the necklace. Goose bumps crawled over her skin as she made her way home. While walking Betsy felt as if someone or something was watching her. Walking at a brisk pace Betsy found her way home in a little bit of no time. Glancing at the platinum silver Timex alarm clock on her worn bed side table she sat down on the edge of the bed trying to remember how she got from her comfortable bed to the hard ground where the necklace had been found. It was just about five in the morning so no one was up yet, too disturbed to sleep Betsy went into the bathroom to splash water on her face. Glancing into the mirror Betsy saw that her brown eyes were rimmed with green and were slightly glowing. Thinking this a trick of her mind Betsy finished splashing water on her face and left.
Betsy stayed inside most of the day still feeling as if someone was watching her every move. Only until it was later did she go out into the yard to play catch with Tom. Betsy took the necklace off and laid it on the ground so she wouldn’t have to worry about it while playing. One particularly hard toss landed directly on the necklace. Gasping Betsy grabbed the necklace and it broke apart in her hand. Examining the three pieces she noticed that the gem was really hollow and that there was a piece of paper tucked inside.
Untwisting the paper with shaking hands she read the message scrawled on it: Dearest Emma,
I want you to know that no matter what our love will never die. I wish I had had a chance to give this necklace to you before you died but as of today I will bestow this gem upon your corpse. I am sorry that it had to end this way and I hate to see you buried when you have not had nearly enough of life to enjoy it.
- S. J. Sampson